Blank Pages For Computer Printing- Question

Just to add my experience to this thread about paper, paper weight, and printers: I generally use larger pre-printed albums and album pages (Scott, Davo, etc) but for some of my collections I've tried printing Steiner pages (stampalbums(dot)com) on 'normal' sized notebook paper of the U.S. variety which is 8.5x11.5 inches.

I experimented with different weights of paper. Standard printer paper is 20# (pound) and is much too thin for sturdy use in a stamp album. 100# paper is fine, but it's pretty close to cardboard in weight, and since it's thick, it would require many binders to hold all the pages. The happy medium I like best is 65-67# paper. This weight of paper is readily available at Staples, Office Depot, etc. and can be purchased in various shades of white, off-white ("ivory" and "cream" are both nice), and so on. It's "acid free" which is essential for albums you want to last for years. It seems to me there is really no need to buy special paper from other retailers, at least for this use.

As for printers, you're best off using a printer which has the paper tray in the back. That way, the paper is fed straight through and comes out the front. If the paper tray is on the bottom and the printed pages come out above it, your paper is doing a 180 degree turn inside the printer which is very difficult for a normal printer to manage with heavy weight paper, and most will jam.

I have a cheap Canon printer with a rear paper tray which prints on 67# and even 110# paper without a problem.

As for which type of ink is best, normal ink in their small ink containers works fine for me, though you'll need to change cartridges often if you do a lot of printing. This is part of the cost of cheaper print-yourself album pages. Laser printers require a much larger (more expensive, I assume) "toner" cartridge. I also trust printer ink to last for years. I'm not sure I trust whatever product laser printers put on the page.

One final option: Widebed printers can be set up to print on larger album-sized papers of the type we normally see used in stamp albums. I don't own a wide bed printer yet, but I intend to buy one and print some of the larger pages, as well. Of course, it would also print 8.5x11 pages, too. For a few hundred dollars, this one printer might be able to printer an entire library of different sized stamp albums.

And I'll add one more thought. If you are stumped by how to print album pages on the printer you have, you can always print Steiner (or other) pages onto normal printer paper, then take those "originals" to a photocopy place and print them onto heavy-weight or even onto larger paper. It might be possible, I imagine, to print these "originals" onto album-sized pages like Scott, Davo, etc. if you had blank pages to print onto. Buy some "all-blank" paper of the right size (some online stamp dealers sell "all-blank" paper) or have a local print shop make up pages for you in the appropriate size.

It must be "ALL" blank paper. If you buy normal "blank" pages, they will nearly always come with that album's border printed on the otherwise "blank" pages. A Scott border on "blank" Scott paper, and so on. Since Steiner (and probably most other digitized) album pages that you print yourself have a border on them, you'll end up with two different borders which won't look right.

Also ask your printer to hole punch the paper he provides you (bring a page of the album paper you want them to match).

I use 110lb paper. I print with the same HP printer I have used for almost 10 years and the pages come out perfectly. I do however feed the pages to the printer one at a time. I have printed at least 50 complete Steiner countries this way and will print many more.

I mount all of my stamps. With 110lb paper you can mount anything including complete booklets, Postal Stationery and Maxi-cards.