Album Paper Weight Question

I know this has been discussed prior, so.... I recently purchased all the printable stamp countries in pdf formats. I have been testing out different paper weight.

65lb - Is nice but a little too thick and bulky
40lb - Have not tested
32lb - Does work well single sided, debating on using this weight
24lb - Too thin in my opinion

I wanted to see what everyone else has been using.

I use 28 lb. usually, but have also used 67 lb. and 32 lb. frequently. The 28 lb. paper works well for two-sided printing (so does the 32 lb.) and is generally cheaper than thicker paper. 65, 67, and 110 lb. card stock is much more sturdy for mount use, is much more expensive, and thicker.

Different strokes for different folks.

John

I use 32 lb ivory linen resume paper for my Machin collection. The pages are downloaded from the Admin website (Robin Harris) and it looks really nice.

Jack Kelley

I also plan on using mounts, I should have stated that in the original post as well

I use around 60# paper when I use my own paper to print on. Most album manufacturers use around that weight of paper. One source I checked said Scott albums use 80# paper but it seems a little lighter weight than that to me. All major album makers -- Lighthouse, Davo, and so on -- use paper of around that weight for good reason.

Only Minkus used lighter weight paper which I always felt was to save money, their brand being a less expensive and almost discount brand of albums, but it did not hold up as well and always seemed to me to be too thin for regular use, not terrible but not like "real" stamp album pages.

Anything that approaches the weight of normal printer paper will not hold stamp mounts, will tear easily, and will generally not work for stamp albums. That paper is 20# with more elegant paper for business letters and resumes being closer to 28# which I'd still find too lightweight to bear the weight of stamps, especially if they were in mounts. Paper of round 60# of weight is called "card stock".

Find some album paper you like and look for paper that is about the same.

Interesting discussion ,with everyone has a favorite , your choices are being decided with what weight and what color is available.

Your choice is not decided by reasons that some of us have to make . Your not deciding like me and others .
We decide by pages needed {like 40,000 pages } ,cost is a big factor , {that is 80 reams of paper }, available {I been buying album pages paper for 16 years }, Each manufactor of paper has their own color of paper {Ivory paper at Staples is a different shade than International Paper } I am not joking when I say I need paper for 25 years .

Talk all you want about paper but some of us play the long game , like buying for 25 years in amounts you don't understand ,so 1.5 tons of paper on book selves are outside your ability to understand what some of us look at .

So paper weight is a big factor ,so is color ,so is who's paper your using .
Paper companies change product ,were does that leave you . Color and weight changes over time that was how I got caught ,now how many of you keep a inventory of 1500 sheets .

remember your decision is going to effect you in 10 years ahead .

For many years I was using Southworth 25% Cotton 24lb Ivory. I can only purchase it online now so I switched to 32lb white when I print new countries. I do have a stash of the Southworth in case I need to add to existing albums.

Because I collect used and don't typically use mounts the 24lb worked well for me.

I do prefer the look of the Ivory but the white is growing on me :)

Dianne

There are several ways to weigh paper. It can get confusing! . This chart has been helpful to me in the past:



John

I would add to Floortrader's excellent discussion the number of binders you will need to buy and if you are printing 1 or 2-sided. How far into the 20th century you are going will matter a lot - expect if 1 album goes to 1980, the second will go to 1998, the next to 2004 (appoximately) as more stamps and sheets are part of yearly releases.

Scott International ("Big Blue") is probably on 18-20 lb equivalent paper.

When I started making my own pages in the early 1990s, I was advised, via the Philatelic Computer Study Group (name?), to use "art" paper. Acid free paper wasn't as readily available then and art paper was acid free.

Because I had a faculty discount in our university bookstore and they stocked Strathmore paper, that's what I started using. I've been using it ever since. It was probably Strathmore Sketch 50#. When I started exhibiting (2000), I partially transitioned to Strathmore Drawing (70#).

I currently use Sketch for standard album pages (stamps only) and Drawing for pages with covers and heavier items. Although of different weights, the appearance is virtually identical. Mixing paper in a collection is not an issue for me. Using mounts on this paper is not a problem. I print on one-side only.

The only hassle with this paper is it comes in 9"x12" pages, so I have to cut it down. Not that big of a deal. It also comes in a variety of other sizes. If I used double-wide (11"x17") pages in an exhibit, I could get that size paper.

Perhaps the best result of using Strathmore paper has been its long term availability. One of the problems with choosing a paper is matching it over an extended period of time. I have album/exhibit pages that were printed many years apart (10-20+) and cannot tell a difference in the paper appearance. This was pure happenstance for me, not something I thought about at the time. But it was certainly a serendipitous decision!

My experience -- your mileage may vary. I'm totally satisfied with Strathmore paper.

I use 28 lb to balance weight, economy, and binder efficiency.

I use Steiner pages for pretty much everything nowadays and prefer 65lb card stock. Personal preference of course, but I like the heavier feel. Probably does add some heft to my albums, but I don't really care.

32 lb cotton paper cream is the best. It's archival and is heavy enough to mount but not feel like cardboard. It feels like a high quality book. Cream color looks professional. Print on one side only and save yourself future headaches.

This question brings me WAY back to my first two jobs... I worked at copy shops, which are now all gone, unless you count Staples.

Anyhoo, I've never heard of 32 or 40#. They probably weren't right for the jobs we did back then.

ONE THING TO REMEMBER, just about all "copy paper" has acid in it. So many years from now, you MAY end up with discolored paper and possibly also discolored stamps if they touch the paper itself. Something to keep in mind.

If your stamps touch the paper, try to find low or no acid paper, usually with cotton content. To this day I have some "Strathmore Bright White Wove" to use with my ephemera collection, and that paper is still bright white after 30 years.... (30?????)

Usually paper has some "advertisment" on the packaging, like this:

The key is the first label, ISO 9706. If you can't see it, don't buy it.

I focused on caliper (thickness). The paper I use in 28 # and 5.3 mil thick. For example, Mystic album paper is 4.6 mil and you can feel the difference. White Ace was 8mil. This will give one a better feel for pages per binder.

The curious aspect is that hinges are glassine (paper) but no one seems to ask about archival properties such as ISO 9706.