An idea to protect the binding of strategy guides

[napstrpsx]

As most of you probably know, the bindings on a lot of strategy guides is not very good. If you don't support the binding as you use it, pages will eventually start falling out, thus ruining the value of your guide and making it a pain to use. It's no fun when pages start falling out of an out-of-print guide.

My original idea to protect the guides I have collected was to build some sort of arched frame the guide could lay in where the binding would not be strained. I soon realized it would be difficult just to make something work and it would probably not be able to accommodate a very wide variety of sizes.

This brought me to my current idea - using something you can simply clip onto the binding of the guide. Well, such a thing already exists, binder clips. They can be purchased pretty much anywhere office supplies are sold. Here's what they are if you are unfamiliar with them:


I took a few from work just to try them out. I found that they protect the binding very well, but they clip on a tad deep, making it difficult to read text near the binding. It's still preferable to how I used it before, now I can just lay it open on the ground and not worry about damaging it.

So now I am on the lookout for something that will better accomplish what I am trying to do. I also thought about finding a long, thin clip that would run along most of the binding. So far I haven't found anything that matches quite what I'm looking for.

Anyway, I thought this might be some interesting food for thought for fellow guide enthusiasts. Up until now I had never considered nor seen anyone else take hardware measures to protect the binding, or any part of a guide for that matter.

I am going to try some smaller binder clips next, but they are pretty tiny and I don't know if they are big enough to clip onto the guide I'm using.

If this gets some support I thought it would be a good article idea for racketboy. I think gamers would like to know small things they can do to protect their valuables - I wish I had started doing something like this sooner. What would be really cool is if someone could design some custom clips with graphics and sell them online.

[wootcube]

Binder clips can leave impressions and damage the paper as well as the coloration of the cover.

As far as fixing damage that has already been done, have you looked into restoration bookbinding? If the spine is still in one piece it's easy to reattach pages back in with regular bookbinding glue and some heavy weights or clamps (I think they sell them at AC Moore and stuff if you're in the US, might have to order it online though).

I know it's a little extreme, but you can add strong paper materials to the inside of a book's spine and cover if you are reconstructing it and that will ease the stress of opening and closing it repeatedly.

Strategy guides are cheaply and poorly made, thats all there is to it. You have to choose between using it and ruining it or sitting it on a shelf forever

[napstrpsx]

Hmm... interesting. It'd be nice if there were clips with rubber or maybe I could find some kind of padding with adhesive to stick on the binder clips I am currently using.

I'm ok with some wear from the clips though. The big things I don't want to happen to my guides are things like pages falling out, noticeable creases, tears, and writing. Dings and discoloration as long as they are minor don't bother me too much.

Thanks for the info about book restoration. I might look into that if I ever think it's worth the effort. Like a valuable guide where the only issue is pages falling out.

It's a shame guides are so fragile. I like to get ones that are like new but then I'm almost scared to use them because I don't want anything to happen to them. It may be sad but I am happy if I can have a new one on the shelf and then just use a beat up backup for actual use. Then I don't have anything to worry about!

[CRTGAMER]

A novel solution
The binder clips are an idea, but as pointed out it might leave impressions. You could remove the metal handles but the pages still won't open as wide. Still, it beats dropping pages on the floor, messy glue or a costly professional rebinding. A great inexpensive fix!

I was at Frys Electronics the other day and saw something that used to be very common in the eight bit computer era. SPIRAL BOUND Manuals and Guides! Its nice to see this form of binding finally making a comeback. The open book stays flat leaving both hands free to game.

This could also be done by a professional book binder service.

[wootcube]

A large clip would definitely be better than a small clip, but they still have the same problems (just not as severe) None if this is going to happen overnight, but in time they will lead to:

Warping - paper changes over time and behaves differently in different temperatures, if a part of the binding is constrained then that part can't flex properly with the rest of the book it will warp out of shape

Tearing - if clipped on the binding, pages will turn only up to the point the clip reaches, making a crease in that area and basically making a new "spine", which will fall apart just like the old spine except this time your cover is split in two.

Permanent marks where the clips used to be - the pressure will probably crack the cover around it over time.

Fraying of exposed pages - you know how the pages on the outside of guides get all fuzzy? The opposite, now exposed sides of pages will start to do that too

crtgamer - spiral binding is soooo much better for guides and stuff! They can still be ruined pretty easily but if you take care of them they stay like new b/c theres no stress on any sort of spine

Sooo....yeah. Sorry if I sound like not rebinding your book will lead to the apocalypse or something I've always been really interested in paper and stuff relating to it (yes I know that sounds incredibly boring) so I thought I'd share my 2cents.

Also, simply rebinding isn't that expensive. A small bottle of bookbinding glue (basically archival glue that won't rot your pages over time) is like 5 bucks and you'll only use like 1/15th of it - you clamp the pages together neatly in order, brush glue on the back edge, and stick the spine back on. Put some weights on it and wait a few days (more if it's humid out) and then it's all in one piece again! It's only expensive if you pay somebody else to do it.

[napstrpsx]

oh man, spiral-bound guides would be sooo much better!

I still think binder clips are a pretty good solution. btw, I'm not suggesting that you just leave binder clips on guides, I only mean while you're using that guide.

I think I'll take that concept one step further from now and literally only use them while I am actively using the guide. Right now I'm leaving them on overnight, during the day, etc.