Trimming Harris Album Pages

[cbavier]

Has anybody tried trimming Harris Album pages and punching them to fit a three D ring binder? If you have tried it. Do you have any advice as I am considering doing this. The pages are 9x12 now and I'll be trimming them to 81/2 x 11 inches. A standard size.

[Admin Bear]

i have not done it myself - however, i did pick up an album a year or two ago that was trimmed in this fashion... if the person had cared for it better it likely would have been fine.. my only concern (before butchering it) was that the pages were very thin and fragile.. perhaps some form of reinforcement for the holes or the edge that is punched?

[tomd]

My question is why?

Another option is replace the original binder if that is the problem.

or

replace the whole thing, album and pages for something new and more to your liking.

[cbavier]

I am wanting to replace the two screw post binder with the three post D Ring binder. I can purchase the three ring D binders from Walmart. They lay flat and are much more user friendly.

[Butterfly]

I trimmed some Scott specialized pages and did a few things wrong. I bought a cheap paper trimmer (the kind with a hidden knife edge on a track) and mutilated the paper with it(they work very poorly on thick paper). The trimmer ended up in the garbage and I used scissors to trim. Should have used an old style trimmer or gone to a store/library/print shop or purchased one of the old 10 pound types, maybe at a second hand store.
The good thing I did was buy a box of clear heavy weight sheet protectors and slip the 8 1/2 x 11 pages inside, so no punching was needed.
Slipping the album pages in is easily done by putting a paper sheet in front, then pulling it out once the album page is in.
EDIT: or if album page has stamps on both front and back, then use two sheets.

[cbavier]

I have the one arm Office type sheet trimmer and a three hole sheet paper punch. So I have the correct equipment. It looks like I can use the existing borders on the pages as a guide and leave them on the page or cut them off completely. I would have to leave the border on at the holes though and just trim the page at the edge of the two existing holes.Then punch new holes.

[zepherusbane]

I trimmed my US Harris album and it didn't work out very nicely. However I had intended to create new pages anyway.

If you want them to look good afterwards, I advise you to cut an even amount off the page from both the top and bottom, otherwise you'll cut off the upper or lower border to make the pages the right size for standard binders. I cut only from the top of the pages and discovered this. I also suggest you use a high end cutter as others have mentioned. I also had to turn to scissors after attempting to use a cheaper one.

[cbavier]

Sept 4, 2014 21:08:51 GMT -5 zepherusbane said:

I trimmed my US Harris album and it didn't work out very nicely. However I had intended to create new pages anyway.

If you want them to look good afterwards, I advise you to cut an even amount off the page from both the top and bottom, otherwise you'll cut off the upper or lower border to make the pages the right size for standard binders. I cut only from the top of the pages and discovered this. I also suggest you use a high end cutter as others have mentioned. I also had to turn to scissors after attempting to use a cheaper one.

zepherusbane That is what I think i will do. Use the current border lines as a guide to trim. Would you leave the border on the very edge at the top and bottom or trim them off completely. Like I said I will have to leave it on at the place when I punch the new holes. I just thought it may depend if the page will fit into the paper punch or not whether I leave them or not. I don't have the album in front of me right now. I'll go look BRB. Ok checked and I can leave them or eliminate them. If I leave them the lines will be right on the very edge on the page. That Might look funny?

[crazyquilter]

A few years ago I place a $25 bid on a Minkus Global album with no binder and loaded with stamps and to my surprise I won. The pages were cut/trimmed by a 5 year old
Some of the pages were trimmed on the top and other pages were trimmed just on the sides. I used my old one arm Office type sheet trimmer. and page by page trimmed them up to look really nice. I used hole reinforcements and used a 2 post Minkus Binder. All in all it looks really nice but took a long time but it was worth it.

[kacyds]

A few years ago I won a box lot of stuff from one of the auction sites. There were a lot of pages not in an album. I have never collected Cut Squares before and saw that there were pages up to 1970. The pages were over sized, so I took my one arm office cutter and cut the pages and use my 3 ring punch to punch the holes. Now the pages fit into a standard 3 ring binder.

Here is a scan of one of the pages...

[cbavier]

Kaycds that looks good. Thanks. I'll know better how much I have to trim off each page once I get the binders. I live 16 miles away from the closest Walmart's but I will be at the lake just five miles away from a Walmart's next week.

[cbavier]

I am happy to announce Trimming the pages was a success. I only had to trim the top and bottom of the pages. I trimmed them equally to get them to fit in a three hole office punch that I already had using an office page cutter that I also have. I never would have tried this task using a single hole punch. I was able to save all of the page borders by trimming the page equally at the top and the bottom of the page to fit in an office three hole paper punch which I also have. The binders cost me under $5 each from Walmart's. If anyone is wanting to do this I will be happy to give them some advice that I learned.

[cbavier]

kacyds Not to criticize you but one thing I noticed on the page you posted. If you hadn't trimmed off the original two holes and just put the trimmed pages into your three hole trimmer. You would not have punched the holes on the inside border. I saw that and so when I started to punching the holes I left the inside original. I punched one page and put it in the binder and had plenty of room on the outside edge to fit into the new binder. So now my pages actually have five holes instead of just three. The border stayed unscathed.