Old-fashioned but usable loose-leaf book needed...

October 3, 2008 12:07 AM

Where can I find an old type of loose-leaf journal?

When I was young, I had a journal with hard leather covers, with a loose leaf mechanism like a bulldog clip.

(The covers were the handles, except hinged, and the journal spine was a metal cylinder like the bulldog clip has, except it ran the entire length, and was covered in the leather.)

You didn't need to punch holes in the paper or anything, you just folded back the covers, and held them while you rearranged the papers. When you released the covers, the spine gripped the papers firmly again.

Where can I find these types of loose-leaf books these days?

posted by blue_wardrobe to grab bag (4 answers total)

Clamp binders. I remember seeing the kind you're describing but the only leather ones I could find were these. Hope this helps!
posted by mia_farrow at 12:53 AM on October 3, 2008 [2 favorites]

@mia_farrow: thanks! AskMeFi rocks again.
posted by blue_wardrobe at 2:57 PM on October 3, 2008

Just a note that those Sam Flax clamp binders in mia_farrow's second link are not leather, but rather fabric (bookcloth?) covered. I bought one and it's quite nice, though.
posted by TheManChild2000 at 12:17 PM on October 24, 2008

So, I went to the UK to help clear my late mother-in-law's house.

On the way there, I was thinking about this problem again, because having looked at mia_farrow's links, I could only locate A4 binders, which would have been too big. I was thinking about something about 6 x 4 inches.

So, one of the things I came across amongst thirty and forty year old paperwork was...




... a 6 x 4 inch black clad clamp binder!

Guess what I inherited... :)
posted by blue_wardrobe at 8:18 PM on November 4, 2008