3-Ring A4-sized Binders

December 12, 2009 4:19 PM

EuropeanOfficeFilter: Is there such a thing as a 3-ring A4-sized binder? How about a hole-puncher that works with A4 paper?

American 3-ring binders are infinitely superior to the silly 2-Ring "PageRipper" Binders or the 4-Ring "CantTurnPages" Binders that are normal out here.

Anyone know of a 3-ring binder that fits A4 paper? (Most American binders, the paper is taller than the binder)

Bonus points for finding a 3-hole puncher that has a centering guide for A4 paper.

posted by sdis to shopping (9 answers total)

Is there such a thing as a 3-ring A4-sized binder?

The whole world uses ISO paper formats, except the US (well, also Canada, Mexico, Chile and -curiously- the Philipines). Also, the whole world (again, except Canada and some oher enlightened nations) uses 2- or 4-ring binders, except the US.
I personally feel the likelihood of stumbling upon such a thing is quite dim.

American 3-ring binders are infinitely superior to the silly 2-Ring "PageRipper" Binders or the 4-Ring "CantTurnPages" Binders that are normal out here.

The Euro Lobby for Evenly Punched A4 Paper Sheets is now after you.
is there anything MeFi won't be US-centric about?
posted by _dario at 4:44 PM on December 12, 2009 [1 favorite]

Both paper size (ISO 216) and hole punches (ISO 838) adhere to international standards. That's not to say you can't find a mix and match binder/punch system, but it makes it much less likely. US paper standards are deprecated in most of the world, and so support for them in the form of products is rare.

Here's an (expensive) example and here's a discontinued product that fit the bill, so they do exist, just. The only other thing I can suggest is if you can purchase a a 3-ring US binder in foolscap size, as that fits A4 reasonably well.
posted by Sova at 5:19 PM on December 12, 2009

Adjustable hole punch, $30 from Amazon will punch between 2 and 7 holes wherever you want.
posted by Confess, Fletch at 5:40 PM on December 12, 2009

The whole world uses ISO paper formats, except the US (well, also Canada, Mexico, Chile and -curiously- the Philipines)

It's not so curious: Wikipedia to the rescue.
posted by Dr Dracator at 11:45 PM on December 12, 2009

@_darlo: As evidence, I submit that while the entire US classical music community uses 3-ring binders happily to store and use their sheet music, the entire European community uses individual sheets of A4 paper, taped together accordeon-style. I've seen European music students try to sing through a 40 page opera scene, all taped together in a 27 foot chain of stupid falling-all-over-the-place mess. When you ask them "Why on EARTH are you not using a binder for that?", they reply "Well then the pages will rip!", and then when you ask them why they're not using a 4-ring binder, they either reply "There are 4-ring binders?" or "Well then I won't be able to turn the pages!"

I'm a big fan of the metric system, and the ISO paper formats are for the most part a lovely mathematical construct, but sometimes the metric love for things that are evenly divisible by 2 gets in the way of usefulness.

@Sova: Thanks! For some reason, my google searches for Foolscap binder are turning up A4 sized 2/4 ring binders, or just office-related gibberish. Is there another term that these things go under? (This is the first time I've heard of such a paper size)
posted by sdis at 2:12 AM on December 13, 2009 [1 favorite]

I wrote and discarded an answer last night, but at the risk of being wrong: isn't the difference between A4 and 8.5 x 11 paper so slight as to be meaningless? It seems the copiers, printers and fax machines we have at work (in the USA) use A4 and 8.5 x 11 interchangeably.
posted by fixedgear at 5:32 AM on December 13, 2009

Useless anecdotal data point: I live in Shanghai, PRC, and buy 3-ring binders that fit A4 paper all the time. China historically follows Europe with their A4 paper and 2-ring binders, but being the world's factory for so long the country is also very tolerant of different standards (eg compare surge protectors, Chinese vs USAian). This makes it relatively easy to eventually find what you want, which in my case is A4 sized, 3 D-ring, hardcover binders. I get them at a certain stationery store downtown on Fuzhou Rd, but they're easy to mail order from Taobao, a domestic site similar to eBay. For example, here. A Google search for "a4 38mm 3d" suggests that 3-ring A4 binders are common in Australia.
posted by msittig at 7:04 AM on December 13, 2009

The width difference between A4 and 8.5x11 is relatively slight, but A4 is significantly longer, and at least in the binders I own, the pages stick out of the top and bottom of the binder
posted by sdis at 9:09 AM on December 13, 2009

A4 sized 3-ring binders and hole punches are not difficult to find here.
posted by HiroProtagonist at 7:01 PM on December 13, 2009