Hey Everyone,
I’m primarily a binder set collector. Over the past 10 years I have placed them upright in a closet. I got to wondering if this could cause some bending to the cards since the pages hang down a tad due to gravity. I’ve opened the binders regularly and haven’t noticed any major damage. Sure some of the cards closer to the rings have a slight warp but nothing crazy. I thought I could place them horizontally and was wondering if that would be better for them.
Personally, I always store my binders face down. I don’t have an exact pic right now, but this orientation basically:
I found this to be the best so the cards & pages ‘hang’ down more naturally. I don’t know if the gravity has a negative impact or not long-term, but I’ve had no issues this way for many years of storage.
I always store my binders spine-up. Just like what @jabby posted. If you’re looking to move into ringless binders, I would highly recommend VaultX. They are incredible binders. Very high quality and no worries about binder dents from the rings.
I had this same worry recently because my binder pages for some stuff are starting to bend due to weight at the top of the page. Not near the rings. I plan to store mine differently as well. I’ve never tried vaultx, or at least I’m not sure if I have or not. I have a few of those colored three ring binder pages with the side loading slots and I like them a lot at the very least.
I use a variety of portfolio binders, Old Dragon Hide (love the look, but they’re old stock), Ultra Pro portfolio, Dex Protection Binder 9, 12, etc. Haven’t tried vault X, but I don’t doubt they’re good. I prefer the Dex Protection line because of this:
the feel and cushioned covers
the colors
thick hard covers that will support the fully loaded binder weight
those covers will stop a stab from a pen, scissors, table corner, or other pointed object
they also have a thick hide-away elastic band, that keeps the pages nice and tight together, supporting the pages
slightly clearer pages than some
One negative, which I’d like to know others’ experience on:
Dex Portfolios often get scuffing from shifting in the pages as they open and close. Anyone else had experience with this in other portffolio binders?
Generally, cardboard is strong enough to hold its own weight, so it won’t ripple by sliding down, like a poster in a frame. The plastic binder pages will also hold their own weight, BUT they will slowly stretch away from the rings in a traditional ringed binder, when filled with cards.
Oh, one more thing! What kind of 9 pocket pages do you use in the 3 ring binders?
I’ve found Ultra pro silver stretches and hangs more, while platinum is usually just fine. The best I’ve had were an old brand called “Legend” pages, but I can’t find them anymore…
I was thinking about it at some point, but for now I just store them on a shelf and it works fine. I may eventually get some type of cabinet because it seems like a nice organized method and a way to free up shelf space at some point. I don’t have a ton of Pokemon binders since most of the sets are quite a lot smaller than other cards I collect, so I’m able to get away with only a few binders for now.
