In my continuous attempts to hack the perfect stamp album, I am always on a quest to find the perfect binder to onto the album.
Well, today, my shipment of binders from nakedbinder.com came in. So I thought I should write something up. I’m going to be doing a lot of comparison to the Bindertek Barrister Binder, so you might want to read up on my review of that binder first, which I posted on stampcommunity.org
According to nakedbinder.com, their binders are:
Recycled: We use only board that is100% post consumer waste and 100% recycled.
FSC Certified: Nearly all of our materials are FSC certified.
Stronger: Our binders have been tested to 250,000 flexes without fail, making them perhaps the strongest 3-ring binder in the world.
No Plastics: Naked Binder does not use plastics, vinyl or other toxins in manufacturing or shipping so everything is easily returned to the recycling stream. This takes pressure off of your waste management system, landfills and reduces the need for new production of virgin resources.
Recyclable: Our binders are 100% recyclable.
Innovating: We constantly test new materials to craft the most environmentally safe products that last longer, work better and look great.
Local: All of our products are made in the USA, minimizing world wide travel to get to you. Our manufacturing plant is in Des Moines IA.
The Outside
The binders themselves are similar to Bindertek binders, since they are made from one piece that is folded at the hinges, and are coated in tight paper. I ordered the fern binder, which looks like this:
The binder is pretty flexible and tends to sit open when stood up, though it’s not as stiff as the Bindertek binder:
Like the Bindertek, there is pull ring in the spine, but it is not metal reinforced. This is probably done to keep the binder recyclable.
The binder also does not have the metal edge on the bottom of the binder to protect it from damage. Not a big deal for me personally.
The Inside
When you open up the binder, you see a nice black interior, and a set of back mounted D rings.
To open the rings, you need to pull on the top and bottom handle. The rings do not open very smoothly.
The rings are also the cheaper type rings (the same ones that Mystic chose to use)
Though the rings are D rings, I prefer the “ball and socket” type closing rings, such as these:
Pricing
The binder that I bought, the Fern Classic Binder with 1.5″ rings cost $9.00, which is a pretty good price. If I had bought the actual naked binder, the price would have come down to $7.50. The snag I ran into was shipping. Shipping was going to cost $12.00. By comparison, the Bindertek binder costs $12.00 and the shipping is $6.30. So, to take advantage of the cheaper price of the nakedbinder, you’ll need to buy more than one.
Conclusion
Overall, I think the nakedbinder is a much better binder than what you get at your typical office supply chain. It looks nicer, and I think it’s more durable. It’s not quite as nice as the Bindertek binder, but it is recycled, and is a better deal if you buy more than one of them.