Reddit mentions: The best office books rings

Some details:

I’m an engineer who has never been totally satisfied with notepad offerings for academic or professional use. Some of the characteristics that I have been looking for, in no particular order:

• Robust front and back cover, suitable for use as an ad-hoc writing surface,
  
• Top flip with spiral or wire loop binding,
  
• Subtle relatively-fine grid (dot or line, it doesn’t matter greatly),
  
• Page numbering,
  
• Fields for dates, headers, etc., and
  
• US Letter size.
  
  Not finding all of these characteristics in a given notebook (though, Rhodia came dangerously close, but a bit too expensive to commit to for a consistent set of notebooks to last a lifetime), I designed my own.
  
  First, I explored binding options and found the GBC ProClick P50 (for a good deal) to punch the sheets to allow the type of binding I wanted. This gave me the binding pitch, so I designed the front and rear cover and sent the design to my friendly local machine shop. After what is likely excessive consideration, I ended up electing to use 1/32” sheets of Aluminum 6061 to save weight and after having felt it to convince myself that it would be sufficiently “build-it-for-life.” The shop turned the covers around quite quickly and put a nice jitterbug finish on a side that came polished it to help hide the eventual wear from sliding in/out of bags and to take the edge off the corners. The other side wears a monodirectional brushed finish.
  
  From there, I created a Python script to automate the creation of a PDF for my pages which are numbered and scaled to have the grid and line weights/colors I wanted. I also added my name to each page as well as a field for the date and room to give it a central label. I opted to go with subtle dots since I tend to find a grid somewhat distracting (however, the script can create either pattern, as desired). I also included an option to swap the page numbers from side-to-side so that I can print the sheets double-sided and then insert them into protective sleeves in a binder (if I want to archive the notes). Along those lines, another option increases the margin (on the appropriate side) to accommodate hole punching while ensuring that a hole is NOT punched in the notes area. Lastly, the script can include memo text running down the right-hand margin which can be user-specified or derived from the fortune program.
  
  I tried using the ProClick spines but even the largest didn’t give me the sheet capacity I wanted and the covers would tend to catch them unless the utmost care was used. This proved aggravating so I instead used some 3/4" “loose leaf rings” to bind everything together.
  
  I filled every hole with a ring since I don’t plan to be removing or adding pages frequently; however, one could use just five rings for a symmetric and secure binding that would allow relatively rapid adding/removal of pages.
  
  Thus, I have a notebook that is robust, a reasonable weight, meets my criteria, and should last a lifetime.
  
  Hope this generates some interest and ideas.

Medium Crackers was actually what I was going to suggest. Crackers is wife's favorite.

For a sense of scale, the med crackers is the diameter of a soda can at it's thickest point.

Crackers and Xar (you'll also want him in a med for the same size range) are both fairly thick toys that aren't too long to fit in a female, and neither has any crazy texture or serious knot. I'd say either one would be a great first toy.

Also, do yourself a favor and make sure it has a suction cup. If you never use the suction, it was only an extra 10 bucks, but having it allows for some rather fun and clever uses.

Cum tube option is up to you. I haven't gotten one since I'm not really interested in having to do the extra work cleaning out the tube after use (and we use coconut oil for lube with the BDs... which wouldn't really go in the tube well without being warmed up first).

For bonus couples fun: This style of strap-on works well. If you're wanting to use toys with a small base and a large knot (Razor, Fenrir, Tucker, etc), then this style of metal o-ring should do the trick since you won't have to try to slip the ring over either the base or the knot.

Since you’ve already gotten quite a few responses to all your questions, I’ll answer some of them. I only started cross stitching in March so I’m still kind of a beginner myself although it feels like I’ve stitched for ages!

“Where can you buy nicer hoops for framing completed projects?”
The brand Darice makes really nice hoops, imo. A search on Etsy for “darice embroidery hoops” returns quite a few results.

“What are the top 3 things every cross-stitcher should own?”
A hoop stand to hold your project while you stitch (I have this stand and love it: http://www.michaels.com/loops-and-threads-adjustable-craft-stand/10232941.html#start=6), a magnetic line minder to hold your pattern and help you keep track of the line of stitches you’re working on (https://www.hobbylobby.com/Yarn-Needle-Art/Cross-Stitch/Floss-Thread/Magnetic-Line-Minder/p/34733), and binder rings to keep the bobbins of floss for each project together (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B074PHZK89/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_Ci7KBbKYXGMWC).

“Does anyone use a magnifying glass/light combo and if so, where would you purchase from?”
I have this light (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01MRU9SP0?ref=yo_pop_ma_swf) clipped to the top of my hoop stand and I absolutely love it. It has 3 different light colours and 2 light intensities for each light colour. It doesn’t really get hot and having the different light colours allows me to adjust the light for the floss colours/Aida colour of my project or depending on the time of day I’m stitching. I don’t have a magnifying glass yet.

“Any other tips for someone who has done 2-3 counted cross stitch patterns but is looking to improve skill?”
LOOP START!! My mother taught me to stitch and that’s the first thing she taught me. I’m always amazed when I read on reddit about people learning about loop start for the first time because I can’t imagine starting my stitches any other way. It only works when you’re use an even number of floss strands for your project. So if you’re wanting to use 2 strands of floss for your project, you only actually pull 1 strand from your floss, fold it in half and thread both ends into the eye of your needle, come in up the corner of your first stitch - but don’t pull your floss all the way through! - and then put the needle down through the floss loop on the back. Voila! Your floss is secured to your project. Also make sure you’re having fun! It’s not worth it to keep stitching when you’re frustrated by a pattern or lose interest in a pattern. Put the project down for a little while if you’re frustrated with the pattern or start a new pattern or work on another project if you lose interest in a pattern. It’s absolutely imperative that you have fun/enjoy yourself when you stitch.

They're binder rings! They came with the metal bars to hold them together, but I find them really annoying to look through that way. I got them in a set at Target, some of them are way too small to use conveniently but I love the way they look. This set on Amazon has an excessive amount haha but would be perfect, if you don't see them elsewhere. :D

Why not try a 20 hole or 6 hole binder system? 3 rings are awful.

I'd also recommend a sliding binder, which I can't seem to find any mention of in English. They're like six ring/20 ring binders but have a flat spine that serves as the closing mechanism, and could be good for labeling if you wind up putting it on a shelf or in storage. I have one in a Bible/A6 size (really tall and narrow), and it's actually kind of handy and neat.

Here's a site that sells them in English, but the store doesn't label them any differently (loose leaf binder) than other binding formats. One downside: I've never seen them bigger than A5, so that may not work for you for scanning in bulk.

If you're stuck on lettersized/A4 paper without holes, binding bars might be your best option. Those seem to come in a max width of 1/4 inch, though, holding approx 40 sheets. (This one claims to hold up to 100 sheets, but who knows?) If that's too few...maybe some report covers and binder clips up the side either traditional or newfangled?

I knew a girl who used rings and two holes in her paper (though you could go for just one in the corner to reduce hole punching time) for everyday carries and then put her paper in more formal binders/bindings when she was done. You could just label giant binder clips and report covers for storing the stacks of paper, plus a bookend to hold it all in place until the shelf is full.

lol yeah got it, I call them spines. Its on amazon, rakuten as well as buyee

https://global.rakuten.com/en/store/bunkidou-shop/item/ru-sp700/

I would recommend rakuten, there are tutorials everywhere and its quite reliable.

Have you used these rings? They are perfect to keep formulae sheets and streamlined notes/sketches organized.

What I would recommend doing is making your own covers by cutting the right size out of art board (craft stores usually have a wall of different thicknesses) and attaching the postcards and then buying looseleaf paper from the office store (like this or something similar) and then putting holes through everything and binding them with book rings like these. The rings can be opened up to add new or more paper. You might need to make the cover a little larger than the postcards because most of the small paper seems to be 6 3/4 by 3 3/4 but I think it would still look nice. I did something similar for a memory book type of thing I made for my brother when he bought his house and it worked really well!

I use this binder-type journal with this paper! Not sure if this is exactly what you're looking for, but I'm really happy with it!
Oh, and I also use these binding rings to hold the pages once I move them out of the binder for storage!

Looks like the same company has gold discs as well. Looks pretty much identical.

These shower curtain rings work really well. You can find split rings and lanyard clips at craft stores or in the crafting section of stores like Walmart and binder rings could also work.

I use this kind of bag instead of the floss away ones. I get them from craft stores. They have a write on strip and a hole punched in the top. I write the floss number on the bag, pop the floss in and hang it on a 3 inch binder ring. I keep them in numerical order rather than colour families as I mostly use patterns. If you design your own, I would think that arrangement by colour would make more sense.

I have about 75 bags on a ring. When one starts to get full I split it and start a new ring so I have one ring with floss numbers 0-100 (I don’t have every floss colour...yet) and another with 101-200 etc.

Works for me. I hang them on a hanger in the closet when I’m not using them. When I have an active project, I take the colours I’m using and put their bags on another ring so I have an “active” ring.

I've seen binder rings (like these) used to keep threads together in a bunch by hooking them through the top of a skein, or the hole in a bobbin :)

It’s a binder ring like this:

Binder Rings - Amazon.com

Hey so I had like. Tons of lush products just sitting in 2 lush bags. I have a organizing cart On it’s way for my walk in closet I was going to put my makeup in. So I can just wheel it out in the morning and then put it away, I can also store Lush in the large bins.

But individually I had to get them out of those paper bags, I only had plastic sammy bags so I’m just going to re-use them until they’re dead. I zip tied them so I can just rip it off and take it into the bath. I am going to pick up some loose leaf binder rings to use instead of zip ties so I can open it and remove each bag as I go. I store this in under bed storage drawers so basically they’re invisible to company and my apt doesn’t look cluttered. I can successfully hide my lush hoarding.

How do you store your lush? Any better less wasteful ideas?

So my solution is using theses ring clips ( https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01M9FYXUC/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_zIBQybWD2ASSG) and then just print off notebook paper onto A4 and cut it down to A5 then hole punch . I'll tell you how it works out

I get mine on ebay from the seller city-green. They ship from NJ, and I always get them a couple days later (granted I am in PA). You get 150 for 9.99.

ETA: I keep my sticks on 3 inch binder rings, organized by brand and color.

I get binder rings and make a little book, similar to this one.

> is an immensely difficult feat.

Not if the ring is built like this

I mean handcuffs are made for combat...

These. They have the big fold out maps, and who doesn't love big maps of middle earth?

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https://www.amazon.com/Lord-Rings-Book-Set-Neutral/dp/B0788D5STW/ref=sr_1_22?ie=UTF8&qid=1549119822&sr=8-22&keywords=lord+of+the+rings+books

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pick up some of these bad boys