leor86•13d ago

Found a weird use for binder clips in a pinch at 2 a.m.

I was finishing a batch of 12 journals last night and ran out of those big metal clips to hold the text block while the glue dried. Desperate, I grabbed a pack of binder clips from my desk drawer and clamped them along the spine every half inch. They actually pressed way more evenly than the bulky clamps I had, and the whole stack came out flat with zero warping. Now I'm wondering if anyone else has swapped in office supplies when the real tools are missing, or if I'm just lucky the glue wasn't too tacky.

2 comments

2 Comments

the_wesley8d ago

Wait, binder clips every half inch along the spine? That's wild. How did you even get them to stay put without pinching the pages all crooked? I've tried that trick before with smaller projects and ended up with dents in the cover. Honestly, the fact they pressed evenly enough for a full batch of 12 is kinda blowing my mind right now. Maybe I just had cheap clips or the glue was too wet, but I'm genuinely shocked that worked as well as it did. You might've stumbled onto a secret hack there, not gonna lie.

zara_sanchez13d ago

Oh totally, I've done the same thing with sewing clips when my press clamps gave up, they gripped way better than I expected honestly. Idk if it's just me but those little plastic office clips are secretly the most even pressure tools we've got in a pinch.