For all that's holey

Stu (of Eunoia) commented about the previous posting, including an observation by his better half SWMBO that while the video showed a two-hole punch configuration being used for target sheets, we in the USA actually use a three-hole punch configuration. Well...to say that we use a three-hole punch configuration for binding our loose papers together is a bit of an overstatement: Although the three-hole configuration is, by far, the most-used, we use several configurations.

Unfortunately, I no longer use a two-hole configuration, myself, so I have given away my two-hole punch; but, here is a photo of one that I stole (the photo, not the punch) off of eBaby or Amazon.

Officemate Heavy Duty 2-Hole Punch, Padded Handle, Black, 50-Sheet Capacity (90082)

Not only are two-hole punch configurations used in fastening papers within a soft-cover file folder, but heavier duty uses abound (photo, below, of one).

What I, personally, use these days

Within 10 feet of where I sit at this computer, I gathered up four punches (photo, below) that I use, regularly. They comprise two one-hole punches, one three-hole punch, and one seven-hole punch. I trust that you can see enough to tell the configuration of each item. I'm not sure what Hunky Husband hides in his office; but, he does have an electric-driven three-hole punch that will accept about 30 sheets of paper at one time.

The punches are used to help me keep various papers in various binders. One (photo, below) of the several shelves full of binders is also within 10 feet of my current position.

Most of my three-ring binders fall into one of two types (photos, below): 1) D-ring or 2) O-ring.

 

There is another configuration - again, that I no longer use - used for two- and three-hole punched papers. It is a post and sleeve configuration where the front and back of the binder are not joined other than when the three (or two) sleeves of one part are slipped over the three (or two) posts of the other part (or vice versa). This configuration is used with industrial-weight binders for reference materials such as aircraft maintenance manuals. The photo, below, was stolen from Bindertek. It shows a binder that is open to 90-degrees.

3 Ring Heavy Duty 98086 Archival Binder - Our Highest Capacity Binder Holds 1250 Sheets

Below are photos of a couple of the other binders that I use. I've used a seven-ring binder since the late 1980s and have about 15-20 of them in the house. The six-ring binder was my father's and is kept for sentimental reasons. I've never owned a six-hole punch, but use the one-hole punches to put the holes where I want them.

That's the trivia for the day. The treatment has been far from exhaustive but gives an idea of how diverse are our options when it comes to keeping loose papers together.

P.S. It just occurred to me that, in high school, we all used the two-hole/two-ring configuration.

P.P.S. At the Little Airplane Company, we used a drill-press to make holes in 100-200 pages at a time. We could set up to give us the hole configuration desired.

Comments

[Ole Phat Stu]

More complicated than I thought. Are your 2-hole punches compatible with ours (i.e. what is the distance between the centres of the 2 holes)?

You could file away a soft 5 1/4 inch floppy in a 2-hole binder :-), but not in a 3-hole one :-(
Besides, your paper is a different size also (legal versus A4).

[Cop Car]

Stu--I don't recall the 2-hole spacing. SWAG: 3" - The "My Binding" website says their punch is standard 2.75". (I was close.)

Paper size is a whole 'nother can of worms. 1) Our "standard", pre-punched, lined 3-ring binder paper (narrow ruled for college, wide ruled for high school - WIWAK) measured 8"x10.5". These days, "no one" uses that paper. Anything that goes into a binder is printed (by us or others) on 8.5"x11" printer/photo-copy paper. 2) Our legal papers (which includes bids from companies to do work on our house, etc) are printed on 8.5"x14" paper. 3) A4 is a squirrelly size that I don't recall ever using: 8.27"x11.69". One would probably need to dig out the metric wrenches to work with it.

[joared]

I recall having both 2 and 3 Hole punches various places where I worked depending on what was to be filed where, but I don't recall specifics now. I have a couple 3 hole punches with both having adjustable hole punches I can set anyway I want-- one was my husband's. Also have a couple single whole punches -- one an actual circular hole; the other some other shape. Oh...have a small multi- hole punch for my leather 5x8 appt., address book I used for my daily work calendar appt schedule. Can add pgg of my own making with punch.

[Ingineer66]

What a fun post. I believe the two hole top punch is used mostly by the accounting and maybe legal industries. I have never used a two hole side punch nor a 7 hole punch, but when I started my engineering career, many of our manuals and records were kept in 5 hole binders. That slowly died off with the advent of documents being printed locally in the office from Computers in the office instead of being printed at a print shop or manually typed or hand written.

[Ingineer66]

PS. I love your comment about the metric wrenches for A4 paper. If you really want to mess up an office network printer, somehow change a document setting to A4 paper so it doesn't recognize any of the letter, legal or ledger sized paper in the trays. Highly skilled technical people will lose their minds while their documents all back up in the vapors instead of spit out into the trays.

[bogie]

The last time I remember using a hole punch was on some leather belt (four years ago when I lost a lot of weight).

I do have a 3-hole punch for paper but I am positive I haven't used it since moving to this house and seem to, fuzzily, recall buying it for a class way back in 2007 (or so). I "may" have used it when I was working the census in 2010 but don't actually remember using it since then.

I have an extremely old 1-hole punch from last century.

Most of the binders I've used have been to hold ruled spiral notebook paper that normally comes pre-punched with 3 holes. but, I haven't used a binder for anything for quite some time.

[Cop Car]

Joared--Ah, yes. Those "odd" punches are frequently used by businesses to indicate a purchase on a "frequent buyer" card. Is that how you used them? Schools may also use them similarly to indicate completion of an action/accomplishment by a student - but that's just a guess on my part.

Ingineer--Thanks for adding the accounting bit for 2-hole top punches. I know that my secretary in Florida used them in taming files. I do not recall 5-hole punched papers, but I may have been exposed to them and just don't recall. Thanks for the laugh on the printer issue. Now that you mention it, I do recall that Red Cross copiers had that option.

Bogie--As we have moved toward the great "paperless" society, you have obviously done a better job of progressing than have I. Are you that progressive at work?

[joared]

Yes, you’re right, that odd-shaped single hole punch often is used to indicate another purchase on cards.. The two hole punch, I believe, was associated with invoices at one business. Also, I recall file folders with metal brackets at the top geared for 2 hole punched documents — legal and other.

[Ole Phat Stu]

Here, a whole bunch of documents (e.g. bank statements) come pre-punched with 2 holes.