Tips on Repairing Magazines?

[Ze_ro]

I've noticed that there are some other video game magazine collectors out there, so I figure it's worth asking: do any of you have any tips for repairing damaged magazines?

A friend of mine recently gave me his whole collection of magazines, and although most were in fairly good condition, a number of them are rather tattered. The worst of the bunch always seems to be "Video Games", since they're stapled, and have a very flimsy cover. Older GamePro's are prone to damage too, but at least their cover is a little higher quality, which seems to keep them in better shape.

What I've done in the past with staple-bound magazines where the cover was torn off, was to tape the back and front on seperately... but this usually means I'm taping them on to the first and last pages, which will eventually lead to those tearing off too. Anyone have any better ways to do this? I'm not overly worried about keeping my magazines in mint condition or anything... I just want to be able to page through them, and pull them out of my bookcase without tearing them to shreds.

Would it help to put tape along the spines of staple-bound magazines to prevent future tears?

--Zero

[Ze_ro]

No replies? Am I the only one with torn-up magazines or something :P

Has anyone ever tried cutting off the edge with the staples and doing their own glue binding?

--Zero

[jonjandran]

What about taking them to Office Depot and getting them Spiral bound with custom plastic covers ?

[NE146]

Heck, I just wack on some clear packaging tape. Works great. :D

But then again as you can probably tell... my goal is so that I can read them, not for "collectibility", "rareness" or "value", which is the last thing I care about.

[rbudrick]

Well, there's not much you can do to repair, as tape yellows and cracks with age. However, you can keep them from further deterioration. Try comic book bags with cardboard backings.

-Rob