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Paper Paperclips

 Paperclips (and staples) created from extremely compacted paper
  (+2)
(+2) 		  [vote for,
against]

Environmentally and shedder friendly, paper paperclips would be used in lieu of metallic paperclips. Using recycled paper, you could create these through some heat/pressure combo. Also, for strength, hemp or some other biodegradable material could be woven in as well.

The primary benefit would be that you can recycle the very paperclip and/or staple, along with the papers they are attached to. Sensitive documents that need to be shredded? You are supposed to remove all staples/paperclips, but now you can safely dump them all in the shredder.

Initially, I believe these would be designed for a one time use and then disposed of, due to structural decay from the bending of paper material.

—pnewp, Aug 19 2003

Brief history of the paperclip http://www.didyouknow.cd/paperclips.htm
Johann Vaaler of Norway in 1899 was the inventor. [pnewp, Oct 06 2004, last modified Oct 17 2004]

Wooden paper clips http://www.quincysh...uincy/itwopacl.html
Made from pre-pulped paper [DeathNinja, Oct 06 2004, last modified Oct 17 2004]

I was thinking of something more like this: http://www.brownand...o.uk/BigNicNacs.htm
[Worldgineer, Oct 06 2004, last modified Oct 17 2004]

[link]






       where you been then?   

       can you really compact paper to be this sharp?   

       +1 welcome back.
—po, Aug 19 2003
   

       Shredders and recycling machines can already handle staples and paperclips. Besides, I don't think it's physically possible.
—DrCurry, Aug 19 2003
   

       Nice idea. Like the stapleless staplers that can secure 3 to 4 sheets of paper.
—wombat, Aug 19 2003
   

       You could probably punch a small hole through the sheets of paper and use a small piece of hemp fiber to "tie" the pages together
—DeathNinja, Aug 19 2003
   

       pnewp, so now we know who to blame!
—po, Aug 19 2003
   

       I've always had a thing against the Vaalers.
—pnewp, Aug 19 2003
   

       I would be doubtful that paper could be made into something that would reliably hold sheets of paper together. It certainly would not take the traditional paper clip form - it would probably have to be a large thing a few inches long or more, and probably not very thin.
—waugsqueke, Aug 19 2003
   

       I've been googling for the last half hour (a good use of worktime) for durability/strength of paper and have come up with several papers on durability/strengths of other materials, but nothing on paper so far... maddening thing, that google. If only it could tell me what my key words should be!
—pnewp, Aug 19 2003
   

       [waugs] disagree. I think you could make a paperclip from paper but not a staple.
—po, Aug 19 2003
   

       I think [DN]'s idea would work well for a staple.
—Worldgineer, Aug 19 2003
   

       [pnewp] My brother used to work fr Wiggins Teape - now Arjo Wiggins in Physical testing (of paper. It got renamed to 'Cynical Testing after his arrival but that is BTW. Maybe I can find some data for you?
—gnomethang, Aug 19 2003
   

       Observation. Aren't we taking something rigid, tearing it into little pieces, then trying to cram it back together to make it rigid? Why not skip all the processing and make paperclips out of wood?
—Worldgineer, Aug 19 2003
   

       // paperclips out of wood //   

       [world] Baked. See link.
—DeathNinja, Aug 19 2003
   

       Kind of kills the point if you use a metal spring.
—Worldgineer, Aug 19 2003
   

       I'm not really sure what the point is to begin with.
—DeathNinja, Aug 19 2003
   

       To have a paperclip you can shred and recycle. Pay attention.
—Worldgineer, Aug 19 2003
   

       Well you can't shred wood. But metal is 100% recyclable.
—DeathNinja, Aug 19 2003
   

       Death to Clippy!
—wombat, Aug 19 2003
   

       //can't shred wood// Um... how do you make paper?   

       //But metal is 100% recyclable.// Sorry, let me restate, troublemaker.   

       To have a paperclip you can shred and recycle along with the paper it is holding.
—Worldgineer, Aug 19 2003
   

       // how do you make paper //   

       Well I meant in a standard household-strength shredder. Mine can only do like 5 sheets of paper. There's no way it could shred a piece of wood, unless the wood was paper-thin, which would mean it's probably already paper..
—DeathNinja, Aug 19 2003
   

       Hmmm. Just for the sake of argument, say I can go along with the premise that somehow paper might somehow be rendered strong and rigid enough to act as a paperclip or staple. What bit of magic would make my little shredder suddenly be able to cut something so substantial?
—half, Aug 19 2003
   

       I think the idea is that most shredders can handle metal staple s and whatnot, but somehow the metal messes up the recycling process. So instead make the staples out of paper. I'm not convinced that the metal affects the recycling in any way shape or form...
—DeathNinja, Aug 19 2003
   

       How about some sort of hemp thread that you would turn a wheel and sew pages together?
—Zimmy, Aug 19 2003
   

       No, that would be called sewing. We're talking about paperclips and staples here.
—Needa Moeba, Aug 19 2003
   

       Damn. If only there was some kind of electronic gizmo that would let us write documents and send messages without using any paper at all.
—pitah, Aug 19 2003
   

       Sure, UB. And pictures of paper clips and staples as well!
—pitah, Aug 19 2003
   

       The idea is inovative, but methinks impractical. Paper clips are already "recycled" in that they are used more than once. I have no trouble taking them off a document before shredding said papers. Therefore, I don't think their recyclabiltity is of grave concern to me. It would be, however, very convenient to have recyclable staples, as these are more difficult to pry loose from a document.   

       (And btw, I don't know you, but welcome back just the same.)
—k_sra, Aug 20 2003
   

       //some kind of electronic gizmo that would let us write documents and send messages without using any paper at all.//
<aside>The project I'm working on now involves, inter alia, receiving data on students from their schools for entry into a database. This data should be supplied as a text or Excel file, but more than one school has printed their Excel sheet, scanned the printout and e-mailed the resulting GIF.</aside>
—angel, Aug 20 2003
   

       is that called the common transfer platform or something?
—po, Aug 20 2003
   

       No, that's called the dim-witted school administrator.
—angel, Aug 20 2003
   

       <ahem>
—po, Aug 20 2003
   

       Be wary of such proceedures. Half the time it's only a harmless technophobe trying to understand attaching things. It's the other half you have to worry about - those that don't want you to see their "creative" calculations in their spreadsheets.
—Worldgineer, Aug 20 2003
   

       True [Worldgineer], but then you send it as a PDF in order to tell them that they CANT see your excellent calculations. Or modify the software for that matter!
—gnomethang, Aug 20 2003
   

       But that's just it - you wouldn't want them to know you're hiding your mistakes, so you make it look like you're just not computer savvy.
—Worldgineer, Aug 20 2003
   

       You would be surpised [UB]! There are apparently about 46 tests to perform before you even begin to worry about ink. My bro' also spent a year in development with Hewlet Packard sorting out best ink/paper combinations. Fascinating for some no doubt but I am one of these people who are quite happy to use paper without knowing whence it came.
—gnomethang, Aug 21 2003
   

       Yah [Zimmy]! Hemp for victory! Fiber plants like hemp grow in long stalks. Mess with weeds in winter and you will be impressed with the stiffness of dry stems. To do this, just take a fiber plant, cut, steam, bend, press and dry. Walla - the environmentally sound hemperclip. The grassroots party would buy billions!
—bungston, Aug 21 2003
   

       Don't you love it when he talks dirty?
—angel, Aug 21 2003
   

       So there ya go! Are you *sure* you don't live in Maidenhead [UB]?
You would fit right in....Honest!
—gnomethang, Aug 21 2003
   

       what does *loft* mean?
—po, Aug 21 2003
   

       Degree of angle of golf club? Where did *loft* occur [po]?
—gnomethang, Aug 21 2003
   

       UB has some inconsistent loft
—po, Aug 21 2003
   

       You are right [po]. Hey! What does *loft* mean in this instance [UB]?
//inconsistent loft in textured cardstock//
—gnomethang, Aug 21 2003
   

       It's a posh, technical word for fluffiness.
—angel, Aug 21 2003
   

       Im just wondering about [gnome] and the "fitting right in Maidenhead" business. I tried to google this, but got an awful lot of hits.
—bungston, Aug 21 2003
   

       gnome is also known as *fluffy* in Maidenhead :)   

       hey angel, you know a lot about this - whats the dirty reference then?
—po, Aug 21 2003
   

       OK! OK! So any phrase that involves "fitting right in Maidenhead " is gonna be open to ..um..the lower reaches of the porn' market, but you *all know* that my brother used to work in Maidenhead, right!?
p.s. mea culpa
p.p.s <winks>[po] - NEVER mention 'Fluffy' again, alright?</winks>
—gnomethang, Aug 21 2003
   

       [po]: I'm more alarmed about "Fluffy in Maidenhead". Is there something we should know?
—angel, Aug 21 2003
   

       sworn to secrecy - sorry.   

       email me later, angel :)
—po, Aug 21 2003
   

       I'm still waiting to gain the authority to tell the client to piss off in exactly those words and many more. Especially since I know that we are really working for the client's client. What a wierd dance I have to do to explain only those two words in the mean time. Now I envy [UB].
—Zimmy, Aug 23 2003
   

       I was just about to re-halfbake this. Excellent idea.
—neilp, Feb 02 2006
   
      
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