I have several "what to do if" survival guides that were printed out from PDFs. They are meant to be folded into the size of a business card and carried in your wallet. Being ordinary paper, they will fray and rip in no time at all. Can you, and if so how do you, laminate a piece of paper that is supposed to be folded up and carried in your wallet? Anyone here do this?

Well, you can buy "laminating sheets" at most office supply stores, which are basically sheets of clear, sticky backed plastic. They will do the job but are bulky and stiff.
The way I have found that "laminates" a piece of paper, and gives it a fair amount of water resistance, is to cover it with a layer of clear plastic packing tape, the kind that comes in 1 3/4- or 2-inch wide rolls. If you do that to the front and back of a piece of paper, it'll have a lot more wear resistance and be able to put up with a certain amount of abuse. It's also easier to fold a sheet of paper after you laminate it with the packing tape.

Most stationary shops will laminate almost anything for next to nothing. I'm sure if you look in your yellow pages you can find somewhere to do this. Usually the same type of place where you can make copies for a quarter.

Another option is to "paint" the paper with a product like map seal (http://www.aquaseal.com/map-seal.html). I use it on the instruction sheets that come with certain gear (like my GPS receiver) and for cheat sheets of the kind you are describing. End result is paper that can be folded much more compactly than if laminated and will still be highly weatherproof (probably not as good as laminated).

Since you are printing this out you can also buy Rite-in-the-Rain paper in most standard sizes and print it directly on there.

http://www.riteintherain.com/

I really like the idea of the clear packing tape mentioned above. I never thought of it before. <img src="images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />
Thanks
Tom

Some (... may be more ... <img src="images/graemlins/blush.gif" alt="" />) years ago, when playing with electronics and etching my own printed circuits, I used to protect them with an aerosol, which deposited some kind of plastic coating.
I also used this method to somewhat "waterproof" papers.
But I guess waterproofing the paper won't do anything about its deteriorability (did I just invent a new word or what ???? <img src="images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />).


Regards.

Alain

Hi Craig,

Would you be willing to share some of your *.pdf files with other forum members? I'm presuming that you are referencing files similar to what Bill Vannerson shared, and would be interested in seeing your ideas. Thanks.

Comanche7

Circuit boards are usually protected with a conformal coating that is essentially a layer of plastic deposited on the surface that isolates the board and components from the environment. Tends to be pretty high viscosity and if used on paper, I would think it would stay mostly on the surface.

The map seal type products are actually absorbed into the fibers of the paper and in fact seem to significantly extend the life of the paper especially if it is folded and unfolded frequently

I've used clear acrylic spray sold at art supply houses--yes, it waterproofs the paper. Unfortunately, it's then brittle...I've bought a 200 sheet pack of rite in the rain, to use in a laser printer, but have not yet had time to compose my list of "tips"...I'm still trying to pare it down to a couple dozen pages <img src="images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

I'm including matierial from FM 3-05.70 (latest revamp of fm 21-76, survival), FM 21-76-1 SERE (level A), the SERE level B course, etc etc etc.