Does anyone make engineering pads (light green paper with grid printed
on back) that are bound like a legal pad with perforations for
tear-off, rather than the usual glue edge?  The normal engineering
pads don't work well in a portfolio because if you don't handle them
carefully, the pad will split into two parts.

You're right!--That is annoying.  I'll see what I can find out.

This is certainly a carrot on a string (as it was discontinued 2 years
ago), but thought I'd mention it to you so that we at least know THEY
DO (or did) EXIST - my initial seach online turned up Comet School
Supplies.  Check out stock item #9916 under the section "4X4 GRID
PADS, FILLER, & WIREBOUND BOOKS" at this link:

http://www.cometschoolsupplies.com/college_bluebooks.php

I spoke with the sales rep for my local area, Neil Rowsey, and he
confirmed that this was indeed a legal-bound graph paper pad...that he
hasn't carried in a long time.  Shucks.  He did suggest that The
Engineers Bookstore and the Georgia Tech Bookstore (both in Atlanta)
might carry them, as they buy from a different distributor.  And as
luck would have it, not only am I in Atlanta, but I'm a GT grad...AND
I happen to already have a trip planned to both stores tomorrow
(Friday, 02/03/06).  (It's time to start studying for the P.E.
exam...).

Anyway, I'll keep searching online and will nose around the bookstores
tomorrow, and will hopefully have a seller located for you soon.

I've seen that sort of thing, and while it is bound graph paper, it's
not an engineering pad, in that it doesn't have the grid printed on
the reverse of the writing side.  This is important for three reasons:

1)  It make the grid fairly subtle
2)  The grid normally won't be copied by a photocopier
3)  Erasures won't partially remove the grid lines.

My friend Rich tells me of one time getting a cheap engineering pad,
and it turned out that rather than being light green paper, it was
white paper with the green printed on.  The first time you take an
eraser to it, you remove the green in the area you're erasing.

Given how many people use engineering pads, it amazes me that
apparently no one has ever pushed for getting them with a better
binding so they don't tend to fall apart.

By the way, thanks for the suggestion, even though it's not really
what I'm looking for.

I suppose maybe engineering pads are used less now due to the
prevalence of computers, but I still like to sketch out designs on
them, rather that trying to brainstorm directly in a CAE program.  So
do most of my friends, but maybe we're "old fogies" now.

If nothing turns up, I might just have to contact one of the makers of
real engineering pads (perhaps National), and inquire as to what the
cost and minimum quantity would be to purchase custom pads made to my
own specifications.  I suspect that a minimum custom order will
probably be in the thousands of pads.

They're still frequently used.  I got my BS 2 years ago, and now I'm
going back for my MS at a different school, and both schools used/are
using that style of paper for every handwritten assignment.

Also, the majority of young engineers at my company prefer that type
of paper for sketches, calcs, etc.

If someone sold it with a perforated top edge, they'd be set for life!  Glue sucks!

May not be quite what you're looking for, but these pads are great:
http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.aspx?c=1&p=32543&cat=1,42936

If you take the paper that you like to a printshop, they could
probably bind it the way that you like.

As far as I can tell, the normal engineering calculation pad paper is
only available in the 8.5x11 inch gummed pads.  If I took that to a
print shop to be made into a proper pad, that would use up about 1/2"
at the top of the paper.  Part of the objective is that when the paper
is torn at the microperf, the result should be 8.5x11.

If I could just find the right paper in rolls or something, having my
own pads made would be practical.  But I can't find that paper (16 lb
green tint) anywhere.  I've found a few places that have 18 lb bond in
green, and lots of places have 20 lb, but they are all very bright or
dark greens and quite opaque.  The engineerinng pads use a paper with
a relatively subtle green tint.

So if anyone knows where to buy the right paper, I'd be satisfied with that.