Finishing

While finishing can refer to the surface characteristics or texture of paper Finishing is the general term for trimming, folding, binding and other post-production processes of paper handling and printing.

Wire Binding: This is also known as spiral binding or Wiro binding. A manual can lie flat on a desk and can be folded back on itself (this is useful if desk space is limited). A disadvantage is that the binding is not particularly attractive.

Plastic Comb Binding: This is not as strong as wire binding. A manual can lie flat on a desk and can be folded back on itself (but it doesn't lie as flat as with wire binding). The binding can give an unprofessional image.

Perfect Binding: This looks good, but from a practical perspective it is not good. It is difficult to ensure that a manual stays open. If the spine is bent back to help the pages stay open, the pages work loose from the binding and eventually fall out. It is not practical for small quantities, due to the setup costs.

Saddle Stitch: Also known as Staple Stitch. This is a good option if there are less than about 30 leaves (60 sides). It is cheap, the document lies flat and it can be folded back on itself.

Lay Flat: This has the visual appeal of perfect binding, and it also allows the manual to lie flat on a surface. However, the manual cannot be folded back on itself. Lay-flat binding is practical for documents that have between about 96 pages and 400 pages. It is not practical for small quantities, because of the set-up charge.

Canadian Binding: It was initially a spiral-bound paperback, but when consumers could not easily find it on bookstore shelves, this is where a spine is wrapped around the wire binding. Now known as “Canadian binding” among some publishers, the method allows a hardcover book to lay flat while open.