Print Finishes: Binding Options

For printed documents that run to many pages, you will presumably want the pages attached together – a process known in the printing industry as ‘Binding’. There are many different options for binding on offer as part of our print finishing service at Colour Print. We thought it might be useful to give you a guide to a few of the more common binding options that we provide. Of course, if you have a specific binding in mind that is not mentioned here, we will be able to provide that for you, too.

Wiro Binding

Rectangular holes are punched through the margins of your printed pages and plastic or metal is looped through the holes to form a binding down one side. Wiro binding enables the pages to be opened to 180° so they can be laid flat on the table open at the desired page.

Saddle Stitch Binding

Folded sheets of printed paper can be opened out and stacked so that the fold lines are on top of each other. Running a line of metal staples along the fold line is known as saddle stitching – a particularly secure method of joining pages together.

Perfect Binding

Sometimes known as ‘adhesive binding’, this method works by applying glue to the spine created by pages that have been gathered into several ‘signatures’ and arranged in the correct order. A soft paper cover is then placed around the bound pages. A hot glue that sets as it cools is typically used. Modern alternatives to hot-melt adhesive bindings include Polyurethane Reactive (PUR) binding. This is faster drying and more durable, but also more expensive.

Square Back Binding

Combining the strength of saddle stitch with the look of perfect binding’s neat rectangular spine, square back binding is a popular choice for short printing runs.

Exposed Thread Sewn Binding

An attractive and striking high quality finish is to leave the threads of the stitching exposed on the spine of a document. This method allows you to open a document and lay it flat on a surface without it closing or splitting apart the signatures.

Case Binding

This is the method used for binding hardcover books. The signatures are stitched together in the same way as above. They form a textblock that is then encased in a cover of thick card, leather or vinyl.

Screw or Stud Binding

We can drill holes through all the pages of your document. A metal or plastic screw can be inserted into the hole and tightened to hold everything together. This is great for thicker documents such as this swatch book of lamination finishes.

Tape Bound

Pages that have been stitched or stapled together can be bound with adhesive tape to give a neater finish.

If you would like any further information about any of our binding options, please don’t hesitate to contact us. You can also call the office of our printworks on 01603 488001.

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