Also known as coil binding, spiral binding is a book-binding method that uses a metal or plastic coil inserted through holes drilled along the edge of the pages to be bound. While not quite as popular as saddle-stitch binding or perfect binding, spiral binding does offer a few unique benefits or advantages to consider when choosing a binding method for your project.
What Are the Benefits of Spiral Binding?
Pages Open 360 Degrees.
Unlike a perfect or saddle-stitch binding, spiral binding makes it possible to open the pages in a book a full 360 degrees to fold back on itself while allowing the book to lie flat on a surface. This feature is particularly useful for any type of book or document — such as cookbooks, directories, sales presentations, music scores, instruction or maintenance manuals, road atlases, travel guides, etc. — that can stay open by itself for easy reference.
Pages Stay Open
Because pages in a spiral-bound book rotate freely around the coils, they will stay open and will not spring back or offer resistance when fully opened. This means a spiral-bound book does not need to be hand-held or otherwise constrained with an additional device, like a book holder, to access the content. And, once pages have been opened and folded back, the book will lie flat on the surface.
Low or High Page Counts
While there is an upper limit on the number of pages that can be bound utilizing saddle-stitch binding (in the neighborhood of 256 pages), perfect-binding places a lower limit on the number of pages due the need for a minimal 1/8” spine. If the stacked pages don’t constitute the necessary 1/8” thickness, perfect-binding isn’t an option. Spiral binding, on the other hand, can accommodate page counts both high and low. For larger page counts, the size of the metal or plastic coil is increased in diameter; for smaller page counts, vice versa.
Index Tab Friendly
Spiral-bound books can readily accommodate index tabs making it easy to find and reference content when needed. And, because spiral-bound books can remain open, index tabs are a useful and welcome addition — particularly when content needs to be quickly located and referenced repeatedly as in instruction manuals, maintenance manuals, or documents that outline emergency procedures, etc.
Straightforward and Durable
Spiral-binding is a common, readily available binding process that does not require excessive advance preparation to implement. Plastic coils and plastic-coated wire coils are not only durable, but are available in a wide variety of colors to enhance or complement your book’s design theme.
If you have any questions about Spiral Binding, give us a call at 330-597-8560. We’re happy to help you get ready for your next trade show!
Photo by Dan Bucko
