Although some printed items are deliverable as they come off the
press, most printed material must be converted through the use of
bindery or finishing equipment.
The most common finishing operation is folding. This is something
that should be considered as a piece is being designed so your printer
can help you to determine how to best utilize the mechanical folders
instead of more costly hand-folding operations.
The sketches below illustrate the most common types of folds. Once
your print job is folded, it may need to be gathered or collated
which can be done by hand or machine. After the pieces are gathered,
the sheets/pages can be bound by the following methods: saddle-stitch,
side-stitch and corner stitch.
If the finished booklet lays flat (a cookbook, training manual,
etc.) then mechanical binding is a good option. A plastic or spiral
(wire) comb can be inserted into punched holes along the left margin.
Finally, a book can be perfect bound, where a glue is applied to
a special lining to go over the backbone of the book and then the
cover is adhered to it. This is used to bind inexpensive paperback
books. A hardcover or case-bound book is commonly used for book
editions that need to last a longer time. The folded signatures
are sewn together then coated with glue and rounded to the correct
shape. A gauze strip is applied to the backbone and attached to
the cover. The endleaves are then glued into place to secure the
cover to the pages of the book.
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