TODAY'S TOPIC: Plenty of Binding Choices at Sentinel Printing

There are plenty of details to keep in mind when planning a book project. While layouts, cover design, file preparation and print production details may dominate your attention, don't forget to consider your book's binding style! At Sentinel Printing, we offer in-house saddle binding, perfect binding and plastic spiral binding. Here are a few advantages of each:

Saddle binding - This style involves driving wire stitches (essentially staples) through the spine of folded signatures. Saddle binding is ideal for thin book and brochure projects, which can include "self-covers" or a separate four-page cover. Foldout covers and mixed stocks are possible with saddle binding.

Plastic coil binding - In this style, plastic wire is wound through holes punched in the spine of trimmed sheets and crimped at either end. The main advantage to plastic coil binding is its ability to allow books to lay flat or be folded 360 degrees for single-hand use. Index tabs, multiple stocks and cover varieties can all be included in plastic coil-bound books.

Perfect binding - In this common bookbinding method, glue is applied to the roughened spines of signatures and a separate cover is attached. Perfect binding can be used for both soft and hardcover books, making it a great solution for most book projects.

Helpful Planning Tips

Measure Spine Thickness for Accurate Perfect Binding Layouts - To measure spine thickness for your perfect-bound books, divide the page count by the pages-per-inch (PPI) number of your paper. For example, if the page count is 256 and the PPI for your paper is 500, the result is a .512 thickness for your text. Then calculate the thickness of your cover stock. 10 pt. cover stick, for example, will require .01 for both the front and back covers. The result is a total spine thickness of .532 for your book. Call Sentinel Printing if you need additional help, or for paper PPI measurements.

Ask us about split-run binding - Many book projects benefit from having both perfect-bound and plastic coil-bound versions to accommodate both frequent and occasional users. While Sentinel Printing can easily handle both binding methods, your specific project may require some differences in layout, such as copy adjustment to allow for the punched holes in plastic coil versions. Involve Sentinel Printing early in your planning process to ensure split-run binding production goes smoothly.

The Sentinel Advantage
At Sentinel Printing, we go "Above and Beyond" to make sure your book production expectations are exceeded. Every member of our friendly and capable sales, customer service, prepress and production staff is committed to ensuring your delight at every step of the production process.

Give us a call today and let us help you begin planning your next successful book project!