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A
beautifully bound book in which the binding reflects the value of
its content, is a thing of pleasure to readers. Even today people
appreciate holding a high quality book in their hands, which attracts
by its nice appearance and finish.
In continuation to my recent article " Book Binding - an Art";
I would now like to share with the readers, some of the ongoing
developments in the finishing equipment and materials etc. This
write-up is also attempted at Binding / Finishing Workflow Technology
/ Processes to take maximum advantage of the new trends for its
contribution in producing the books (end products) of acceptable
quality.
There is a strong need for spreading awareness about the improvements
in the book-production techniques amongst the Artisans who were
so far totally dependent on hand skills and manual work force. Specialized
indigenous machines, devices and systems have been developed in
the past two decades to provide alternatives means for producing
books of world-class standard in India.
It is imperative to explore the growth potential of the Binding
Industry. There is a steady trend emerging in commercial and publication
printing. The printed-paper would need to be folded, stitched/sewn
or finished in one form or the other. The variety of demand for
finished products - Reports, Journals, Manuals, Magazines, Directories,
Textbooks etc., is expanding. Most binding jobs consist of thousands
or hundreds of copies of identical publication. The interesting
fact is that whenever a printer or a binder has to finish books
or journals in excess of a few thousand copies, many of these books
or manuals are actually never read!
To counter this as well as the ever-increasing cost of production,
the print runs are shrinking. It is in this context that I had made
a brief mention in "Just-in-Time On-Demand Printing" of
exactly the number of copies of books that are required to be produced.
The answer is Digital Printing System. These systems, just like
DTP in the yester years took the industry by a storm. Exactly same
is likely to happen in the case of Digital Printing Systems as soon
as they become affordable. There are numerous benefits of these
methods of printing like Shortest Delivery Time, Elimination of
Waste, Reduction in Inventory Cost and last and not the least Flexibility
in Application of Binding Technologies.
Are we Binders ready for this scenario i.e. shorter runs and even
shorter turnaround times? The quality standards will be more demanding
than ever before. Let us accept the ground realities of our binding/finishing
facilities:
Binderies usually have rather old & slow machinery as compared
to the Pre-press and Press. Binding is invariably sub-contracted
to those people who have the lowest skilled / educated personnel.
They have very little contact with the customer or other departments.
So where do we proceed from here to prepare the Bindery to cope-up
with 'Just In Time (JIT)' delivery schedule of On Demand Printing?
As binding is going to be an integral part of the Print Media Industry,
The Equipment, Materials, Staff-Skills and Communication will need
to be continuously inducted / upgraded / adopted to ensure minimum
spoilage and faster turnaround.
Equipment
These would need to be compact with simplicity of shortest set-up
time for change over. The equipment has to be engineered for ease-to-use
with minimal training needs. The industry has to come a long way
ever since independence but most developments have taken place in
the past two decades only. Most of the finishing equipment is now
available from indigenous sources.
Materials
Book Binding quality can be achieved with consistency in no small
measures without the right inputs: Paper and Board, Glue Adhesive,
Cloth, Leather Thread, Tape Cord & Headbands etc.
PAPER AND BOARD is the basis of the craft of bookbinding. The
properties of the material to be preserved and presented.
Over the last 600 years tremendous differences have occurred in
the quality, use, strength, texture, colour and surface in paper
and board. The binder must appreciate the possibilities and limitations
of the paper in order to control and modify his working methods.
The importance of grain direction in paper, board and the direction
of the warp thread in cloths and mull cannot be over-emphasized.
In every binding the grain and wrap of all the man-made materials
must run from head to tail. Material with conflicting grains or
wraps will cause boards to buckle, endpapers to cease or split,
paper to cockle and books to gape, resulting in sections not folding
properly. Paper folding with the grain will lay flat and crease
without damage, but folded against the grain, the fibers will crack
and endeavor to straighten.
Quality Paper, Board (Millboard, Strawboard, & Pasteboard) and
Covering Material is now being produced indigenously. Moreover it
is also possible to import the material from any part of the world
at reasonable prices.
Glue (Adhesives)
Wide range of glue application processes are available for Perfect
/ Case Binding. The selection of the best method depends on the
type of end product.
i) Emulsion (cold-glue) water soluble PVA (Poly-vinyl acetate) based
products having excellent lay-flat properties and high resistance
to aging, used in book-back rounding process.
ii) Hot-melt adhesives are 100% solid materials based on thermoplastic
(EVA).
iii) Primer two-shot Adhesives. These consist of combination of
emulsion and hot-melt glues.
iv) Poly-urethane (PUR) Adhesive. The latest trend in ensuring excellent
lay flat properties and outstanding strength with durability of
the BOOK.
v) Animal Glue-Case binding and some of the earlier binding was
using adhesives made from gelatins and bone / horn of animals. Now
a days artificial resin have replaced the animal glue.
Cloth
Cloths prepared for bookbinding are free from Scuf and Frey. Woven
cloth has wrap and weft threads, material should be cut so that
the warp (grain direction) will lie from the head to the tail of
the book.
i) Mull: Open weave cotton material stiffened with size. It reinforces
spines of books to which it is attached by an adhesive.
ii) Jaconette (Holland Cloth): a closely woven material is made
from bleached cotton or linen stiffened with starch. Used for linings
and hinges of books.
iii) Book Cloth: Cotton fabrics having a pigment filler or tissue
lining to prevent the penetration of glue. Natural surface cloths
are favoured as these make attractive covers for small and cheaper
books.
iv) Bukram: is stiff and difficult to work. Most bukrams are softened
first by pasting and are glued immediately. Bukram is used for all
good-quality work as covers for large case bindings and covers.
v) Leather Cloth (Rexine): is manufactured by combining cellulose
nitrate with camphor oil rolled on to woven linen. Water and stain
- resistant, very strong and grained to stimulate leather. Rexine
sticks well and is widely used for all types of books, diaries etc.
vi) Plastic: or plastic surfaced paper cloth is manufactured in
many colours and is often textured
to simulate leather. Water and stain resistant properties are handy
as bookbinding covering material.
vii) Paper Fabric: Is a strong paper of chemical wood sized with
resin. Available in many colours and embossed with a cloth or leather
texture. Popular as inexpensive covering material.
Leathers
Contemporary leather for binding ranges in thickness from 0.6 to
1mm with even texture and vegetable-tanned.
i) Morocco-a name given for goatskin has superseded calf leather,
as it is very strong and durable.
ii) Calf skin- used in restoration work. The smooth, slightly porous
surface has a delightful 'feel' and intricate gold and blind tooling
had beautiful effect.
iii) Hide is a name given for calfskin prepared from more mature
animals, and soft-tanned for bookbinding.
iv) Seal- is a soft leather with a beautiful grain, smooth, oily
feel and very durable. It is not much in use as it is difficult
to procure.
v) Sheepskin has a dull and porous surface with loose texture. Grade
known as BASIL is used for economical application but not suited
for Gold embossing etc.
vi) Pigskin, alum-dressed or tawed skins are snow-white and durable.
Available in various colours but warm brown is most commonly used.
Blind tooling creates a beautiful effect and surface hardens with
age.
vii) Vellum is made from skins of calves and goats. Finished leather
appears to be unaffected by time. Goat vellum is used for covering
large books and calf for smaller bindings. Skins are translucent
and are normally lined with hand-made paper.
viii) Parchment - made from split sheepskin similar to vellum. Not
much in use as it has greesy surface, not durable and scuffing results
in grey appearance.
Thread, Tape and Cord
i) Linen thread - is made from flex fibre which is unbleached, spun
and waxed for maximum strength. It is available in different thickness
to suit hand and machine sewing of books.
ii) Linen Tape - unbleached flax fibres are woven into different
widths and stiffened. Used for strengthening and binding the sections.
iii) Cotton Tape - used for temporary case binding.
iv) Webbing - Unbleached linen and hemp fibre woven in various widths
and stiffened with size. Advisable for use in large books and Account
books etc.
v) Hemp Fibres - are spun and combined for various thickness of
cord. Used for sewing on sections in the sunk cord.
vi) Head Bands - for head and tail ends strengthens the head cap
and makes-up gap between top and bottom of the sections and edges
of the boards. Embroidered headbands with woven strips of 12 mm
(1/2 in) are pasted and attached to the spine. Varity of headband
in different colours are available indigenously.
Staff Skill and Communication
Getting started in the bindery. A job in the bindery department
of a printing plant or in a commercial binding-house can serve as
a gateway to a career in the printing industry. In a bindery, a
skilled employee might eventually move into a position involving
gob planning and estimating, customer service or training other
workers. The automated, electronic machinery found in today's binderies
has little in common with hand-binding techniques employed a few
decades ago. More automation means that equipment operators are
less likely to spend previous production time adjusting their machines
with screwdrivers and wrenches. Overall working conditions in the
post-press area, though still physically demanding, have also improved
because manufacturers take all these issues under consideration
whilst designing equipment.
Staff-skills and inter-department communication will ensure the
maximum utilization of automatic or semi-automatic machines in use.
It is essential that the workflow process is widely appreciated
by the staff acquiring the desired skills to operate the modern
equipment. Regular training programmes to fine tune the ability
of binders to remain competitive so that goals of the publishers
and printers-enhanced productivity through speed, simplicity and
economy- become their goals as well.
Other
Articles:
Delhi
Printers Association - in retrospect
Stora Enso
- looking to the future
Book Publishing
in India Today
Digital
- The New Business of Printing
A Strong
Friendship - A Promising Future
CtP Revolution
in India
Book Binding
Techniques
Delhi
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