Visions of school bounce through my head when I think of spiral or coil binding. A continuous coil of wire or plastic passes through many little holes along one side of the papers. Plastic coils can add a fun, colorful look to your project. My personal pet peeve — the ends of those little wire coils often come loose and get tangled with other spirals or poke unsuspecting hands. Because the plastic or wire is threaded through all the holes in coil or spiral binding it is generally more expensive than comb or double loop wire binding.
A sturdier alternative to the single wire spirals or the plastic comb is Wiro (Wire-o or double loop wire) binding. The wire forms teeth or double loops that fit into rectangular holes in the paper. The loops are crimped to hold the wire in place. Like comb and coil bindings, these allow the book to lay flat when open.
Comb, coil, and wire binding methods require additional finishing time. Pages must be punched with the proper pattern of holes before binding. Because only a few pages at a time can be punched and they must all line up correctly it adds to the preparation time.
Writing notebooks, notepads, steno pads, cookbooks, booklets, manuals, reference materials, workbooks, and calendars often utilize comb, coil, or double loop wire binding methods.
