Knights & Knaves Alehouse

Okay, you print out a pdf, double sided, then you staple it. THEN you're supposed to put some sort of special tape over the spine, covering the staples.

What is the name of this tape, and where do you get it?

There's a couple things you can use - LINECO binding tape/quick bind tape are especially made for bookbinding. Here's a link to see for yourself.

California Paper Goods

Another, cheaper alternative is to use a heavy grade duct tape over a strip of loosely woven cheesecloth (keeps the tape from tearing through the paper edge after repeated use)

Mythmere wrote:...you're supposed to put some sort of special tape over the spine, covering the staples.

Really? I never thought of that. What's it for, exactly?

I just use the colored plastic tape from the hardware store.

Algolei wrote:

Mythmere wrote:...you're supposed to put some sort of special tape over the spine, covering the staples.

Really? I never thought of that. What's it for, exactly?

Keeps the staples from catching on stuff and keeps the paper from shifting and loosening in the staples. You don't lose the top and bottom pages nearly as fast.

fcanaday wrote:I just use the colored plastic tape from the hardware store.

What do they call that, though? Is it a kind of light-duty duct tape or something else?

I just use plain old Scotch tape. It does the job.

Recently, I've discovered those plastic report cover binding clips that you slide onto the spine. Eliminates the need for staples entirely.

When I bind my printout books, I dont use tape. I found that the transparent tape is to soft to hold up to regular use. Masking tape works well at first, but after some years, the tape gets weak and falls off or crumbles with even the slightest use. Duct tape and electrical tape do not have a good hold as the heat of your hand would melt the adhesive and cause the tape to slip off.

So when I bind my books, I just use a normal strip of paper and paste it down with white (Elmer's) glue. This can be tricky as you have to apply the glue evenly or you have some soft spots that would make the strip peel off.

I recently discovered a type of packaging tape that works by getting the adhesive wet. I have yet to rally try this out, but its thick and strong, but it suffers from 'soft spots' if you dont get it wet evenly.

I always use 3-ring binders. I've got thousands of gigs of PDF's on disk which I will probably never print, 'cause if I did it would cost thousands of dollars of ink, and, to a lesser extent, paper.

ThirstyStirge wrote:I always use 3-ring binders. I've got thousands of gigs of PDF's on disk which I will probably never print, 'cause if I did it would cost thousands of dollars of ink, and, to a lesser extent, paper.

I don't like 3 ring binders - they don't line up right on the shelf.

Mythmere wrote: What do they call that, though? Is it a kind of light-duty duct tape or something else?

It's just called Scotch plastic tape. It comes in a couple different sizes and several color. Just ask for the plastic tape. I've been using this stuff for years and its still holding.

http://www.acehardware.com/sm-3m-scotch ... 73796.html

http://store.pfequip.com/product_info.p ... 6a80e23115

This will work fine, you can probably find it at a printers supply or order from the link.

We used to used it at my old job for binding receipt books, order pads or things like that.

spiral binding is also an option.

ThirstyStirge wrote:I always use 3-ring binders. I've got thousands of gigs of PDF's on disk which I will probably never print, 'cause if I did it would cost thousands of dollars of ink, and, to a lesser extent, paper.

Thousands of gigs as in at least 2 or 3 terabytes of PDF's as in at least 4 to 6 500 gigabyte hard drives. I don't think there is that much stuff published for the whole rpg field, let alone D&D/AD&D. Do you write a lot of original material and you've been holding out on us or what?

Any reason you couldn't just use a strip of cloth and a pot of PVA?

PapersAndPaychecks wrote:Any reason you couldn't just use a strip of cloth and a pot of PVA?

Laziness and gluing myself to household objects ...