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I want to change my binding to spiral and have the cover laminated. The reason I want to do this is because I love to fold my manual back to one page and have it sit on my lap. Is this not recommended?

I'm not sure the thickness of the manual would lend itself to being spiral bound very easily. I know the binding that was chosen for the manuals is a special lay flat binding. Which means you can push the binding flat so the book stays open on the table without breaking the binding. That being said, I do tend to cut the bindings off and put them in a 3 ring binder so that I can grab just the plans I need when we travel to my parents house during harvest time or spring planting.

Here is a link to a previous post on this same topic

viewtopic.php?f=6&t=2278&st=0&sk=t&sd=a ... al+binding

AwaitingHisReturn wrote:I want to change my binding to spiral and have the cover laminated. The reason I want to do this is because I love to fold my manual back to one page and have it sit on my lap. Is this not recommended?

Adding the spiral also makes it hard to fit into a shelf if you have them there. I have a bunch of BJU TM's and they're huge because of the spiral and they scratch my shelves and won't fit into my magazine holders either, because they make the TM wider. This may not be an issue for you though, just a heads up.

I did this with one of my HOD manuals and I wish I never did. It just does not wear very well this way. They take a beating when you use them every day like this. What I found is the perfect binding the way they come is the best and they do lay flat in very little time at all. I do cover the book in contact paper and that has worked great. I need to use most of my manuals three times so I really need them to last and I found the way it comes with a little clear contact paper really is the most durable. HTH

With Little Hearts, I pulled the manual out and put it in a 3-ring binder. I like it that way, sort of. It is big when I go to put it on my lap (worse than the regular manual would have been). With Beyond and CTC, I am going to leave them bound and just go ahead and crease the binding. I hate creased bindings, but I shall survive it! It is better than tearing my whole manual up!!!