Actually, for me, it depends on how my hands are feeling the day I start work on binding. I have arthritis and carpal tunnel to the extent I'm starting to experience tendon lock on a consistent enough basis that I have to check on the health of my hands before I make a final decision. Most of the time, I hand stitch on the back because even though my hands are relatively in the same position as if I were to machine stitch in the front and have to do all that pinning, I like the rhythm and motion of hand stitching, I find it extremely relaxing because I'm at the end of the quilt. I'll load up all my needles the night before I start binding by hand, then start in on it the next day, usually when I'm snuggled in bed watching TV.