Appreciation post: I thought Japanese hole punching jigs were just a fad until I made a 400-page text block in one go.

The registration was so perfect I haven't had to re-punch a single signature in the six months since I bought the $35 tool from a shop in Kyoto, so has anyone found a good source for the special awls that fit them?

2 comments

2 Comments

williams.kim10h agoMost Upvoted

Honestly seems like a lot of fuss for hole punching. I mean, a regular awl and a ruler always worked fine for me, idk. Maybe it's just me but dropping $35 on a single-use jig feels like buying into the hype. That money could get you a whole set of basic tools. The perfect registration is cool and all, but how often are you really binding 400-page blocks?

alex_johnson10h ago

Used to agree with you completely. Picked up one of those jigs on a whim for a single project, a photo album for my sister's wedding. The difference in how clean the final thing looked was actually shocking. Turns out I'm binding more stuff now because it doesn't look homemade in a bad way. That $35 stung at first, but it got me to make nicer things more often.