Those expensive Japanese bookbinding knives? Total game changer, I was so wrong.

I used to think spending $80 on a single knife was ridiculous. Ive been using a cheap $15 x-acto for years and thought it was fine. Then I got a Hasegawa blade at a craft fair in Seattle last spring just to see what the fuss was about. First cut through some handmade paper and it was like butter. No tearing, no crushed edges. I even got cleaner corners on my spine pieces. Has anyone else tried a nicer knife and felt silly for waiting so long?

3 comments

3 Comments

evan_burns9515d ago

xena1's tip about microbevels is interesting, I actually read that in a bookbinding blog a while back. The first cut on a nice blade really is something else though, makes you wonder why you waited so long.

charlie_ellis15d ago

...wait, $80? I got mine for $45 at a little shop in Portland and even that felt insane at the time. But you're right about that first cut feeling... I was doing a batch of Coptic stitch journals and the paper just folded over the spine without any of that crunchy resistance. My old knife would always leave these tiny little tears on the edge of the text block.

xena115d ago

Sharp blade makes all the difference, @charlie_ellis, but try a microbevel on your next knife to avoid that edge tearing.