MAKE: Blog: Cool Tool: Booklet stapler

Cool Tool: Booklet stapler

One of my fave e-zines is Kevin Kelly's Cool Tools. I always look forward to finding it in my inbox. Here's an excerpt from the latest issue:

Saddle stapling for zines
Mini Booklet Stapler

If you like creating little DIY booklets or zines, but have been frustrated by the short arm length in standard staplers that forces you to curl up (or worse, fold) your notebook pages in order to get a center saddle staple, this two-way stapler is a terrific little solution. It looks just like your ordinary handheld personal stapler, until you twist the upper portion: it twists all the way perpendicular to the body of the stapler, so that you can easily staple booklets at the center fold. When I found it, I was kind of surprised I'd never seen this before. It's sheer genius and simple. I'm a huge pocket notebook fan. I have a boxful of Moleskines, which I love, but I've been playing around with crafting my own Moleskine-size blank notebooks for keeping notes on small projects or short trips. In the past, I've had to either fold up the pages a bit (and carefully unfold and smooth out the crease). Or I waited to go to someplace like Kinko's that offers saddle staplers. Neither was a very convenient solution and I didn't want to spend lots of money on an expensive "long reach" or saddle stitch stapler of my own. This one's not as small as a micro stapler, but it's as lightweight (plastic body) and is just a bit longer than the palm of my hand. No unnecessary bells and whistles. When you move the swinging piece, it snaps into place, and you can twist it either left or right. The loading area is very easy, not tricky at all. The only drawbacks are that it uses mini staples and can only staple 15 pages at a time. But as long as you don't have a really thick stack, it works like a charm. Maybe one of these days they'll come up with a slightly more robust version using regular staples. Until then, this will do for most jobs. I'm almost tempted to buy a second one to keep at home, but it's small enough I can just carry it with me.

-- Lani Teshima

Mini Booklet Stapler
$8, Available from Amazon

Cool Tools - Link

Related:

Comments

Oldest comments listed first.

Posted by: Alan on January 3, 2008 at 5:36 PM

A few years back i purchased a saddle stapler very similar to this one for just this purpose;

http://www.amazon.com/Bostitch-B440SB-Booklet-Stapler-Anti-Jam/dp/B0006HVU8S/ref=pd_sbs_op_title_1

Posted by: Gareth Branwyn on January 3, 2008 at 8:40 PM

I have a long-reach stapler that I've had since back in my zine publishing heyday. It's cool and does up to 14" sheets, but it's rather unwieldy. This is a more sensible approach for most applications.

Posted by: Rich on January 3, 2008 at 10:35 PM

Another Full-sized version is made by Itoya. It rotates to a full 360 degrees and uses full-sized staples.

http://www.itoya.com/Catalogs/Staplers/Staplers_htm/S210.htm

Posted by: Jk on January 4, 2008 at 1:13 AM

A poor man's way of doing this would be to staple using a piece of eraser for recieving the two puncture points when the stapler is pushed through the paper - thereafter using your fingers to bend the stapler at it's joints.

Posted by: Ed on January 4, 2008 at 1:03 PM

"A poor man's way of doing this..."

Since the stapler goes for $8, that would be a very poor man indeed.

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