VENCINKBookbinding Kits, Bookbinding Supplies Hand Book Binding Starter Tools Set with Genuine Bone Folders, Paper Awl, Large-Eye Needles, Waxed Thread, Binding Ribbon, Glue Brush, Steel Ruler

First let me say that I haven't used anything yet except the scissors. I think though, that this will be an excellent starter kit. I thought I would just describe what came with this kit for those unsure about what they'll get for their money. This review is for the small kit. Let's start with the scissors. If this review was for the scissors alone, it would have been three stars. Why? Because I have large hands and these are made for smaller hands. But, they are good and sharp. I just wish I could fit more than one finger in the hole opposite the one my thumb goes in.The two bone folders do indeed seem to be made of bone. The smaller, curved one measures in at just over 4.75 inches. The large one is just a hair over 8 inches long. Both lay flat.The awl is rather small but appears to be well made and is good and sharp at the tip. I do wish it was a bit bigger. With the ball and resting in the middle of my palm the metal tip is just below the end of my second finger.The waxed thread is flat and came in four colors, black, off white, tan, and a very light brown. Should do the job nicely. I cut off a foot of the black and pulled as hard as I could. It didn't break.A package of six long eye needles in three different sizes was included. They're sharp, but not as sharp as sewing needles.Thimble was too small for my fingers but would do nicely for smaller hands.Flat linen in an off white color was included, a strip 1.5 inches wide and about six and a half feet wide.One glue brush, five and a half inches long. I pulled at the bristles trying to get some to come loose, but none did.Four binder clips 1.25 inches wide, with jaws that will open half an inch.An 8 inch long ruler, thin and flexible. Markings are black and incised into the metal so they shouldn't run off. One face is marked in inches, with extra markings for the first two and a half inches on one edge in twentieths, eighths, half inch and inch increments. The half inch after this is marked in fiftieths. The following five inches is marked in tenths, half and one inch increments. The other edge is marked in thirty seconths, sixteenths, eighths, quarter, half and one inch increments for the first two and a half inches, followed by a half inch with additional sixtyfourths. The next five inches have sixteenths, eighths, quarter inch, half inch and one inch increments. I won't go into detail about the metric side of the ruler, save to say that it's markings go as small as 0.5 millimeters.

I'm Gigi, John's wife, and we both share this Amazon account. As a dedicated art teacher, I highly recommend this nifty bookbinding kit! It provides everything you need to get started in bookbinding, and then some! The best part is you receive not one, but two different lovely, well polished, genuine bone folders to aid you in folding/scoring your paper crafts! I purchased this bookbinding kit, as it came with all kinds of extras in addition to the much needed two bone folders-- for the same price as the bone folders by themselves-- which made the rest of the kit a really nice bonus! ;) Kindly be aware that the awl has a shorter shaft, which is about 4.5 inches including the petite handle; I felt I needed a longer shaft with larger handle to reach parts of my folded paper lanterns. But it's not a deal breaker though. All of the goodies (clips, needles, thimble, threads, seam ripper/clipper, stoppered tube, bookbinding cloth tape plus two bone folders/tools) provided come in a handy, plastic zip-up pouch.

Impressively good kit for the money. The bone folders are real bone and work really well. Everything is functional. The thimble is ludicrously small for my hands, but they can't be making different sizes of the kit. The glue brush is sized for big books, it absorbs a lot of glue before it really starts spreading.

I bound my first sketchbook with this kit. The paper I used was watercolor paper (good stuff with cotton in it), and I used backing from an old Ikea bookcase for the covers, so I know the tools are study and can handle a complicated job in the hands of a rank beginner. Without the tools, I would have not been able to undertake this project so easily. Indeed, the tools made it much more fun to do, I suspect, than it would have been otherwise. (Making a nice, crisp fold with the bone folders is so satisfying.)The bone folder and thread seem to me to be of good, sturdy quality. And it's convenient that clips are included, because sometimes you need another hand when doing this work, and the clips fill in nicely for that.My only complaint (and the reason I deducted one star -- wish I could just take a fraction of a star off) is with the awl. I didn't use the kit right away. It was stored in its pouch and in a plastic box. Even so, the awl was a bit rusted when I took it out to use it. It's pointy and sharp, though (I recommend keeping a used cork to stick on the tip).If someone were new to bookbinding, I'd say, "Start with this kit!" But if you have your heart set on a high-quality awl, maybe buy another one separately.Needles are included in the kit, so I used that to make binding holes. It worked perfectly fine.Final assessment: excellent deal for the price. Contains all the tools you need (except glue, if you're using glue). Works on thick paper with cotton fibers. Two thumbs up.