I like how Keith Smith refers to the holes along the spine that you sew through as “stations.” I’m not sure what they have been refered to historically but I like the term station. I’m getting better at making my stations consistatnly in teh same place. the pictures are of 9 signatures with perfecdtly even stations. Though I notice now that the alignment of the signatures is askew, probably from me using the clamps to hold them in place during the photograph.

I use a sewing cradle- which I call my station cradle. I made it out of cardboard and hot glue. It’s too small for my larger books so a larger station cradle is in the works for those. One end is perfectly flat and the signatures are jogged against it to make sure that that are even. I then measure the sewing stations from the spine to a “jig.” I then putthe jig into the signatures in the station cradle. I have 2 awls. I punch the first station and leave the awl in it. It acts as a clamp and holds the signatures in place while I use my second awl to punch the rest. I find that this method helps to get all the stations even across the spine. (I’ll post a picture of it after I shot my next group of pictures.)

I’ve read several books where the recomend measuring each signature. It seems like too many places for error. This method lets me measure once and punch everything from one jig. (My jig is simply a fold sheet from the same pages I’m using for the book. This way I’m assured that the measurements are right for the book I’m making.)