How do I punch a small hole into a business card...

You can buy hole punches that make a smaller hole at a craft or art store.

This one cuts a 1/16” hole, and this one cuts a 1/8” hole.

You could buy an awl.

Here is a set with graduated sizes.

Also, a tool called an awl will punch a small, clean hole.

Maybe try a leather hole punch? As you can see, they have several sizes to choose from and I’m certain they can punch through paper. You could probably do stacks at a time with them if you were careful.

Or, just get a drill, if you don’t already have one, and a small bit and drill holes through them.

An awl or a leather punch will likely leave a “feathering” effect on the back side. Those craft store hole punches (that are smaller than standard) is your best bet.

If you are having a set of the same business cards made and you need all of them to have holes in the same place, you can get them die cut by the printer.

It sounds like you want to make holes in a lot of cards, because it would be pretty simple to do this in a single card, even if you had to do it by hand and trim it with a razor or something.

So check out industrial hole punches and find one that works for you, or talk to a gasket manufacturer in your area (it’s a very competitive business with small garage-based operations all over the USA) who can arrange for very precise placement and sizing of the hole in any number of cards at a very low price.

Or just order your business cards with the hole already in place, according to your precise specification.

As business cards usually come in sets of 2,000 I would suggest using a drill press or look into using a hand drill in the safest possible manner.

A drill will almost certainly leave a “feathering” effect on the back sides of the cards.

Things are changing in schools and libraries a lot, but they used to have industrial hole punchers in the technical services departments. When you bind your own volumes together, you need them of various sizes depending on the thickness of your document.

School and public libraries almost never do this anymore, but academic libraries sometimes still do it themselves. If you live near a university, you could ask if anyone in the technical services department could help you find a solution – they may even do it for you. Lots of tech services people love the big old binding equipment and they almost never get to use it anymore.

True. @Kardamom this would be mitigated by using a piece of wood as a cover and by clamping the set together tightly with a bit of wood beneath. Still, though it might be a good exercise in using power tools, if keobooks is correct there is machinery that is specialized to the task and there are makings of a fine outing as well.