Spent $80 on a book press that nearly ruined my first binding

I bought this cheap wooden book press off Amazon a couple weeks ago. The pressure was uneven and it left deep indentations on my leather cover. Took me three tries to get it right by adding padding, but I still had to redo the whole thing. Has anyone else had trouble with those budget book presses?

3 comments

3 Comments

amyr5717d ago

In my experience, the cheap Amazon presses are really hit or miss for leather work. A bit of craft foam or felt between the boards and the cover can help spread the pressure more evenly. If you plan on binding more than a couple books, saving up for a nicer press might save you some headache down the road.

grace_hunt8417d ago

You can also stack phone books on top if you don't want to splurge on a press just yet.

sage_park617d ago

Have you tried using a stack of heavy books instead? I did that for my first few projects and it worked fine, just had to make sure they were really flat and even. Actually, I used a mix of old textbooks and a couple of those big coffee table books, and I thought it came out alright.