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Chose hand-sewing over a cheap press for my first 40 books, and my wrists still remind me why
Back in 2019 I bought a $180 screw press off a retiring binder in Lansing, and my other option was a used standing press for $450 I could barely fit in my garage. I went with the screw press since it was cheaper and smaller, and pressed my first 40 case bindings with it. The boards warped on 7 of them because the pressure was never even across the whole cover. So I ended up hand-sewing every signature tight and bone-folding the spines myself, which took about 3 hours per book instead of 40 minutes. My right thumb went numb around book 22, and I finally got a real standing press two years later. Now I'm wondering if anyone else skipped the screw press and went straight to something heavier, or if you still use one for small jobs?
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nathanwest12d ago
So you basically paid $180 for a thumb injury and seven warped covers, that's a heck of a deal. How did you not toss that screw press through a window by book 10? I get why you tried it though, $450 for a standing press that eats half your garage is a hard sell when you are just starting out. But a screw press only pushes in the middle, so the edges of the boards just float, and that is exactly how you get the warp. Bone folding for 3 hours a book sounds like a slow way to hate a hobby you love. At least you know now that even pressure beats a cheap price every time.
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