Saw a bookbinder in Fez using a wooden press from the 1800s, is modern equipment really better?

I was in Fez last month and this old guy in the medina showed me his workshop. He binds everything with a wooden press that looked older than my great grandpa, and his thread was just basic linen. He made it look easy. But I couldn't help thinking about my own setup with a nipping press and a nice standing press. His joints were flush, his corners were sharp, and he did a full case binding in like 20 minutes. No glue pot, no book cloth, just paste and leather scraps. Meanwhile I spent $400 on a finishing press last year and still struggle with spine hinges. So here's the deal: is there something to be said for sticking with older, simpler tools, or are we just romanticizing the past? I feel like the old methods force you to learn hand skills that power tools skip. But also, my press has a flatness that his does not. Anyone else get humbled by a trad binder recently? What did you see them do that you couldn't replicate at home?

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