Used to press signatures under a stack of old law books, now I use two cutting boards and a $12 clamp from the hardware store
The law books worked fine until my sister wanted them back 6 months ago, and honestly the clamp gives me flatter spines with way less fuss, so I'm wondering if anyone else here has ditched the heavy stack method for something cheap and simple.
Man, I feel you on losing the books. Mine got water damaged in a move and I just never replaced them. I switched to two cheap plastic cutting boards and a bar clamp too, and yeah the spines come out way flatter since you can crank even pressure across the whole thing. The books always left me guessing how much weight was actually landing on the pages.