PSA: $180 on a used standing press from a guy in Akron, best money I ever spent
Back when I started out I was flattening books under a stack of old encyclopedias on my floor, and it never really got them tight. Six months into that mess I drove to Akron and paid $180 for a beat up standing press with a cracked handle that still worked fine. First book out of it came out dead flat, and my text blocks stopped shifting when I sewed the next one. Now I see new folks pressing with boards and paint cans and I get it, we all start somewhere. What did you use before you got a real press?