Figured that this deserved a post all it’s own. After I bought my bookbinding press on eBay a year ago, I knew that I‘d need something with a little more. . . Oomph. So I gave it to my Dad and asked him to reverse engineer the thing and add strength to several specific points:
#1 the cross brace
#2 the uprights
#3 the base

I also asked him to make the things perform a little more smoothly, get rid of the nuts and bolts on the handle so it was more comfortable to use, hide some of the mechanical aspects of the top brace and in general class it up a bit. He did this and then turned the project over to my brother. I’m pleased to announce that he’s now able to produce them on a small scale- 2 or 3 per month. He can also produce them in other colors and we‘re going to come out with a chart so people can choose the color they would like.

For now we’re focusing on eBay but I’m going to make him an Etsy shop and let him stock it. Hopefully he’ll be able to take this and go with it. Right now I’m dealing with all the money issues for him and dealing with the fees associated with eBay. Pretty soon everyone will be able to buy directly form him. Exciting news.

That being said I’ve been using one of his presses for about a month now and I’ve got nothing but rave reviews. It’s been taking all the pressure I could ever use on a hedgehog and the quality of the hedgehogs I’ve been making has only gone up since using this press. My covers are tight and perfectly smooth, not a hint of curl. I’ve also found that I have far less swell in my spine. When the damp spine is pressed down with this it really flattens it out. I’m going to mess around with some hard cover books soon I’ll make some hard covers for so Coptic books I’ve been thinking of for a few months.

Anyway you can find my Brother’s press for sale on ebay here!

Here are a few pics to whet your appetite: