Book Press, Book Binding Press with 19Pcs Book Binding Kits, Portable Handmade Book Binding Starter Tools Set with Bone Folder, Awl, Large Eye Needles and Wax Thread for DIY, 11.8x7.8 Inch

EDIT TO ADD:The seller is very responsive. I did have to drill the holes bigger and sand it a bit, but I also noticed that the nuts/bolts can’t be on too tight or this prevents the top board from gliding up and down. I assume the tension on screws and the drilled holes have a small misalignment.However, the seller has made it right and I am very appreciative of this.ORIGINAL POST:It was nice to get the whole kit together but the press… the screws went in okay but moving the one up and down - forget it. It gets stuck on one corner and won’t move. And it’s not just user error. I can lift it up and grab a book to put in it and one corner will just fall down and now I have to try to get the thing unstuck… like now! If the holes were bigger this wouldn’t be an issue, I’m guessing. And if I can get the board unstuck, I will do that… but I shouldn’t have to.The rest of the kit was decent. Threads worked great for my book. The awl seems to be a heavy duty, so either poke lightly or get a smaller awl if you need small punctures.

This is a great beginner's book binding kit. The press is really the highlight of the kit and is great. It holds the book flat and in position while drying. It's one of those "right tool for the job" sort of things where if you try to do all of this without the press, you can do it, but it will be about a million times easier with a press like this.If you watch Nerdforge on YouTube and are jealous of her book presses, this may not be as quality as hers, but it will certainly get you started.

I’m literally putting the book press together as we speak… The book press DOES NOT WORK. The boards of the book press do not easily go onto the giant bolts that act as the mechanism to squeeze them it together for the “press” action. The holes drilled into the board are too small for the bolts to fit into easily so you need to manually twist each to go into the holes. But that makes it impossible to put he top board on without using a literal sledge hammer and luck to get it on. But then you can’t get it back off! I will still use it but get hand clamps to act as the force to press the book instead of the useless bolts, And just throw away or repurpose the hardware. You can drill the holes slightly larger I guess but why waste the money and get this hunk of junk rather thank just buying two cheap cutting boards and hand clamps in the first place if you don’t want to buy one of those really high quality ones. Waste of money. Very disappointed, horrible engineering here. The rest of the kit is fine. Thread is too thick but they are all like that with kits like this.

Edit: The seller is very responsive and helped make it right. I still think that if you get it be prepared to have to adjust the holes on the board to make it work but the seller did a great job of reaching out to correct the issue which I do appreciate, so I edited the review. All the other supplies in the kit have worked phenomenally except the one needle with a messed up eyelet (which is a common defect in needles, so I don't really blame that on the seller).The press is not functional out of the box, you have to drill or carve the holes of one of the bamboo slabs to make it functional as the bolts are too large for the holes they drill into the bamboo. This would be a fairly easy fix on the manufacturers part as all it would require is either slightly smaller bolts or larger holes to be drilled. I'm lucky in that I had a knife I was able to use to carve the holes larger so it works now, even if it occasionally sticks. The smallest curved needle in the set also had a deformed eyelet so it's not really useable but the other ones are. The awl seems to be find, same with the thread, brush, and bone folders. The thimble is pretty cheap but considering I have my own and how cheap a decent thimble is I don't see that as a big deal. I doubt anyone is buying this for the thimble alone. The binding fabric also seems decent.Overall it's a "get what you pay for" situation. If you are beginner and you know you have a way to make the holes on the bamboo slabs bigger I'd say this is worth is, but if you don't have anything to modify those holes I'd advise against this kit.

I bind my own books and often they are smaller 8 1/5 x 5 sizes. I'd love a larger book press as well to do larger projects, but since most of the ones I make are smaller I decided to try this. I can always get a larger one down the road. I've been using binder clips to hold my books together while binding and it works, but this is a lot more convenient and lets me do a better job. It is simple to use and easy to assemble, but can be difficult to know if you've adjusted each side equally. I love that it can hold quite a few quires, though I probably would never need the full depth it's nice to know I could make a book thicker than the standard binder clips I've been using.

The holes in the boards are hardly big enough for the bolts to go through. While putting it together both boards got bound up and started splitting. I’m going to have to see if I can drill the holes larger to see if I can get it to move freely. Not worth the money spent on it.

I guess I should have known by the price that this book press would give me a run for my money. The boards did not easily slip onto the large bolts which then meant that the hex nuts didn't screw on easily. My fingers hurt so much after trying to make it work, and I even had to use a wrench. I really hope my book turns out okay, but I think I may need to buy clamps instead.

A bit small, requires assembly