The day my book press broke and I got a better result anyway

Last Tuesday my cheap 6-inch book press snapped right in the middle of gluing up a new binding for a mystery novel I was rebinding in green leather. I panicked for a second, then grabbed two of my heaviest cast iron skillets and stacked them on the spine like a ghetto press. Left it overnight and when I pulled it out the corners were actually sharper than any press job I've done in 4 years. The even weight from the skillets distributed better than the uneven screw pressure. Now I'm wondering if I even need to replace the press or if I should just rig up some sort of weight system with bricks and a cutting board. Has anyone else ditched their press for a homemade weight stack and stuck with it?

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