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My press board cracked on a custom order for the library in Springfield
I was finishing up a set of six leather-bound ledgers for the local history room, and my old wooden press board gave out with a loud snap right in the middle of the final pressing. I had to quickly cut a new board from some scrap maple I had in the garage, but it wasn't perfectly flat. Has anyone else had a press board fail, and what's your go-to material for a quick replacement that won't warp?
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nathankim15d ago
Man, that's the worst sound. I actually used to grab whatever plywood was in the shop for a quick fix. Learned the hard way that it almost always cups. Now I keep a couple of pieces of flat, sanded MDF on hand just for this. It's not fancy, but it stays dead flat under pressure and you can trim it to size in two minutes.
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nancy32615d ago
MDF is a solid choice for staying flat. I had a press board split on me last year during a big job. I ended up using a thick piece of acrylic I had left over from another project. It was perfectly smooth and didn't warp at all with the moisture. The only downside is it can be a bit slick, so you have to watch the leather doesn't slide. It's been my backup piece ever since.
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