Doing your own pressing? 0

[serling1978]

Not sure what you're getting off Amazon for $150, but I did my own pressing for a handful of years and I used a dry laminating press. I haven't done it in a couple years due to laziness, but it was fun to do. 

As others have said, I wouldn't use any humidity or moisture related tricks. I think there are a number of ways to actually press, I think everyone does it a little different.

I'll share what I did, but I'm not giving out advice or suggesting anyone follow what I did. My method was to heat up the press for about 10 minutes, slide in the book, turn off the heat, and close the lid and leave for around 8 hours to be safe. With this method there is no risk of damaging the book because before even closing the lid you've already turned the heat off.  And then the book will be heated for a bit of time and then slowly cooled down as the heat dissipates and then sit in the press for the night. 

I also used backboards on top and underneath and parchment paper between the comic and any other surface. I got good results. I was able to press out dents, waves, spine rolls, etc. My favorite thing was to find a really crumpled comic and to press it back into an actual comic. 

One thing I realized and am now weary off is its very easy to manipulate before and after photos. Just a slight change of the angle of a book and the way the light is hitting it can easily hide a flaw in the "after" picture. I always look to see if the glare from the light source is hitting the same spot on the cover in both pictures. 

Anyway, as others have said, practice is key. Press a ton of worthless drek (check a This Week's top 10 list first maybe just to make sure) from different era's and get a feel for it before considering pressing a book you care about in any way.