So when I was leaving to run a few errands this afternoon I noticed that my neighbor had one of these sitting beside his garage.

 

Now being the resourceful person that I am it occurred to me that you could easily adapt it for bookbinding purposes. Think lying press substitute. It’s the perfect tool to hold your book block while you are glueing up your spine or sewing a headband. Add a pair of backing boards and you can round and back your books with no problem. Nice thing about the workmate is that it can be used for other things also and folds up for transport or storage.

This is the basic no frills model that can be found for under $45.00 US. They always seem to go on sale at the big box hardware stores around the holidays. There are fancier versions available that are shown on the Black and Decker website. Also, keep a look out when passing yard sales as I’ve seen them for a couple of dollars.