Use a hash press if you want to....but many experienced growers who make hash smoke their resin unpressed.

I fail to understand why anyone would want to press their hash.....especially decent quality resin..unless you are processing tons of ganja in hash for commercial distribution..the only advantage of pressing resin is that it is more compact and easier to package and transport

unpressed dry sift smokes cooler, burns better and you use less so it lasts longer than pressed resin.

every time you handle, package or press resin heads into a solid form you lose a little

try this...next time you make some hash.....divide it into two equal piles....press one pile and leave the other pile unpressed, unruptured and loose....smoke them and see which pile goes further and smokes better..then throw away your hash presses

and why use a metal press anyway...if you want to form loose resin in a hash then simply use your thumb, your opposite palm and a little bit pressure

if your resin doesn't readily form into a putty, with one , two three hard presses into your palm then that nature's way of telling you there is way too much non-active contaminants in with the resin heads..and you should used a finer mesh, a more gentle action, stopped kiffing a few minutes earlier or used better starting material.