as a casual dabbler, I just use whatever is easily available

Same, which is why I switched to dumbbells. Before that I had a press made of plywood, hours of it sitting in the whey was causing some funk. I even tried wrapping it in plastic first, while that helped it also created unnecessary waste. The dumbbells we already had, so it was no additional cost.

In the beginning I used to use the pot with the whey still in it. Now I would worry the cats (one specifically) would knock it over.