Fed up with (Iron)ing

I've been regularly ironing my clothes for about 10 years now. For the first couple of years, I can not recall having problems getting my clothes well pressed. My first iron took out on me, and obviously I replaced it. But during the last eight years I I've gone through at least 6 irons. All different brands, all different prices, all different styles and functions and I get a crappy press every time. Half the time it looks as though I never ironed my pants even though I wasted 20 minutes on them. Other times when I try the 'steam' function', I get some sort of 'debris' for lack of a better term, that splatters all over, forcing me to throw my newly washed khakis back in the laundry basket.

I've fed up with this. Do ANY of you gentlemen know of a good iron or a successful technique? I'm growing desperate here. Thanks in advance.

personally, I don't believe in ironing it's just too much of a hassle and too time consuming for me. Most things I just take out of the dryer just before the timer goes off (so they're maybe 99.9% dry instead of 100%) and hang them up / put away immediately. Dress shirts that need to be ironed go to the cleaners for pressing.

Ironing is against my religion...just kidding
I really don't see much value in it, for daily drudgery anyway. I'll iron shirt and pants for weddings, funerals, graduation, etc. But for daily run of the mill stuff, it's a waste of time for me - I move around, I'm quite limber, so if my clothes feel at all "tight" for lack of more accurate description, I feel restricted. Plus my daily duties may have me moving monitors, computers, printers, I may be on the floor under desks re-running Cat5, I may be climbing ladders, who knows. I may spend the entire day at the computer hardly moving...but any ironed garment won't stay nice and pressed on me, so it's a waste of my time...kinda like this post when I coulda just said, nope, can't help ya bro

Actually I work my daily am ironing into my shaving routine. The two minutes it take for me to iron a shirt is the amount of time between application of the alum block and the subsequent cold water rinse.

I've had a problem with discolored spatter from the spray nozzle too. Switching to distilled water has helped - reduces the mineral build-up that produces the discolored spatter.

jim

sol92258 said:

Ironing is against my religion...just kidding
I really don't see much value in it, for daily drudgery anyway. I'll iron shirt and pants for weddings, funerals, graduation, etc. But for daily run of the mill stuff, it's a waste of time for me - I move around, I'm quite limber, so if my clothes feel at all "tight" for lack of more accurate description, I feel restricted. Plus my daily duties may have me moving monitors, computers, printers, I may be on the floor under desks re-running Cat5, I may be climbing ladders, who knows. I may spend the entire day at the computer hardly moving...but any ironed garment won't stay nice and pressed on me, so it's a waste of my time...kinda like this post when I coulda just said, nope, can't help ya bro

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custom title anyone?

RichGem said:

custom title anyone?

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nah, I'm good...

sol92258 said:

nah, I'm good...

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and apparently quite limber.

RichGem said:

and apparently quite limber.

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the turtles lightening quick reflexes strike agaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaain....
and yes, most folks are a bit surprised

I take my collared shirts from the washer and hang them up. This takes away most of the need to iron.

As somebody said earlier, take dress shirts to the dry cleaners.

If you really need to iron something get a wife or girlfriend. They won't let you leave in something wrinkled.

kwk285 said:

I take my collared shirts from the washer and hang them up. This takes away most of the need to iron.

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My laundry is washed and dried before I leave for work. I would not have time to also hang it immediately after unless I get up at 5 am every morning. Eh...

kwk285 said:

As somebody said earlier, take dress shirts to the dry cleaners.

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Shirts aren't really the problem, and that would be quite expensive and time consuming. I barely have time to wash, dry, and hang up my clothes as is. Driving across town once a week to drop off the clothes and then pick them up the next day... I can't see this happening.

kwk285 said:

If you really need to iron something get a wife or girlfriend. They won't let you leave in something wrinkled.

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Out of my wife and myself, I'm the good ironer.

Thanks for the suggestions though.

I always liked Ironing shirts, and I can put a crease like nobody's business. Never had much luck ironing pants though. Have you thought about going to the dry cleaners?

While I am very good at ironing..i dont enjoy the task. I usually take my clothes ot the cleaners

Honestly, gents, I appreciate the advice, but I'm not sure 'dry cleaners' is the answer. I have no experience using a dry cleaners and don't know anyone else who uses one regularly. I think we have one in town which is about 10 miles from my house. Making weekly dropoffs and pickups seems like a HUGE hassle and not a fix at all. Besides, isn't that going to be extremely expensive? I mean, the last time I used the dry cleaners was when I had my trusty jacket cleaned at the end of last winter. I think it cost me around 15 dollars. Eh?

How much do you gentlemen spend on dry cleaning your pants? How much time does it take up in your day to do this?

Have you thought about 'Spray Sizing'?
My sister-in-law turned me on to it when she saw how long I wear my cloths. As in buying good clothes and taking proper care of them. Your clothes will last a lot longer then most people realize.
'Spray Sizing' is a lot less aggressive then starch. But still adds that extra something you can only get from ironing.

Follow the below link for a good overview of 'Sizing'.
http://www.laidlawcorp.com/industrial/chemicals/spraysizinginfo.htm

But seriously, who would have thought there would be a thread about ironing at Badger & Blade?

tclevela said:

But seriously, who would have thought there would be a thread about ironing at Badger & Blade?

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Glad I could help.

Some more on Ironing (perhaps much more than you want)

If I were going to buy an iron, something I would use every day and wanted it to last, the ROWENTA brand seems to get good reviews.

Instead of a traditional iron, have you considered a Steam Press? This is what the dry cleaners use, scaled down for domestic use. See this listing at Amazon to get you started.

Don't forget about Tobi--http://www.tobisteamer.com/?src=affiliate&aid=14511&subid=CD766

Throw away your ironing board for good!
To steam away wrinkles in seconds, just hang the garment on a regular hanger. No board or flat surface required.
The heat and moisture get rid of wrinkles in seconds. Turn the lighted switch to ON.
You apply no pressure. Just touch the garment lightly, and move the nozzle up and down. It’s easy – even fun!

Well they seem excited about it.

I spend about 2-3 hours each week on ironing. And I have had the same problems with cruddy irons. I have had some irons which worked well, but the electric components were cruddy and developed bad connections were the cord had to be held in just the right way.

In regards to taking clothes out of the dryer early... does me no good, I have a small apartment sized washer/dryer. It has high heat only, clothes are always wrinkled no matter what setting I use or when I take the clothes out. As a teacher, I move around a lot, but not enough that the wadded up mess of wrinkles would be un-noticeable.

Chemicals to take the wrinkles out? Nope... Won't even go there.

run a few cycles of water/white vinegar (abt 30%)solution through the iron.this will clean out the iron.then run a cycle or two of plain water through it to get rid of the vinegar smell.use distilled water as an earlier poster suggested,this will keep the crud from building up.