Help, I killed my iron!

Cookie, relax. EVERYONE here has done that at one time or another! Go to your nearest fabric/notions store and buy Dritz Iron-Off:

can heat up the iron, squeeze about 2" on some rags (I use multiple layers of paper towels) and slide the HOT iron back and forth over this product. It will loosen the bonding material. Be very careful to thoroughly clean the plate, INCLUDING the steam holes before you use it again on real fabric. NAYY, HTH,

Beverly (who has done this more time than she'd like to admit! Sometimes the adhesive side of interfacing/stabilizers is just not apparent!)

Thanks for the advice. Now I just have to see if I can get this product in Canada (or an equivalent). Glad to know I'm not the only one who's done this!

Cookie

Relax Cookie, There's only two types of folks. Those who have done something like that, and those who will. Don't sweat it one little bit.

Besides, with the wealthof ideas here, the iron will be good as new lickety split.

John in SC

John, you are soooooh right! :)

I keep a cheapie iron for this sort of thing. When it gets too manky to clean, I toss it and get a new one. My present one is a Goblin and cost £8. It has a teflon sole plate (pain in the bum - harder to clean than stainless steel), but the gluing stuff frequently peels off cold. I get the kids sticking the iron to the ironing cloth with Bondaweb a couple of times a year!

If you can't find the Dritz stuff, check your grocery store for Iron Clean. It's made by Faultless Starch and here it's sold in the laundry detergent aisle.

I once got a big Elna press second-hand for $10 because someone had done that. I think what they did was use an iron-on transfer, but put it in backwards. I got it off with an old credit card. If you don't have one of those, any stiff plastic will do. It doesn't scratch the metal, but if you can get it under any edge, it will lift off great chunks. When I had gotten most of it off, I went after it with one of those green plastic scrubbers and got the rest.

Thanks everyone. I think it's gone beyond trying to scrape it off because it's so burned on. I definitely need a cleaner. The first thing that crossed my mind was "Easy Off" oven cleaner. Did anyone ever try that on an iron?

Eeep, I accidently emailed this to Cookie.

I'll post it here though incase anyone else is interested. Table salt works for this. sprinkle it on the ironing board... ( a lil pile of it) heat the iron, ( no steam) and run it back and forth quite a bit. Anything abrasive while the iron is hot will work as long as the abrasive is non melting. Quick action with a steel wool ( very fine) will do it too.

Thanks! Steel wool won't ruin the surface I assume? I'll try the salt thing first though. I went to look for either of the two products that were recommended and couldn't find either at my local fabric store. They didn't carry anything for that purpose.

Very fine steel wool won't hurt the iron since it's a stainless soleplate. But be EASY with it, don't scrub super hard. ;) Also I can't usually find the iron cleaners in the fabric stores. Look where you buy laundry soap. That's where I can usually find them. If it's not on the aisle with the laundry soap, go look on the aisle where they sell irons in the discount store. Those are the two places I've seen the iron cleaners consistently here. I'd imagine the Canadian stores would put them in similar places. ;)

Good luck!!

Sharon