I built an Ironing Center for myself!

Well I'm blessed, Leslie! Are you for hire? And is distance a problem? Travel expenses included in the fee, presumably? .

In message , Leslie & The Furbabies in MO. writes

Good job! You should go into business! KJ

Howdy!

Very nice!

Way to go, Leslie!!

Ragmop/Sandy

Leslie,

What a w> Leslie The Handyman strikes again!!! (VBG)

And storage as well! Good job Leslie!

Kathy-

Funny you should mention making it bigger.... I've decided to buy two more bookshelves to attach to the two I have now- side-by-side. That'll be MORE storage and MORE support when I go to the larger top. And Pat in VA's suggestion of adding an electrial outlet via an extention cord is very clever, too. I'll add that as well "The Next Time"!

Leslie & The Furbabies > Leslie,

That's really neat! I think I'll have to remember that for when I have room for something like that, if you don't mind me copying your idea that is, lol!

Mary Anna in NY

Mary Anna-

No, I don't mind anybody using the idea- not at all! That's why I posted it. You could also use a dresser or a kitchen cabinet or a number of different "things" under the ironing top.

Leslie & The Furbabies > On 19 Oct 2006 11:03:58 -0700, Leslie & The Furbabies in MO. wrote: >

You will love your "hard" ironong surface as much as I love mine. Well Done!

BTW - I hope the ply wood is heat/moisture resistent? Repeated ironing in one spot can build up enough heat to start timber smouldering.

Hi Leslie,

Thanks for the post, this gives me a great idea for a cutting table. I am going to hijack and modify your plans if that is ok! Cutting tables are so expensive and I am also working out (in the mind) how I could make this collapsable (sp?) as we have a very small home.

I have what may be a really good idea, but I need to draw it out and c> Leslie The Handyman strikes again!!! (VBG)

Be careful not to make your cutting table too high. It should be low enough to allow you to cut with your arm straight when reaching across about 24" and still have sufficient weight behind the cutting motion that you are not going to injure your shoulder/upper arm if you do prolonged cutting. If your cutting surface is too high you will have to try to pull your arm down to exert enough pressure to cut, and that is much harder work than leaning into the cutting motion and letting the weight of your body push the blade.

The general rule for an ironing surface is no more than a couple of inches lower than the elbow point of your bent arm. A cutting surface should be lower than that. A pinning surface might - ideally - be a little higher. Most of us cannot have the ideal set-up of dedicated surfaces for each task, but one option is to have adjustable legs on a table. You can make any folding table height adjustable by having pipe lengths cut to slip over the legs to raise them. I think I have even seen some commercial ones (Keepsake?) that are like giant shoes for the legs of your table.

Or you can do what my friend J does, and cut in platform shoes lol. I told her she needed to cut on a lower surface but she figured it would be easier to raise herself (she is quite "vertically challenged" anyway) than to lower her table.

I know how you could do it. I've seen all sorts of tables hung from the wall on a piano hinge. A leg is hinged onto the end of the board furthest from the wall, and the wall hinge holds up the other end. Very cool. Debra in VA See my quilts at

I am profoundly impressed. Just the fact that Leslie assembled the bookcases in under two hours is quite impressive. Wonder if she would hire out for Christmas? We could pay her in FQs or fine doggy biscuits or in some households she could name any price and currency. Polly

Very innovative! Well done!

Nancy in NS

Thanks Cats,

I will take all these th> Be careful not to make your cutting table too high. It

~reluctantly snipped~

I have an old book about building 'ergonomic' furniture. One of the rules for a work surface height used when standing is to stand with back straight, hold your arms tight down to your waist, bend you fore arms straight out forward at right angles, then drop your hands straight down (another right angle) pointing fingers to the floor and the measurement from floor to index finger tip is supposedly the perfect height for a counter top work surface. I used this formula when I made my 4' X 8' cutting table and it worked amazingly well.

Val

There's an ironing heaven?

Oh that's just wrong. :-)

Jenn in CA - who absolutely hates ironing, unless of course it's for a quilt