more iron questions

In article , enigma of Wynn Farm uttered

Ah well, mine is a non-smoking household ... is the smoke coming from the motor unit itself? I think I'd be inclined to give it a fairly rigorous mucking out - there's probably something drifted into the works.

A thought: If you can track down a Brit called Alex Askaroff from somewhere in Sussex via either

In article , She who would like to be obeyed once every Preston Guild of no.spam uttered

I meant the mailing digest - oops

In article , She who would like to be obeyed once every Preston Guild of no.spam uttered

Found him for you!

I bought a toy iron at a second-hand store, thinking that I could use it to press in tight spots -- but you could hold that iron on a seam all week and it wouldn't do anything; it doesn't even get hot enough to hold on a sore muscle.

I also have a fairly-useless travel iron: it has no thermostat; you just plug it in and it gets as hot as it gets. Which is way too hot and scorches most stuff, so I thought I'd try it for ironing ten yards of bull denim, at which point I discovered that it also doesn't draw much current: if you keep it moving around on damp fabric, it's no warmer than my "energy saving" iron.

I suppose all mothers know that children firmly believe that if it's there, it's there to be *used*: rocking chairs are to be rocked in, gates are to be swung on, boots are for wading in the pond, no matter what mysterious pronouncements befuddled adults may make. *Don't* get a steam iron and say "well, we just won't put water in it." The minute your back is turned *he'll* put water in it, and if you disable the steamer, he'll repair it.

And live steam is much worse than open flame to get burned with.

A burn from a hot iron, on the other hand, is merely educational.

Joy Beeson

She who would like to be obeyed once every Preston Guild wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@ntlworld.com:

so is mine, except for the Grasshopper :) it smells like burning oil & it's been doing this for, oh, the past 20 years... my mum took it to a guy who was supposed to be the best Elna repair guy in New England & he'd never seen a Grasshopper before. he offered her $50 so he could add it to his collection, but he didn't have a clue about the smoking. my brothers & i *were* a tad overzealous with the oiling when we were kids... i wonder if it's just a lot of oily dust in the works... i'll have to see what comes apart so i can clean the innards. i don't have a manual, but i see they aren't too hard to come by. i do have the accessories box & at least one of the oil cans. and i just bid on another Grasshopper on eBay...

thanks for both INMACS & Alex's links. if i can't figure it out myself, i'll drop him an email. lee

Alex's web site is

Its probably a bit late to jump in on this thread.......but if a burn from a hot iron is merely educational..........

Then why haven't **** I **** learned from my burns?

I think just about every time I sew I touch the thing with the back of my hand. I will never learn.

LOL I have to laugh at myself now, I should know better and watch out for the iron.

Michelle Giordano