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Has anybody ever made an ironing board?

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Has anybody ever made an ironing board?

Postby Andy Kev. » 16 Sep 2021, 10:41

I have to buy an ironing board in the next couple of days. It occurred to me that most of them are hardly built to last and that a medium term project would be to build one. There is, however, the obvious stumbling block: the padded bit that shirts etc have to lie on.

That led me to the question of if anybody has made one, how did you approach that? It's obviously an entirely different skill set than woodworking, so do you have to go to an upholsterer or similar (I have no wish to learn how to use needle and thread).
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Re: Has anybody ever made an ironing board?

Postby StevieB » 16 Sep 2021, 10:47

Buy an ironing board cover from any home type store......
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Re: Has anybody ever made an ironing board?

Postby Andy Kev. » 16 Sep 2021, 10:54

That sounds fairly straightforward but before I go into full Google mode, are there any that consist of a bit more than a bit of thin foam covered by a bit of cloth?

I ask because it would be a shame to make a hand built board finished off with mass produced tat.
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Re: Has anybody ever made an ironing board?

Postby Lurker » 16 Sep 2021, 11:14

Her majesty has just bought a new one, it’s wider than previous ones, seems to be very robust.
It was £55 but she is really pleased with it, she says ironing is much easier.
Never seen her so pleased with a kitchen appliance before.
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Re: Has anybody ever made an ironing board?

Postby Lurker » 16 Sep 2021, 11:16

StevieB wrote:Buy an ironing board cover from any home type store......


Apparently…….. there’s more to it than the cover, the underlying material needs to reflect the heat back.
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Re: Has anybody ever made an ironing board?

Postby Blackswanwood » 16 Sep 2021, 11:38

I wonder if this may be of use Andy?

https://ironingpresscompany.com/product ... gLTzvD_BwE
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Re: Has anybody ever made an ironing board?

Postby firedfromthecircus » 16 Sep 2021, 12:04

When I was in the Army 20+ years ago the JML ironing board cover was the one to have. Not sure if they still do them but now I'm back to ironing shirts I might have a look.
If you do end up making your own some industrial tinfoil under a JML cover should be just the ticket.

** edit to add: Turns out they do still do them so I have just ordered.https://www.amazon.co.uk/JML-FastFit-Re ... 4048&psc=1
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Re: Has anybody ever made an ironing board?

Postby Malc2098 » 16 Sep 2021, 12:27

Back in the 60s, we used to make wooden ironing boards in the upstairs rooms of LePages Woodware in Greenford. I'm sure the the padding and cover were all cotton or cotton based.
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Re: Has anybody ever made an ironing board?

Postby Sheffield Tony » 16 Sep 2021, 12:45

In these days of steam irons, I would think an impermeable layer between anything wood and the ironing might be wise. Hot steam and wood are not conducive to wood staying flat, or intact.
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Re: Has anybody ever made an ironing board?

Postby TrimTheKing » 16 Sep 2021, 13:44

Agree on the steam thing, I don’t imagine a solid wood board of good quality will stay flat for long using a steam iron. My board is perforated metal sheet for that very reason.
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Re: Has anybody ever made an ironing board?

Postby sunnybob » 16 Sep 2021, 14:03

Buy an ironing board. If its fifty quid and lasts four years thats 12.50 a year.
If it lasts for ten thats a fiver a year
A wooden one will be twice the cost, three times the weight and four times the hassle.
Find something more useful to do with your time and your wood. :lol: 8-)
my wood projects are here https://pbase.com/sunnybob
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Re: Has anybody ever made an ironing board?

Postby Steve Maskery » 16 Sep 2021, 14:54

The ironing board we had as kids was a wooden one that my dad made. It was heavy and awkward, as I recall, but it had a sleeve thingy on it, which I've never seen since.
When I set up on my own I bought a Beldray 5*. I left it behind when life when pear-shaped, which I regret. Yes it was 30 years old by then, but it was superb quality, a fact I didn't appreciate until I came to buy a replacement. There is some utter rubbish out there.
I now have a Lidadli one and it's very good indeed (not that I have much use for it these days).
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Re: Has anybody ever made an ironing board?

Postby Andy Kev. » 16 Sep 2021, 16:19

Thanks for all the thoughts and suggestions, especially to blackswanwood and firedfromthecircus for the links.

I'm going to have to buy a normal board as a quick fix but I shall look into making a wooden one later.
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Re: Has anybody ever made an ironing board?

Postby AndyT » 18 Sep 2021, 18:48

Sorry for the slow reply but I have been away.

About 40 years ago I bought my first ironing board, from a jumble sale. It was wooden, commercially made and sturdy. The rest for the hot iron was probably asbestos cement but a modern silicate board could be used instead. A bit of cotton wadding and a replacement cover.

The height adjustment was neat - a piece of chain went through a thin metal slot so you could hook it in at the right length, varying the leg angle and thus the height. It was the sort of chain you could get at any plumber's merchant back then...

I thought I might have had some instructions for one somewhere but the best I can find is these diagrams for a toy one that you could scale up perhaps.

IMG_20210918_183919952.jpg
(684.3 KiB)


IMG_20210918_183937487.jpg
(716.38 KiB)
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Re: Has anybody ever made an ironing board?

Postby Just4fun » 18 Sep 2021, 19:32

When we moved in here there was a wooden ironing board, obviously home made, built into a cupboard. It was hinged at the non-pointed end so it could be folded away when not in use. I still have it - I rarely throw away wood and I might use it for something, sometime.
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Re: Has anybody ever made an ironing board?

Postby Malc2098 » 18 Sep 2021, 21:04

Just4fun wrote:When we moved in here there was a wooden ironing board, obviously home made, built into a cupboard. It was hinged at the non-pointed end so it could be folded away when not in use. I still have it - I rarely throw away wood and I might use it for something, sometime.


My grandmother and aunt lived in a ground floor flat in one of the 'houses' on the Tachbrook Estate in Pimlico. Every kitchen had a fold away ironing board inside the door of one of the kitchen cupboards.

https://manchesterhistory.net/architecture/1930/tachbrook.html
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Re: Has anybody ever made an ironing board?

Postby 9fingers » 18 Sep 2021, 21:36

I still have and use the ironing board made by my father dating back to before I was born and I'm nearly 68!

So home made boards are certainly feasible and long lasting!

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Re: Has anybody ever made an ironing board?

Postby AndyT » 18 Sep 2021, 21:39

Looking at the diagrams a bit closer, I've remembered that the moving leg, rather than just sliding under board "H" had its dowel axle overlong, with the ends running in stopped grooves in a pair of battens fixed by their edges to the underside of the main board. The front, sliding leg had the bog chain on it, running through a metal slot under the back end.
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Re: Has anybody ever made an ironing board?

Postby novocaine » 18 Sep 2021, 21:41

Didnt chris build a surf board? :lol:
Carbon fibre is just corduroy for cars.
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Re: Has anybody ever made an ironing board?

Postby Woodbloke » 19 Sep 2021, 13:58

This ironing malarkey, what is it? I think the last time I ironed a shirt was when I used to go down AxHQ, so that was two shirts a month that needed some attention - Rob

Edit - l do remember my dad knocked one up when I was very small, but I can’t recollect what became of it. This was in the mid-50’s so household items may have been a bit hard to get hold of, especially on Malta which is where we were living at the time, dad being RN which still a huge presence on the island.
I no longer work for Axminster Tools & Machinery.
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Re: Has anybody ever made an ironing board?

Postby Andy Kev. » 20 Sep 2021, 06:56

Andy T: thanks for those plans. They make a useful starting point for thinking about design.

For those of you who remember wooden ironing boards: was the main board on which the ironing was actually done also made of wood? I ask because of the above mentions of the chance of the wood warping.
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Re: Has anybody ever made an ironing board?

Postby AndyT » 20 Sep 2021, 08:09

The main part of mine was plywood. Even though it was probably from the 50s it had held up pretty well. When I eventually took it to bits, the glue had not been affected much by the heat and steam.
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Re: Has anybody ever made an ironing board?

Postby Just4fun » 20 Sep 2021, 08:22

The old ironing board I removed was made completely from solid wood.
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Re: Has anybody ever made an ironing board?

Postby 9fingers » 20 Sep 2021, 08:23

Mine looks to be pine and has 1/4 inch hard felt glued on. This glue possibly forms a barrier to any steam related warping.
However this is for domestic ironing and not a shooting board or similar and does not need to be precisely flat.

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Re: Has anybody ever made an ironing board?

Postby AndyT » 20 Sep 2021, 09:03

9fingers wrote:However this is for domestic ironing and not a shooting board or similar and does not need to be precisely flat.

Bob


But hang on a sec... What about a combined shooting and ironing board...get your collars as flat as your boards...get perfectly matched creases down the legs of your overalls... Every home should have one! :)
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