I know you work with many types of fabrics. I know you are very careful. But alas, it does happen. You have burnt your iron, again!
When you work with delicate and rare fabrics for costumes you soon realise that some fabrics are indeed very “burnable”. No matter how much care you take it will end up happening. And I do have a solution to fix your iron which doesn’t involve buying a new one!
I tried with things like salt, bicarbonate soda and aluminium paper and it didn’t really work for me. The solution was more accessible than you think. You can buy an iron cleaner stick! But do not think it is going to be so easy. The instructions for the stick were really scarce, and it didn’t work as well as you would have expected.
How to clean a burnt iron
First of all, you have to set your temperature to medium. The cleaner stick is going to melt when you use it on your iron and you don’t want it to melt too quickly. Then, you have to rub the stick on your hot iron using a circular motion in order to clean the burnt part. And here is when I tell you something they don’t. The stick melts very fast! Which means you want to have the iron on top of an old rag. Otherwise it will stain your iron board, which is where you use your iron, right? As me why I know this. Nevertheless, you will have to clean the excess every so often. It is basically similar to candle wax.
I kept rubbing the stick for quite a while but my stains were old and very stuck. I found out that if you used the stick with quick motions it worked better, as it scratched the surface before it melt. In the end, I gave up with the stick and I went to the extreme methods.
My solution was a sanding sponge. I will have to warn you here. This may damage the non-stick surface of your iron (the irony) so be very careful! I figured out that as it was I couldn’t use my iron anyway so I risked it. Together with the iron stick and the sand paper I got rid of almost all the burnt areas.
Last, but not least, if you have a steam iron you want to use the steam when you are done. This is because the wax like substance will get inside, and you don’t want it to get out on top of your lovely clothes, do you? Use the steam several times and iron an old scrap piece of fabric to make sure your iron is completely clean.
One extra note. Since I cleaned the iron I have only melted one other fabric. I used the iron stick on the burnt area as soon as it happened and it actually worked! If you don’t have one of these sticks at home you may want to get one, just in case, not like you are clumsy like me. Or are you? Have you got any other tips to clean a burnt iron?
