Australian Politics Forum - Iron butterflies

Jovial Monk

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Iron butterflies
Oct 20^th, 2020 at 1:52am

A collection of irons.

At the back is a tailors’ iron—about 5Kg of iron, nothing else.

The redhandled iron and the one next to it are “all day irons” because instead of heating the iron in the fireplace (nice job on an Australian summer day!) there is an alcohol burner in the iron keeping it hot—note how each has a metho tank at the back of the iron.

In front of the redhandled iron is a small iron that is curved not flat! It was for ironing around collars and cuffs, it would bounce over lace where an ordinary flat iron would plow into the lace and damage it. This little iron would be heated in or over a fire.

You can see a little iron trivet to rest the iron on.

At the front is a mid 20th century (probably, some research to do) electric iron and behind that a brass iron with a lid that can be unlatched, moved up and a shovel full of coals poured in, the lid lowered and fastened again.

Apart from the yellow iron these are all pre-electricity so 1800s to maybe 1940s—electricity did not arrive everywhere at the same time.

Was in Strathalbyn today, saw a “chimney iron.” No, not for ironing chimneys Grin

it is one of the type filled with hot coals, a hinged cover at the front could be opened to provide a draught and the smoke from the burning coals would come out the chimney. The chimney meant the smoke from the coals did not reach the clothes so the clothes being ironed did not pick up a smell from the smoke from the coals. Possibly the coals could be coaxed back to life by opening the little hatch causing a draught to go through the coals.

I intend to display these with a spot for “21st century iron” which of course would be kept empty. Ironing, who does that these days?

I love the onward march of technology.

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Jovial Monk

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Re: Iron butterflies
Reply #1 - Oct 20^th, 2020 at 2:04am

Even the Vikings hated wrinkled clothes! They used smooth stones and glass smoothing tools to make their clothes smooth:

http://www.oldandinteresting.com/antique-irons-smoothers-mangles.aspx

The Chinese were using heated smoothing implements long before the west.

The iron as we sort of know it started being made by blacksmiths in the late Middle Ages. They moved on, as my previous post shows, from metal irons heated on a range to irons containing an alcohol burner to electric irons.

Electricity was originally run out to light homes so the first electric irons would have been plugged into the light socket, as were the very first vacuum cleaners. Fridges were the last major appliance to be electrified—they draw heavy currents.

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Jovial Monk Moderator Offline Dogs not cats! Posts: 46054 Gender:	Re: Iron butterflies Reply #2 - Oct 20^th, 2020 at 12:31pm The older trivets were made by blacksmiths. The one in the photo has a nice pattern to it, might see if the shop I got it from have more. Individually made by hand, nice to see.
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Jovial Monk

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Re: Iron butterflies
Reply #3 - Oct 24^th, 2020 at 4:29pm

OK, bought the “chimney iron” and saw some interesting irons.

I had seen “iron bases” here and there. These “sad” (solid) iron came in a set of three ranging in size from small to medium to large.

For smaller, fussier jobs you would use the little iron then when that wasn’t hot enough you would put that iron on the range, detach the handle and attach it to the medium size one which you had heating up on the range, for bigger jobs, ironing sheets say, you would use the medium and large irons, always one hot iron ready that way. Life pre-electricity. Saw a set of 3 at the shop I bought my chimney iron.

I mentioned the rounded iron in the OP, there were also small irons for fussy jobs, saw one about 2" long and one 1" long—real irons not toys apparently!

No trivets left that I liked—cast iron not blacksmith made.

Some photos of the chimney iron tomorrow.

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Jovial Monk Moderator Offline Dogs not cats! Posts: 46054 Gender:	Re: Iron butterflies Reply #4 - Oct 25^th, 2020 at 11:05am The chimney iron. I weighed it: came in at 3.060Kg without coals, 6.75lb in the old money. Another 500g of coals?
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Jovial Monk Moderator Offline Dogs not cats! Posts: 46054 Gender:	Re: Iron butterflies Reply #5 - Oct 25^th, 2020 at 11:10am The hatch—open it—with a stick or something—hot! A gentle blow on the coals should get them back to life so you can keep ironing. Lazy people might just heat this iron on the range but it does not have the thick, heavy base so this type of iron would not keep heat for long, it needs a mass of red hot coals.
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Jovial Monk Moderator Offline Dogs not cats! Posts: 46054 Gender:	Re: Iron butterflies Reply #6 - Oct 25^th, 2020 at 11:12am The inside of the iron. Note it has a rack to keep some of the coals off the base of the iron so allowing a draught to keep the coals burning, increased occasionally by opening the hatch and blowing gently into it:
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Jovial Monk

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Re: Iron butterflies
Reply #7 - Oct 25^th, 2020 at 11:14am

Anybody want to go back to life without electricity? Fancy cooking on a wood burning stove in the middle of summer? The stove or range sometimes had a tank of water in it—the hot water for the house so the stove was kept going, heating the already hot house.

I like electricity!

Sorry for the quality of the photos—hard to take good pictures of an all-black item!

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Jovial Monk Moderator Offline Dogs not cats! Posts: 46054 Gender:	Re: Iron butterflies Reply #8 - Aug 12^th, 2021 at 2:51pm I am going to look for a goffering iron. These were used to iron Elizabethan ruffs and Victorian ruffles. See: http://www.oldandinteresting.com/fluting-goffering-irons.aspx
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John Smith Gold Member Offline Australian Politics Posts: 74315 Gender:	Re: Iron butterflies Reply #9 - Aug 12^th, 2021 at 4:54pm Jovial Monk wrote on Oct 25^th, 2020 at 11:14am: A Fancy cooking on a wood burning stove in the middle of summer?! food tastes better cooked on a wood fired stove
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Jovial Monk Moderator Offline Dogs not cats! Posts: 46054 Gender:	Re: Iron butterflies Reply #10 - Aug 12^th, 2021 at 4:59pm In an Australian summer?
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Jovial Monk Moderator Offline Dogs not cats! Posts: 46054 Gender:	Re: Iron butterflies Reply #11 - Oct 4^th, 2021 at 3:47pm I have bought a 2" by 1" lace iron. I also bought a gas fired iron! Can’t have been too many of those but, pre electricity I guess gas was no weirder than a metho or kero fired iron? Still hoping to see a goffering iron for sale here in Australia. There are some on Ebay—all in England, huge postal charges!
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Jovial Monk

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Re: Iron butterflies
Reply #12 - Oct 5^th, 2021 at 7:50am

A goffering iron:

A hot poker is inserted into the iron to heat it up and the ruff or ruffles moved over the iron to smooth them.

From the show QI I learned that QEI had the biggest ruffs—she could afford them

Could be up to seven yards of fabric in a ruff!

A ruff:

Goffering irons:
Quote:

Goffering Irons are like a metal test tube set horizontally on a stand. The tube was heated by inserting a metal poker-like rod, fresh from stove or hearth. Then frilled cuffs and collars could be curled round the cylinder, and other trimmings, like ribbons, were moved across it. Some Victorians took pride in a display of expertly-ironed ruffles.

https://www.etsy.com/au/listing/1035787974/c1800-goffering-iron-for-ironing-fril...

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« Last Edit: Oct 5^th, 2021 at 8:14am by Jovial Monk »

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