I saw a huge iron today

[Henry Hall]

I have something like this. It's not a thermostat, but it has a light on it and an on/off microswitch.

For some reason which eludes me, standard sockets in Europe (and in many other places) have no switches. They're standard on about 85% of British sockets. Not to mention the plug design is far safer and holds more securely in the socket. 2-pin plugs are bloody useless, shoddy things.

[lepus]

He told me that the newer one (bottom) had hardly been used.  I don't believe it had a thermostat, when you look into the hole there is no corresponding one in the chassis.

For comparison, here's the iron with temperature dial.



It is a Grossag (of course), only a bit newer. This one is 1000 Watt, 5.5 kg. The axis of the dial goes right through the cover of the iron, so if yours doesn't have a hole there, it hasn't been provided with a thermostat. I assume yours is a Grossag as well, so the factory, when they still produced tailoring irons, seems to have used the same mould for casting the handle assembly.

I don't use the iron much, I'm not really into weight lifting. I generally prefer the lighter and more efficient steam iron. When extra pressure is needed you just add part of your body weight.

[Henry Hall]

Mine's also a grossag (with thermostat) 6kg. I also had one identical to yours, but I wanted a heavier one so sold it, but now I regret it. The smaller irons are easier to use. The heavy one is excellent though for flattening bulk.

[peterle]

Finally I also purchased one:







It was 40 Euros and was only used for decoration by the former onwer ( a tailor).

[hutch--]

You have done well with this iron. It looks well made and will probably outlast you. To appeal to your sense of humour, one of you grandkids will probably use it as a door stopper well into the future.

[AllenG]

That's a nice find!

[Maafaa]

My everyday all-purpose iron is an old lump of 6,3kg without a thermostat. About one year ago, I had to renew the cables, which caused me some headache, since they must be extremely heat resistant. I ended up with a pair of engine cables that seems to work perfectly fine. To avoid that the iron get overheated, I've placed an effect regulator (high quality dimmer) on to the flexi cable. This works perfectly fine for me. One of the greatest advantages with a heavy dry iron, in my opinion, is that it needs less heat to give a good result. I think it is about three years since I last used a boiler and a steam iron, not missing it a bit ;-)

Please excuse the mess...

[Schneiderfrei]

What I think is brilliant is the oven thermometer on the stand. Great idea, I never would have thought of that.

[pfaff260]

What I think is brilliant is the oven thermometer on the stand. Great idea, I never would have thought of that.

Hadn't noticed that before. Genius!

[Maafaa]

Thanks for noticing, no big invention, but it sure makes life alot easier ;-)