Bespoke Cutter And Tailor

After years of heartbreak caused by leaky gravity irons, I have resorted to using cheap home irons with temperature adjustment and a spray bottle or paintbrush to wet the fabric.

I am building my new studio set up and have decided to invest in an iron-- and have seen mentions of dry heavy (internal boiler?) tailors irons-- I'm hoping to get more info about these tools-- and if they are versatile. My hope is to have something that will work best with light to midweight woolens and silk and available to use on heavier stuff or synthetics on rarer occasion. Where to start looking?

Thanks

Personally I just use a heavy dry iron with either a dauber, spray bottle, brush, or finger to wet the cloth. I have a domestic dry iron I use for linings.

I have an italian iron
https://www.bieffeitalia.it/ferro-da-stiro-stir-vapor-bf054/
best brand I had till now. Normal water is used.
lg
posaune

I have one of those... Love it. But they did tell me to use water-softener, however. I know it sounds like something from Monty Python but the stuff is called "didecyldimenthylammoniumchloride". Needless to say the label says "keep away from children". I use about a coffee spoon per kettle.

Quote from: Hendrick on July 27, 2020, 04:45:23 AM

I have one of those... Love it. But they did tell me to use water-softener, however. I know it sounds like something from Monty Python but the stuff is called "didecyldimenthylammoniumchloride". Needless to say the label says "keep away from children". I use about a coffee spoon per kettle.

Just use demineralised or distilled water saves the hassle. Yes that is the make of my heavy dry iron.

I do the same as Tom,0,39 euro cent per liter at the local supermarket. My teacher used carbattery water wich she got from her sons garage. But it's more expensive.

With some irons there is a remark that you should not fill in distilled water. The iron would spit otherwise.  Who knows??
In the italian brand there is build in a cupper kettle. I decalc (word?) mine  3 monthly with vinegar. Had a bit wear and tear at the braided coating of the hose. Something I could repair myself. And I can get each spare part if reps are necessary.  Mine runs some years now without
lg
posaune

Well I never knew that little tidbit of information about distilled water, I'll have to look in to that. Thanks.

 Thom,

Those tailored class was not wasted on you. You hit the nail on the head. The process of pressing the garment fabric is to use a dry heavy iron on a cloth cover over the expensive woollen.  Next a sponge dauber gently wipe the cloth wet then the iron is place down protector cloth.   

For a heavy Iron, they would use a heavy old electric iron cut off the cord.  To heat the iron they would put a metal plate on a electric hot plate and place the heavy iron on that surface. They would heat up to whatever the temperature they need to be on to do the job.

Water , they boil the water since the water was so pure from the Rocky Mountain. And let it sit to room temperature.

Cheers

Quote from: posaune on July 29, 2020, 02:21:50 AM
With some irons there is a remark that you should not fill in distilled water. The iron would spit otherwise. 
posaune

My Rowenta iron's instructions said not to use distilled water. It still spit.  It may be that distilled water is bad for certain types of modern irons.

Distilled water has a lower boiling point, causing it to deliver more pressure. Because it heats up and cools off faster it may cause damage to boiler or iron...

I read somewhere that many steam irons need the additional metals and minerals in tap water to heat properly and using distilled water in these irons is problematic for that reason.

My last domestic steam iron calls exclusively for distilled water. Was slightly annoyed by this at first as it's a bit of an inconvenience, but I LOVE it! No spitting, and after 15 years - no clogging issues and still going strong. I also have an ancient (1958) domestic dry iron I thrifted several years back that was brand new when I purchased it. Probably a never used wedding gift. I use it with a dauber or spray bottle.

I pick up distilled water at the supermarket by the gallon, but with the huge proliferation of CPAP machines (for those that have night time breathing issues) Its also sold inexpensively by the liter at all of our pharmacy/drugstores over here..

Distilled and tap water both boil at 212F, so it's not about pressure. Some boilers heat the water by passing electric current through the water. Distilled and de-ionized water are poor conductors and very slow to heat the water, if at all. Other boilers heat the water with a resistance element. Heating changes the pH up or down depending on the composition of the water. Distilled water tends to go acidic, causing rust inside the boiler. Hard water, usually with calcium, tends to be alkaline. Alkaline conditions promote a different kind of corrosion, but not rust. Alkaline corrosion was covered one of the days I skipped school so I can't elaborate. But I DO know acidic rust.

EDIT: After some googling, I THINK I understand what I missed that day I ditched school. Rust is anodic, involves oxidation and dissolution of minerals. Cathodic is the opposite, with deposition of minerals. If anodic rust is encouraged with lower pH, I assume the kind of corrosion that occurs in a copper boiler when water goes higher in pH is deposition of calcium and other scale. The copper equivalent of rust is when it goes green. So that, I guess, is the nerdy reason we shouldn't use distilled water in our irons... because they'll cause the appliance to spit brown or green, compared to mineral water (A new use for Perrier perhaps?) which deposits scale which we remove with a decalc solution.

Of course if a chemistry nerd has a better reason, by all means correct me. I ultimately failed chemistry bc too much hookey. I hated school that year.

On the subject of gravity irons, I read a LOT of reviews complaining about leaky joints. I'm a consummate DIY guy but plumbing is the one thing I have to hire done. And something tells me Mr Plumber will laugh if I ask him to assemble a gravity iron. So boiler machines it is. Except I look on Amazon and the voltage either seems to be missing or it's 120 because Murica. But I wired the entire house so surely I can tap a 240 circuit off the dryer.

I see recommends for Biefe Italia. Baby Vapor looks good. I'll save my shekels and grab one soon, along with a bit of 1/2 inch dense industrial felt. I'm glad people don't delete threads here or I probably never would've heard of Biefe. Thanks for the thread.

I've had good luck with these:

https://www.amazon.com/Sapporo-SA-SP527-Gravity-Feed-Iron/dp/B002KEL55S/ref=pd_lpo_d_sccl_2/146-0077536-7902506?pd_rd_w=Ijlfi&content-id=amzn1.sym.4c8c52db-06f8-4e42-8e56-912796f2ea6c&pf_rd_p=4c8c52db-06f8-4e42-8e56-912796f2ea6c&pf_rd_r=0YESJWKYRGQX4V1HBZN4&pd_rd_wg=cbDlI&pd_rd_r=c180afbd-4c38-44d5-aec3-929064bf6193&pd_rd_i=B002KEL55S&psc=1

The beautiful thing about this setup is that nothing stays wet except the water bottle and tubing.  At the end of each sewing day, I disconnect the tube, heat the iron, then turn it upside down and let any remaining water run out of the solenoid valve.  The heat boils any moisture out of the innards so there is no internal corrosion.  I've had these last ten years or so, and they're cheap enough to replace.

Any iron will spit (in my experience) if you try to make steam with it before it's fully up to temperature.  Make your first burst of steam AWAY FROM your work.  Once the iron is happy you can start pressing.

And of course there's nothing wrong - and nothing can go wrong - with a heavy dry iron and a press cloth.  That's how tailors worked for centuries before all this fancy stuff was invented  .