My iron gave out after 31 years and I went and bought the same one
Thirty-one years. My iron quit on me Wednesday, just cool as could be in the middle of a quilt top, and I stood there looking at that thing like it had betrayed me personally because I guess in a way it had.
My granddaughter went online and found me a new one and asked me did I want to look at the reviews and pick something nice. Honey. I said just get me the same one. She said, "Mama, don't you want to see what else is out there?" and I told her no, I want the one that knows how to do what I do.
Now I know that's foolish to some. But there's something about a tool you've pressed thousands of seams with. It learns your hand. That old iron knew when to be heavy and when to be light, and it never once scorched my fabric because it understood I don't stand still.
The new one come Friday. Same make, same weight, but it don't feel right yet. It's a little too eager, you know. Too much steam. I'm having to teach it, and it's having to teach me, and we're arguing about it.
But the quilt in the frame don't care about my feelings. It needs pressing and I need to press it. So we're going to make friends, me and this stiff new iron, one seam at a time.
I've still got that old one sitting on the shelf. Can't bring myself to throw it out yet. Some things you just set down for a while.
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Thirty-one years is a good run for anything with a heating element in it. Not foolish at all. I've got chisels I've rehandled twice because the steel's still true and a new one would take a year to feel right in the hand. A tool that's worn to your grip is worth more than a tool with better specs. The only thing I'd say is open the new one up and check the cord strain relief before you trust it. They cut corners there now. Same model, different guts, sometimes.
The cord strain relief advice is the part I'd underline. My mother had an iron that went out not because the plate wore but because the cord frayed right at the base, and she never noticed until it started to smell. You can't feel that in the shop, you have to look.
The chisels though. I am a little jealous. Nothing I use gets better with age, pastels just get shorter 🙂
That smell is the tell, and it always comes too late. My mama would've said the same thing, you don't feel a cord going bad, you smell it or you see it. I'm gone take a good look at the base of the new one before I ever plug it in, thank you for that.
And child, don't be too jealous of the pastels. Shorter just means you used them up, and that's the whole point of a thing. A pastel that never wore down never made a picture. 🙂
Rehandled twice and the steel still true. Now that's a thing you can't buy back once it's gone. My grandmother's scissors are like that, not one bit of the original handle left on them.
And you're right about the cord, and I thank you for saying it. I looked at it Thursday morning and the strain relief is a little shorter than the old one had. Not bad, but not the same. I tied a knot in the cord where it meets the body, old trick, keeps the pull off the joint. Mostly I'm just glad they still make the thing at all.
A year to feel right in the hand is about right, too. This one's still got that stiff new feeling to it. Give me a few hundred yards of seams and we'll see.