Clothes iron face cleaning?

  I have an iron whose face is all gunked up.  Not sure how this happened but
I am wondering if it can somehow be cleaned rather than me having to go out
and purchase a new iron.  When the iron is heated/hot it drags on the
clothing item and sometimes transfers some of the gunk onto the clothing.

Can I just use steel wool and/or a brillo pad on the face or will this
scratch/ruin the iron face?

Thanks,
Walter

 "Walter Cohen" wrote


Spray starches or 'finishing' sprays most likely.


Yes you can use such with a reasonably light hand.  It wont look 'as pretty'
as a new iron but it wont cause any real harm to it's use.  Use a pattern of
'front to back' and 'back to front' etc or you may cause sticking problems
if you go side to side.  Basically you want the very *minor* scratches to be
in the same direction as how you use the iron.

You could also try a damp plastic 'greenie weenie' or other scrubbie on it.
It's not too bad, that might work.

 
Got a Bed Bath & Beyond store nearby? Same company which makes irons (Rowena
or some such name) sells a cleaning kit containing stuff in a toothpaste
tube. Works nicely. Otherwise, I'd use a coarse **PLASTIC** dish scrubbing
pad and a little Bon Ami powder. Have q-tips handy for getting any powder
residue out of the steam holes.

Someone in the house caused this problem, so you'll need to track down the
culprit, or get them their own iron so they don't screw up the one you need
to use. The offender will cause the problem again - that's a sure thing.

 
I've even used #400 sandpaper to speed the work. The scratches are so
tiny that it doesn't impair performance. A very fine drywall mesh
screen would work to and not build up the gunk on the mesh.

 
is it corrosion or hard water deposits?  the plan of attack is
different, depending.  Most of the responses I've seen seem to be
appropriate for corrosion.  for hard water stains I would fill a
shallow pan with CLR and just soak and scrub.

nate