Clothes Iron

A clothes iron smooths textiles through a heated sole and pressure. Older examples are collected as evidence of domestic and working life. Their construction indicates how they were heated.

Solid irons could be heated on a stove. Hollow box irons used a separate iron slug, heated first and then inserted through a door. Charcoal irons were a different construction, holding burning embers inside. A slug and charcoal are therefore not interchangeable descriptions of the heat source.

Skellefteå Museum documents a brass box iron with a cast-iron slug and solid cast-iron examples heated on a stove. Record doors, contents, handles, sole and cast markings. An incised year is not necessarily the manufacturing date. A loose stand or slug should not automatically be treated as original to the iron.

Skellefteå museum: messingjern med lodd; Skellefteå museum: massive strykejern; Kringom: stryke- og glatteredskaper