Does anyone make there own sealing iron socks? What material do you use and how do you make it fit on the iron?

skeeter

Skeeter,
I have done this for myself for many years now. The best solution if you can find them is 100% cotton baby socks. If you can find these in a store you can use the directly with no modifications at all. Simply slip it over the end of the iron and secure it in place. To secure it I use a piece of 18 gauge solid core wire, just wrap it around the handle and sock and it will keep the sock tight on the iron.

If you can't find the baby socks (this has happened to me several times) I make my own. I found some cotton baby diapers. I spent an afternoon with the sewing machine and I make about 30 socks up. Those have lasted my for about 4 years now, and I still have some left. My sewing isn't going to win any awards, but it was enough to make up the socks. ..

Hope this helps

Ken

Skeeter there is your answer, many of us do just that and they work great, cheep too.

I like to use my old white t-shirts...the type with v necks or crew necks for under a dress shirt. I cut them in squares large enough to fit over the iron bottom, then pull up all sides and corners over the top of the iron and secure with a strong wooden clothespin. This has worked for me ever since I began using the iron on coverings back in the early 70's. When the material picks up enough color stains from the coverings, or just gets worn out from the heat and stretching, I often can just shift the part of the square that is still fresh to the iron bottom, or toss, and use another square. Jon

Thanks for the ideas. I have a 3 yr old grandson living with us so i'm sure i can borrow a few socks he doesn't fit in anymore. skeeter

Just be sure they are 100% cotton. Alot of them have nylon or spandex in them to make them stand up and it will melt.

So how do you find out if they are 100% cotton or some other material.

skeeter

Hi !
Never use a sock on my iron, they just steal too much heat!

I Always use an iron cover. My chief complaint aginst baby socks is no matter how well you secure them they will tend with side movement of the iron to slip and rotate on the iron and this makes things difficult. If one is concerned with stealing heat then the thicker baby sock or worse the rather thick commercial cover sold by Tower are going to be worse in that regard.

I have always used my old used T shirts that are much thinner than either and using the quick change pin technique I developed above the materail cannot slide sideway or rotate like the baby sock. Have never paid much attention to the composition of my T shirts but none have been all cotton.

Using the illustrated technique I never run out of covers and they cost absolutely nothing. They will burn through especially if you are a monocoat user as I am but no problem with quick changeouts using perhaps several in a single setting.


John

Wow. I was surprised to find a thread on this. Every winter I order more from Tower and think. I should just make my own. I attempted using the sock with out much luck. Any idea what material the hanger 9 ones are made of? They have sort a furry texture to them. I found that plain cotton will scratch the clear surface. Especially on black covering.
Another material I try burned... So I gave up and thought I won't try it again until I figure out what material the real ones are made of.

Linen is a higher temp cloth than cotton and works well.

Great thread. I've been wondering about this myself.

When my sons were young my wife often asked if I knew anything about what was happening to their socks, lol. I finally started buying me some when I bought them theirs. With the Monokote we get now I don't use one at all and try to careful about scratches.

I sewed up a few practice bootys. Pretty bad. Is much harder than I thought it was going to be. My mom could have had ten cranked out my the time I got the machine threaded. I hit Joann's Fabrics. Layed up a pattern in a drawing program. The sewing machine is ready and I think I going to visit Tower. Naa...

Patrick revisit post #9 in this thread and give this method some thought. Very effective method cost nothing and there is no rolling of the material as you move the iron. Change outs can be made very quickly and I normally do up around three old T shirts at a time and that provides well maybe a stack four inchs high then just apply a new one on the iron at each new covering session.

John

I gave it a try anyway. I used 100% Premium Legacy thin Flannel. Very soft. Its handling the heat and works good. I am going to thread across the to top to prevent the rolling like John mentioned. That's certainly helpful if you are trying to draw the covering slightly. I also purchased some muslin. The flannel is similar to the Hanger 9 sock and the Muslin is similar to the Topflight sock. I prefer the soft cover thou. You do have to be careful and check the flannel often. One little grain of dirt hung up in the weave will make a mess of the finish especially on black Ultrakote. I found the Monokote doesn't scratch as easy, probably due to its clear cover over the pigment. With black ultrakote the scratches show up very well and they don't come out. I have tried everything. I spent 12 dollars on the material...but labor at 80 bucks an hour... it probably would have been more cost effective to order them. . Yeah.. I work cheap.

I have a question. I just got a second hand 2m pattern plane. I am sure the covering is ultrakote or e'lcheapokote of some sort. It's certainly not monokote. The plane was pretty dirty when I got it. I cleaned it and the covering has a strange texture to it. Is that oxidation? The bottom cleaned up well and has a nice gloss to it.

I've made some from an old U.S. Air passenger blanket. Its very thin fleece material and very soft. It will melt if you get the temp too high however.

so..100% cotton is the good for the high temps??

YES , The test I use to verify if it's 100% cotton is to burn a piece . If it burns completly to ash its cotton if you end up with charred hard chunks it's a blend of something else . BTW do this outside or in a well ventilated area and do not inhale the fumes they may be toxic

Has anybody tried wool? My understanding is that it is less likely to burn than cotton.

I do mine pretty much like John B, except I sew mine on. I like to use an old cotton pillow cover for the material. Sewn on as tight as I can get it. Sew the point first then work your way back to the end going back and forth over the top. Doesn't have to be pretty.

Wool is a natural heat insulator . I think it would need to be very thin to allow enough heat transfer to be very effective at ironing .

I don't think anyone's mentioned men's cotton hadkerchiefs, I used these all the time back in the day.

I just use old cotton tee shirts that are past their prime for wearing (aka: too fat to wear it anymore)