I've made a series of ironing boards in my time - some I've posted here on the HB, while others remain as visuals, models or lifesize examples. GBU-57 MOP is the latest one - it's best just to view the illustration, which is self explanatory.-- xenzag, Jun 24 2025 https://www.tumblr....-board?source=share [xenzag, Jun 24 2025] One of my other Ironing Boards In_20The_20Navy_2c_20Ironing_20Board [xenzag, Jun 24 2025] Can you use it while wearing MOPP gear?-- RayfordSteele, Jun 24 2025 Can you make one that isn't dreadful? The only one I've actually liked in the last 25 years or so is one I borrowed at a hotel in Switzerland. It had the air of a 1950's product made on an assembly line formerly employed in the manufacture of tank components.
Every ironing board I've used since seems to completely contravene all engineering laws regarding compromise. Usually, if you want something light, it will cost more or lose sturdiness, etc. Ironing boards seem to combine surprising weight with an almost complete lack of structural integrity. They're never cheap, the mechanisms employed for locking them upright are among the worst conceived by man. Literally some of them are a length of what looks like bailing wire that jams and (hopefully) unjams in a bit of sheet metal depending on angle.
The covers, don't get me started on those. There seems to be no consensus on whether these should be permeable or not. The stamped steel* of the board structure is perforated, to reduce weight, presumably. But the covers vary from a dense metalized fabric, I assume in an attempt to reflect heat, to a patterned cotton. Padding thickness is also completely random. The most offensive part is that they seem to be held on with the most inadequate drawstring arrangement, the drawstring itself being so thin as to be practically monatomic in diameter.
*that this material is technically in the same category as ball bearings, turbine blades & rocket nozzles is an affront to human dignity-- bs0u0155, Jun 24 2025 Your rant is one of the most justified rants ever written.-- Voice, Jun 24 2025 This solves no problem whatsoever. [+]-- Voice, Jun 24 2025 You can take out your frustration by pounding on the detonator fitted to the end of the MOP ironing board.-- xenzag, Jun 24 2025 I have longed for stirrups on my flimsy collapsible unit, like the foot loops on surfboards. Now I just stand on one of the T-legs.
Why don’t ironing boards heat up and puff steam when needed? Both sides working; the hammer and the anvil, as it were.-- minoradjustments, Jun 25 2025 Because having a 4 foot hot flat surface that you lay something down on wouldn't be shall we say safe?-- RayfordSteele, Jun 28 2025 random, halfbakery