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Iron. Did you burn something onto your iron?

Submitted by J.M.

A tip I learned from my mom that really works!! If you've burned anything on your iron, you'll need a brown paper bag (like they put your groceries in at the supermarket) and table salt. 

1. Turn your iron to it's hottest setting.
2. Put the brown paper bag on your ironing board and pour a generous amount of salt on the bag.
3. Then rub the iron around on the salt in circular motions. 

If it doesn't all come off the first time, toss out the first bit of salt and re-salt the bag.

Visitors comments

Great tip! Comments By: Anon on 2005-12-20 It worked. Thanks.   This really works! Comments By: Linda on 2005-12-31 Thanks for sharing the tip - I was about to buy a new iron but was able to save it because of this tip.   cleaning iron Comments By: Anon on 2006-01-09 Burned something onto sole plate - stainless steel - the salt works wonders!!!!!   OK result Comments By: Anon of Brum on 2006-03-11 My iron was badly burned - although it's not completely clean, it's much better than it was.   claening iron Comments By: diane on 2006-04-15 this works so well, better then purchased cleaners   Brilliant! Comments By: Julie J on 2006-05-08 Didn't think it would work at first, but kept going. Now clean as new!   Cleaning the Iron Comments By: Angel Dozier on 2006-06-11 I am absolutely thrilled this worked! Will share.   WOW - That really works!! Comments By: Traci on 2006-07-23 Ruined a brand new iron by melting bad synthetic....then I read this tip and 30 seconds later it was brand new again. I am speechless!!   paper Comments By: distressed.over.iron on 2006-08-05 uhm my brother accidentally toppled the iron over and it landed on a piece of paper and the paper melted onto the iron base. would this tip work?   Did not work for my me Comments By: Patrick on 2006-08-05 I am not sure if this is because it is a teflon coated, and not a stainless steel based iron   wow! Comments By: betram on 2006-08-27 It really works!!!! my beautiful Rowenta iron is like new again!   No more goo! Comments By: Christy on 2006-09-16 This worked very well for my iron. Although I had to scrape most of the salt off, it was much cheaper than having to replace the iron. Thanks so much!   Patience is thesecret Comments By: Manuel Briffa on 2006-09-23 This is brilliant.I was very sceptic because the iron was really bad but now its as good as new. The secret is to be patient. Don't expect miracles in 5 minutes, but if you persist and change salt every few minutes, the result is unbelievable. Coarse salt seems to work better.   Textbook Result ! Comments By: Karen Selway. on 2006-09-30 What a fabulous tip! Worked instantly. Salt stuck to burnt and sticky polyester, i was then able to scrape off resulting goo in less than 5 mins. My iron soleplate is teflon coated and now looks like new. Many Many Thanks!   IT WORKS! Comments By: Lynn on 2006-10-04 I am very pleased with the tip! Thanks to the internet for helping us find household hints and more!   Eureka... Comments By: JD on 2006-11-05 Thanks for sharing this tip... works like a charm...   Sorry but it didn't work for me!!! Comments By: Janice on 2006-11-28 My mom tried this tip but it didn't seem to work. It took a tiny bit of gunk off but it didn't really work for her. She said that it took for ever to get some burns off.   Fantastic!! Comments By: Loz on 2007-01-14 One of my teenagers turned the iron on to iron some jeans on while it was face down on the carpet! The encrusted carpet bits on the iron came off in less than two mins using this salt on paper tip (used course salt) - saved me �30 + on a new iron - thanks very much!!   It's a Miracle!!!!! Comments By: Bahama Mama Patty on 2007-02-03 My brand new Rowenta is brand new again! I melted a shoulder pad to it and in about 60 seconds it was clean!!!!   Yippee!! Comments By: Shirley on 2007-02-23 I had fusible all over my iron; this worked in a matter of minutes. Next time, though, I'm going to put the paper bag in a cookie sheet to catch the stray salt. Whoever this tip came from, THANKS!   TOP TIP Comments By: MATT on 2007-03-07 FAIR PLAY DIDNT THINK IT WOULD WORK BUT IT DID GOOD JOB   tip top Comments By: k shillam on 2007-04-01 best tip ever i had my doubts but it really works good one ...   GREAT TIP Comments By: Lucy on 2007-08-02 This saved me from having to replace my new iron!! Worked GREAT! I used the coarse salt and a little patience. THANKS   Amazin' Comments By: Kaz on 2007-08-25 Tried the others and this is the only one that worked. My iron is smoother than it's been for ages. Thanx.   it really works Comments By: anon on 2007-08-27 thank you for whoever that suggested this salt solution. My mum has been nagging about the iron gunk for ages and finally we found a solution :)   WOW!! Comments By: Bex on 2007-10-09 this honestly genuinly does work. BRILLIANT !!!!   Coarse salt trick - worked for me Comments By: Anon in Birmingham, UK on 2007-10-21 Thanks for the tip! I ironed some elastic and it burnt onto the soleplate. Two loads of coarse salt later it was all gone. Yay! The only think I would warn people about is that the shininess of the soleplate is a little less after the salt treatment (it goes a little matt, but hey, that's better than shiny with burnt elastic all over it).   IT WORKS Comments By: Carolyn on 2007-11-04 Fabulous, my new iron plate got some stick on it and it's gone!   Great Tip! Comments By: MaryAnn/Ca on 2008-07-12 Saved my iron! I got fusible on the soleplate and this worked like magic in about 20 seconds.   Awesome! Comments By: Anon on 2008-09-05 It worked wonders, and the best part was that my husband did it for me! What a guy! : )   Dropped iron onto nylon door mat!!! Comments By: Sally.......UK on 2008-10-16 Fantastic tip. I could not find a brown paper bag, so I used a large piece of baking parchment, sprinkled the table salt then some salt from the salt mill. Managed to scrape surplus off and thought I was going to have to throw my new iron away. RESULT.......moved hot iron in circular motion, only for a few minutes and ALL gone. Brilliant, thanks so much for the great tip.   didn't work, iron won't get hot now ;( Comments By: Anon on 2008-10-17 got some off but hard brown area was still on so use flat-top stove cleaner which worked .... except now iron won't get hot at all! although the 'on' light still works. Could the salt crystals have gotten inside the iron thru its small vent holes?   soso Comments By: Jeff on 2009-02-28 i had some really bad stains on my iron. did e salt thingy for like god knows how long. maybe 20-30min? but i kept stopping to check whether the stains are coming off. in e end none of them came off! but i used a scraper and the big chunks came off quite easily, leaving a bit left on the iron, which still can't come off even i did the salt thing a for a while more. still i m surprised that some of e stains did managed to come out.   Sticky plastic no more! 12th May 09 Comments By: Trish on 2009-05-12 Used old baking tray with sides and dishwasher salt approx 2oz. Fantastic, saved a perfectly working iron from scrap   Well there's a thing..... Comments By: Mike B - UK - 20th May 09 on 2009-05-20 Our iron had been dropped on the carpet and fibres were seemingly welded to it!! However, problem solved within about five mins thanks to this great tip :D   Surprising Comments By: Charles on 2009-05-20 Yes, this works, even in Australia!   Mums the word! Comments By: Anon on 2009-10-10 Brilliant. Any other tips from your Mum?   Worked but iron no longer heats up!! Comments By: Joan on 2009-10-11 I tried this on my t-fal iron and it did remove most of the gunk but, now my iron no longer heats up!   Excellent. Great tip! Comments By: Anne on 2010-05-22 Really works. You do need brown paper.   Impressive! Comments By: Pamela on 2010-07-04 Worked well. Not at first, but I was using too much salt and it went everywhere. Tried again with just a little, and a combination of very rough rock salt and table salt. Refreshed the salt now and again and persistence paid off - iron as new again :) thanks!   Cleans up great Comments By: Neil on 2010-08-20 Hi takes a bit of work and effort but put plenty of salt down and repeat you will start to see results.   didnt work Comments By: nat Anon on 2010-11-08 this tip only got a bit of the burn off and also broke the iron