My iron is a workhorse. It irons my husband’s shirts, steams dresses, irons and steam finishes some tailoring work I do, and fuses interfacing onto sewing projects. Sometimes I’m a little less than careful about trimming the fusible interfacing just right, and sometimes I’m rushed and iron over things that shouldn’t be ironed. So how can I expect my iron to leave our clothing and projects crisp and clean if the iron itself isn’t clean? If you have an iron that gets dirty and gummed up, read on.

You’ll discover the same repelling issue as with diaper creams. Don’t believe us? Click Mr. Snuggles to watch the proof.

I found a method for cleaning an iron that is so easy. Obviously I had to see if it worked. All you need is your iron (duh), salt, and a piece of copy paper or newspaper. I also used a towel under everything, but mostly because my ironing board cover is striped and weird, and wouldn’t have looked very good in the photos.

Literally all you do is heat the iron to the max, sprinkle a bunch of salt on the paper, and iron the salt without steam. The salt basically exfoliates and removes the gunk. It gets into the holes but then just falls out when you tip the iron upright. Definitely don’t use steam or water, or else the salt may stick to the iron! Then, once the iron is cooled down, wipe it with a damp cloth. See? I told you it was easy.

The results? Pretty darn good! For such an easy method, I’d say this is a winner. It got all my smudges and fusible interfacing gum off, except for the one black blemish that is from who-knows-what and is clearly permanent. And the iron plate looks really nice and polished after the damp cloth wipe!