Best sole for iron: compare and choose

Answering the question - which sole of the iron is better, you will greatly ease the problem of choosing a new home assistant. It is from this parameter that the cost and functionality of the iron largely depends. You can do without digital displays, special attachment of the cord. But if the sole is not good to slide on the fabric and leave clues on it - no frills will help make ironing easy, and its result will be of high quality.

The main criteria to help determine the quality of the sole - the material and shape.

With the form, everything is more or less clear: you can choose it correctly based on the fact that you often have to iron.

With a large number of children's clothes, women's dresses with an abundance of frills, as well as men's shirts, you should buy an iron with a pointed nose and a more elongated sole. If you belong to the disappearing category of people who are ironing bedding, it’s better to choose a wide-sole iron with a blunt rounded spout.

In both cases, it is worthwhile to choose the sole of a larger area: this saves not only ironing time, but also electricity.

But the material from which the soleplate is made is better studied in more detail.

Of what material make the sole of the

iron. In fact, all the soles are made of either aluminum or steel. The difference is in the details and they are crucial.

Aluminum is still used in the production of irons. There are many reasons for this. This lightness, and excellent thermal conductivity, and low cost. The only bad thing is that the metal is soft and easily scratched. Another disadvantage is that on the woolen items when ironing, the aluminum sole of the iron leaves a shiny shine. That is why woolen fabrics were made to iron through paper or wet thin fabric. To reduce the unpleasant effects, aluminum is anodized, the sole in this case acquires a matte golden color and serves much better.

If you need to buy a fully functional device cheaply - the sole made of anodized aluminum will be one of the most profitable options.

Polished stainless steel is not much more expensive, but it lacks many of the disadvantages of aluminum. It is durable, scratch-resistant, heats quickly and evenly, and slides well on fabric. A bit heavy, but the quality of ironing gives quite satisfactory. The strength and durability of the steel outsole is almost the best in terms of cost and quality. Choose a device with a stainless steel sole can be among quite budget models.

All other soles consist of a combination of aluminum or steel with other materials.

To increase quality while maintaining low prices, manufacturers began to coat the sole of cheap aluminum with stronger, but also inexpensive steel. The iron retains its lightness and good thermal conductivity, but the danger of damaging the sole is significantly reduced by scratching it against metal fittings.

More advanced options are coating aluminum or steel with layers of composite materials or other, expensive and durable metals.

How to choose a sole coating

Coating the sole made of enamel, similar to the finished granite, allows the iron to slide well along the smoothing fabric. Enamel coating is well cleaned, even just a piece of soft fabric, resistant to the appearance of chips and cracks. But you need to remember how fragile the enamel is: with time it will appear chipped, the coating can peel off. But usually, by that time, it’s still time to think about changing the iron.

To improve the quality of the sole of steel, the upper layer adjacent to the fabric is made with the addition of nickel. What sole is made with the addition of nickel? You can learn it by a light golden hue. But if there is a cold shade of bluish color, then the upper layer of the sole is made with the addition of chromium.

In the category of luxury goods, you can choose expensive irons with a sole, the steel base of which is covered with a layer of incredibly durable and wear-resistant titanium. This surface doesn’t literally matter: just scratch a nail. No wonder titanium is used to create the hulls of spacecraft.

However, in space technology one more quality of titanium is appreciated - relatively low thermal conductivity. For an iron, this means greater power consumption for surface heating. Titanium coated devices heat up longer. What is the point of paying more for a heavier and worse heating iron - it's hard to say. But titanium irons are buying.

But Braun developed sapphire coating is applied to the sole of the iron of the middle price segment. But do not think that the company has taken possession of a deposit of jewelry sapphires and grinds them into powder to cover the sole of the irons. Sapphire is a genus of corundum, the same mineral that is used as an abrasive because of its hardness. The hardness of corundum on the Mohs scale in second place after the diamond. Corundum is produced synthetically. And the word "sapphire" simply adds attractiveness in the eyes of customers: well, wouldn't you really want to choose an iron with sapphires, among others, equal in other characteristics? Moreover, the models from the Braun Saphir series are really very good.

But the most popular among buyers are coatings made of composite materials: Teflon, ceramics, and metal ceramics.

Pros and cons of Teflon are well known from the experience of using Teflon dishes. With all its merits, this material is afraid of scratches and requires sufficient care. But he does not stick to the fabric and perfectly cleaned.

The ceramic coating looks great, glides along the fabric evenly and warms up fairly quickly. But it is fragile, and even with careful handling, chipped will inevitably appear. Nevertheless, it is precisely irons with a sole made of metal ceramics that are most in demand. The base of the sole can be either aluminum( in more budget models), or high-quality stainless steel( in the more expensive segment).Ceramic coating behaves better than others at maximum heating, and looks great in terms of design.

But what about the holes?

Since almost all modern irons are equipped with a function of vaporization to facilitate the process of ironing, there are holes on the sole for supplying steam to the surface of the fabric. They are different in size and location, but do not have a big impact on the quality of smoothing.

Small numerous holes serve to create a kind of air cushion that facilitates gliding. Through the large openings, steam is supplied in large portions, making it possible to cope with the most stubborn folds of rigid fabric. Each manufacturer develops its own system of holes on the sole, consistently positioning its invention as the best, revolutionary and effective. But most of these statements are nothing more than a marketing ploy to attract the attention of the buyer.