Black and Decker Classic Iron

I’ve posted about these before but can’t find the thread. I have one of these brand new in the box that I bought at Walmart a few years ago with a gift card. I believe John has the same iron, it looks just like he 1950s-70s GE irons.

I also have one I got recently in a thrift store, I’d guess it’s maybe 10 years old or less, it’s nearly identical to the one I bought new, except this one has the older B&D logo and the other has the new logo.

Anyway, I finally got around to using it (the thrift store one) as I don’t iron much at all but had a wrinkled shirt to do. The other one in box I’ve never used yet.

What I noticed is when I first turned it on, the light on the side was green. But after a few minutes as it was preheating, it started flashing red. Is it supposed to do that? I thought maybe it had to do with the automatic shutoff feature, but it seems premature as I’d just let it sit to preheat.

After I picked it up it turned green again but it just seemed to keep changing to red pretty often.

Other than that it seemed to get hot and work fine.

The only other thing that concerned me is the heel rest is made of the same chromed metal as the body of the iron and seems to get quite hot as well. Not nearly as hot as the actual aluminum sole plate, but still quite hot. I was kind of afraid to sit it down to cool off after I finished using it. Could it start a fire? I’ve used other plastic irons before and their heel rest stays cool.

If John or anyone else could chime in on these two things, I’d like to know.

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Post# 465733 9/1/2023 at 16:28 by fan-of-fans (USA)
Checkrate/Likes I’ve posted about these before but can’t find the thread. I have one of these brand new in the box that I bought at Walmart a few years ago with a gift card. I believe John has the same iron, it looks just like he 1950s-70s GE irons. I also have one I got recently in a thrift store, I’d guess it’s maybe 10 years old or less, it’s nearly identical to the one I bought new, except this one has the older B&D logo and the other has the new logo. Anyway, I finally got around to using it (the thrift store one) as I don’t iron much at all but had a wrinkled shirt to do. The other one in box I’ve never used yet. What I noticed is when I first turned it on, the light on the side was green. But after a few minutes as it was preheating, it started flashing red. Is it supposed to do that? I thought maybe it had to do with the automatic shutoff feature, but it seems premature as I’d just let it sit to preheat. After I picked it up it turned green again but it just seemed to keep changing to red pretty often. Other than that it seemed to get hot and work fine. The only other thing that concerned me is the heel rest is made of the same chromed metal as the body of the iron and seems to get quite hot as well. Not nearly as hot as the actual aluminum sole plate, but still quite hot. I was kind of afraid to sit it down to cool off after I finished using it. Could it start a fire? I’ve used other plastic irons before and their heel rest stays cool. If John or anyone else could chime in on these two things, I’d like to know. View Full Size

Post# 465754 , Reply# 1 9/1/2023 at 22:34 by human (Pines of Carolina)
Checkrate/Likes 1 *GE holdover...* We had the original GE iron like that when I was a kid. I remember that it got hot all over. Black & Decker acquired GE's small appliance division sometime back in the '80s, and that was one of the products that remained largely unchanged under the Black & Decker label. The iron I have now is a Black & Decker from the '80s, same basic design, but with an almond colored plastic upper body. I think have snagged it from our family's beach house before it was sold. I was in the process of moving after my divorce when all that went down. I see those chrome ones occasionally at thrift shops for not much money.

Post# 465755 , Reply# 2 9/2/2023 at 00:28 by Gottahaveahoove (Pittston, Pennsylvania, 18640)
Checkrate/Likes 3 *Am I the John in reference?* I had 2 of these. Yes, that green light on the side tells us it is on... changes after it sits dormant, etc. It worked well. For years... and was replaced by the second. I believe the 1st one fell to the floor. The heat of the whole unit was never an issue . I like the weight of it, too.

Post# 465764 , Reply# 3 9/2/2023 at 08:29 by fan-of-fans (USA)
Checkrate/Likes 1 It seems like everyone had those almond Black and Deckers, both of my grandparents had them. you’re right, I believe it was in 1984, that the sale happened. There’s another Black and Decker I’ve seen that is almond with a maroon handle. This model would beep or more accurately “chirp” when it had reached temperature, and then, would chirp again a few times and shut itself off if you didn’t move it after so many minutes. It also had red and green lights to show if it was heating or up to temp. In fact, I believe it may have been the very first iron to have auto shutoff. It’s be a neat one to find, but so far haven’t come across one. I see these chrome B&D irons in thrift stores pretty often, although on some the chrome is rusty and the cord housing broken off. Sometimes I also see older GE travel irons or the blue plastic GE models. Yes John, it was you that I remember having these. Good to know the heel rest is safe. I remember my mom would always sit the iron on the dryer or the (cool) stove after she used it so it could cool down. She was always afraid of that or the hot curling iron causing a fire.