Hi all,
After spending eight straight hours (!) giving my handwoven silk yardage a hard press with an iron, I decided to go out and buy a mangle. I found one on Craigslist for $100, bought it last night, and took it home. It needs some tender loving care (lube the motor, replace some wiring, etc.) but it does work, more or less.
Which brings me to my question: How does one use a mangle? Do you use the heat, and if so, how much? The heating part works but the controls are, well, pretty primitive (it just says "high", "medium", and "low") and I'm a bit nervous about running painstakingly woven silk through a hot mangle whose temperature is more or less unknown.
If using it cold, do you start with damp fabric, or dry? If damp, do you run it through the mangle once and then let it dry?
Here's a pic of the mangle...
The motor works and it flattened a piece of muslin nicely without leaving any rusty marks or anything.