my ironing board is a really old one too- when we moved 4 years ago somehow a couple items chose to not make the move- ironing board being one of them- lucked out & same weekend of move a new neighbor had a (barn sale) i stopped in-looked around- lady asked...are you looking for anything in particular? my response- kind of hoping to find an ironing board- mine is MIA-
she said- gee- i think i have one back in this other room-give me a minute- and sure enough===it was good enough= once i carried it home & set it up---that's it- i have not been able to re-fold it since i brought it home- but that's ok- it lives in the sewing room and can stay -up-
i removed the old stained cover that was on it- washed it- replaced the batting with new- recovered-
once in a while i'll be in a store with new ones and i always seem to look- thinking one of these days i should buy a new one...but then i look at the price and decide my old barn sale board fits my needs just fine.