Thanks for starting this discussion grma33! - I will be following all the suggestions.
I have heard good things about the benefits of the wool mats and am thinking that this may be a 'must have' for me. I have been wanting one for awhile and have been watching the January sales.
There are so many different brand names out there and it's difficult to figure out which to buy. I also had a shop owner tell me not to use steam?? - I would definitely be using steam to set/flatten the seams along with my clapper. She said that steam makes the mat smell funny and that it eventually separates the fibers of the mat so that it may fall apart?? I understand that wet wool can give off a slight odour and needs to be dried when damp but I really questioned her about the quality of her mats when she told me this. Perhaps the mat she was selling isn't 100 percent wool but contains other materials thus making it separate.
I want one for my ironing board and then also one to put on top of the wooden snack table that I have next to me to use for convenient small pressing - I plan on using a barrier underneath on top of the wood. The little table measures 13 x 18 and it would be nice to have one that completely covered the top.