Just hammer the staple ends down. Works fine. I would suggest to not use heavy padding on your board at all but since you board is thin you'll need some protection. Sheeting will scorch faster then canvas but it's easy to recover so don't fret about it. 1/4" board isn't the best size so keep an eye out for 3/4" size plywood.

What a bummer!

Yeah, watch old mattress pads, some of them have polyester for the filling; not good for ironing on. Best thing is to find some old wool blankets or even some wool fabric and layered. Then put heavy muslin over the top or something like that. Just make sure you are using all cotton fabric. 1/4" staples are easy to find, and will go through all your layers & plywood.

I made mine with 3/8 inch plywood - wasn't thinking about the warp factor, more the lift factor. But I also built a frame on the bottom of it to keep it in place on the ironing board (you can see pictures on my blog - linked below). I put down a wool blanket and then the silver cloth. I've thrown a piece of muslin over it that can be easily washed as I've been using lots of starch.

Alternately, you could use a layer of warm & natural batting covered with Duck Cloth (as was recommended to me by Harriet Hargrave)

Cheers, K

thumb tacks

My husband made me an ironing top 22x50 out of plywood. It fits over my standard ironing board. I made an ironing board cover out of very heavy muslin (purchased at WalMart - they have different weights). I made it like a standard ironing board cover, and ran cord through a sewn channel around the edge, so I can remove the cover easily when it wears out. It works great and was very easy to make.

I can buy different length staples for my staple gun. I don't know what length staples you have but you might want to look into shorter staples

Thanks everyone! My DH brought home 1/4" staples. I'm going to foil it and probably use the batting instead of the mattress pad. i wanted it to use on my cutting table just to keep from having to move my chair all the time. I'm getting lazy. Thanks again!

Do you use a lot of steam? I don't use any but I do use starch so it does get
a little damp and it hasn't warped yet. I used sub-floor panel which I think is
what you used too. If you use steam, next time you make a new board drill
some holes so the steam can escape? That's what I plan to do on mine. It
should be a lot lighter that way too.

My husband used spray adhesive. First layer was the heat resistant padding to the plywood and then we covered that with Warm & Natural batting, also using the spray adhesive......and then finally covered that with a draw-string cover of muslin.......works great.