Does your iron have a self clean feature? It sounds like it needs to be cleaned. Mine tells me when it's time to clean it...something else telling me what to do.. LOL

Irons can have a self-clean feature? lol.

Mine is not a self cleaning iron and it does the same thing yours does (hard water I think causes it) and as you said, fortunately it washes out....

For kicks I clicked on one of the links below the thread and found this....very interesting and it says to clean an iron use a burst of steam and it helps somewhat.....I will try that next time I use mine...here's the link in case its disappeared from below.

http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/appliances

do you share my very bad habit of not draining the water out of the iron between uses?

i haven't needed it since i bought the black & decker classic, but i keep an old, rough towel handy. once the iron is full of water and has had time to heat up, i iron the towel first. any shmutz in or on the iron gets on the towel, not my board or fabrics.

i use spray starch to prepare my fabs for cutting. if i get starch buildup on the iron, i just spray water on the heat plate and around the metal sides, then iron it away onto the towel.

ok I tried to fix the link up above so it wasn't so long... now you just have to go there and click on appliances and then do a search for irons.

Seems to me that I read somewhere that you can clean the iron with a solution of vinegar and water. Fill it up, heat it up and dump it out I think. Its suppose to get rid of all the hard water buildup is supposed to fall out.

Vinegar also cleans your coffee pot. I have had this stain fabric......I dry out my iron after using. Dump the water and leave pluged in till no more water or steam comes out. If you know it is your water causing the problem, buy a gallon of distilled water at the grocery store :D

Ruth....I know about the distilled water trick but that would fly over like a lead balloon with my hubby if I added that to my grocery list every week! LOL

Here is what I have learned to do.....I use a small plastic watering can (an empty milk jug would work just as well) and leave the water sit overnight and it has helped alot! I was told once that leaving it sit is better for my houseplants so I just assume it would be better for my iron as well.....I haven't noticed it spitting the gunk out near as much since I've been doing this.

I also use vinegar to clean the coffee pot...works pretty good!

Yes cleaning your iron with solution of vinegar and water will clean your iron but after you put the solution in your iron and pour it out then add clear water then pour that out (you are rinsing the iron) This is what i do. you have to pour the water out when you are through iron for the day the chemicals in the iron makes the rust.