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-   -   When your married to an engineer there is no such thing as a "simple request" to make a big board ironing board (https://www.quiltingboard.com/main-f1/when-your-married-engineer-there-no-such-thing-%22simple-request%22-make-big-board-ironing-board-t123633.html)

dgrindey 05-18-2011 02:26 PM


Originally Posted by DogHouseMom
I'm determined to get a big board type ironing board (homemade). I read the tutes & testimonials, and I even bought a new cover that will be perfect for a big board.

So I tell the husband "please cut a piece of 1/2" ply 18 x 48". Simple. Precise. Concise.

Naturally he wants to know why. So I tell him. I explain what and how I want to iron, and I show him what happens on my current (regular) ironing board.

He has found several things wrong (in his mind) with the concept and has spent the last two weeks over-engineering (in his head) my SIMPLE and CHEAP ironing board.

It will be too heavy.
It will be too wobbly.
It will soak up steam and starch and the ply will separate.

It seems like every time I have an idea to make something, he steps in and over-engineers the heck out of it and tells me I need something completely different than my original specs. You should have seen the whelping box he made, my bitch hated it and the puppies didn't like it much either.

So he looked at ironing boards online, you know the cute little ones that fold up into the wall (which are fantastic if I was only ironing shirts!) and told me "this is what you need". NO IT'S NOT!! Why can't he listen to me when I tell him what I NEED. I want to iron 44" of fabric across the board ... pretty simple concept isn't it?

Then there was the brilliant idea of ... 1/4" aluminum. We have tons of that stuff in stock (it's used for the beds on our machines). Thankfully the widest he can get it is 12". Whew!! Caught a break there!!

At the moment in his head I "need" a 1" thick (!!) piece of solid Birch (!!!), my dimensions (how'd I swing that?), marine varnished (indeed!!), and I need new legs that have a wider spread for stability.

Oh save me.

Being married to an engineer is trying sometimes.

I certainly understand you. I am married to an Engineer and asked him just to help me decide how to refurbish my sewing room. I now have two drawings of how "he" is going to help me refurbish the room. Gotta love them.

Th12k 05-18-2011 03:58 PM

LOL I feel your pain, my son is an engineer!!!

carol45 05-18-2011 04:11 PM

1 Attachment(s)
My husband built me an ironing table. Actually, I'm the engineer (really!), but he builds everything. He overdesigned a little; I wanted something that would be able to go into the closet easily when we had guests who needed the bed; but he agreed he would take it apart whenever I wanted, and he does--he has to remove about 16 screws, but it's worked out pretty well. I love using it.

carol45 05-18-2011 04:11 PM

My

MEEMA FIELD 05-18-2011 04:33 PM

Oh my dear,,,,,,,,,,,

I can't see myself screwing or unscrewing all those screws. I think I would just leave it together until I had some company over.
Looks very sturdy thats for sure that's for sure.

lalaland 05-18-2011 04:44 PM

yeah, I have one of those tends to overthink everything kind of guys too. I bought one of those craft tables at Joanns, ordered a custom ironing board cover for it, and that's my ironing board. The height is good and it's big enough to handle any project.

Judie 05-18-2011 05:35 PM

Oh man can I relate.. by the time I finally get something that I've asked for it's generally way too late for what I needed it for.. cost 3 or 4 times the money, and is so heavy (oops, make that stable), and is so re-engineered that it no longer is what I need.. then I need to find a place to store it (whatever it is) and make it work for what I was asking for.. Oh the flip side, if there is a problem with something, he can fix it, and if there is math involved he just blinks and looks off into space, (where evidently the answer is written), because he has it in a flash. I just have to be careful what I ask for.

Fern Porter 05-18-2011 08:11 PM

My solution for this challenge was to go to Hobby Lobby and buy a stretched (& primed) canvas that painters (artists) use. It's 24x48 and cost about $17. That was cheaper than the canvas I was looking at. Anyway, I bought a 24 x 48 piece of pegboard (masonite), screwed it onto the canvas side, padded it with pieces of batting and stretched WET canvas over and stapled to the inside of the back (so the staples wouldn't scratch any surface.) I have an island in the kitchen that is 30x48 and that's where I'll iron the cloth. It's still heavy enough, but not as heavy as plywood, I think.

(originally I thought I could use the canvas side if I padded the back enough, but this isn't ideal on the 12x14 one I did. My artist friend assured me I could spray the primed canvas with an acrylic paint and could iron on it...not sure that was good advice!)

BellaBoo 05-18-2011 09:47 PM


Originally Posted by momski
I am laughing so hard it hurts. It sounds like your husband has been talking to mine. My darling Engineer decided that the design I printed out for him was faulty in so many ways that it wasn't worth his time to build because I wouldn't be happy with it. So he just didn't make it... so I took over the kitchen table to do my ironing (indefinatly). To spite me, he went and bought a new kitchen table instead of buying or building the ironing board I requested.

I would order the Big Board and get over night delivery or hire a contractor to build it. I would sing the praisers of that board every chance I got and declare it was worth every penny and then some. My DH would never suggest again he knew best what I wanted or not wanted.

natalieg 05-18-2011 09:50 PM

too funny!


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