By Sara Anne Donnelly
Photos by Dave Waddell
From our April 2025 issue
On episode 54 of the YouTube series “Kevin Talks Irons,” Kevin McCartney and a few friends try lighting an 1898 gasoline clothes iron on the porch of his Caribou bed-and-breakfast. The device spits flames from both ends and briefly ignites an ironing board before being rushed back to the safety of a trivet. “Well, we did get it operating, although there was some leakage involved,” concludes McCartney, a retired geology professor with a bushy white chinstrap beard, rectangular glasses, and, judging from most episodes of “Kevin Talks Irons” (of which there are 153 and counting), a penchant for monochrome outfits in muted earth tones. “But we have not killed ourselves and we did iron something and we have shown the process!”
The fire-prone device is one of more than 500 antique American and European clothes irons displayed throughout the Old Iron Inn (155 High St., Caribou. 207-492-4766), which McCartney and his wife, Kate, bought in 1992, in part to house his collection. McCartney purchased his first old iron for a dollar when he was 13, and accumulated more over the years, drawn to the seemingly endless iterations of a simple household tool. By the time he met Kate in graduate school, “she found that my apartment was decorated with about 20 irons,” McCartney says. “I was this weird guy, my mind was very detailed. But apparently she liked something about that.”
Most irons were handmade by craftsmen and blacksmiths from the 17th century through the late 19th century, when production moved to foundries. Because they were indispensable tools, thousands of patents were filed annually seeking the next must-have model. McCartney’s collection encompasses a broad swath of what once flooded the market, including cast-iron “sad irons” (after the Old English for “solid”); fluting irons with crank handles and rollers for pressing ruffles; curved hat-making irons for flattening brims; irons that double as hot plates or have detachable pokers for curling hair; lightweight, wooden-handled flat irons patented in 1870 by the rare female inventor Mary Florence Potts; and an extremely scarce 1891 Carpenter-Nevens Electro-Heating Company flat iron, one of the first electric irons ever made.
“As a scientist, my interest is in the early evolution of things, where an organism came from, what were the advantages that allowed it to survive for as long as it did — it’s the same with irons,” says McCartney, who started his YouTube channel in 2020 to share his knowledge of the evolution of antique pressing tools. “My study of irons in such great detail gives a better understanding of the essence of technological development.”
Read more stories about Maine collectors and their treasures, off-grid Maine homes, and more in our Home & Garden issue.
