TheDane
Call Me a Cab
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- 2,670
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- Copenhagen, Denmark
There is no way to rewire it.
That's hard to believe. There's probably a routed groove on the inside of the sole. Into that groove resistance wire is "glued" with some oven mortar. Before that is done, you should insulate the groove with some mica strips (along the bottom and sides of the groove). Before mounting, the wire should be coiled up on a mandrel - and the overall length of the wire should be determined from the wire's so-called "specific resistance" and it's diameter. It's a lot easier to do than to explain.
An iron like that can always be mended. It's like salvaging a broken hammer. Not much can be wrong, and everything can be fixed. It's essential that you know, what you are doing, though. There are too few hatters in the first place. We shouldn't fool around, electricuting the rest
In my catalog from the early 50s, the iron was $25 - and a replacement element (also used to upgrade a non-electric shell-iron) was $7.50. They also supplied electric irons and shackels for felted edge, btw.