Pro Iron Stand

This is perhaps the best of the metal spring type iron stands. It has a sponge tray for cleaning your iron tip and unlike the cheaper models, it has a metal insert at the top of the spring. On the models with the plastic inserts if the iron is left untended for too long or not inserted into the stand straight the plastic burns and smells terrible.

Hexacon Iron Cradle

The Hexacon Cradle is my favorite iron stand. Maybe it's a nostalgia thing taking me back to my first professional stained glass gig in the early 70's?

Anyhow, the cradle is simple. It just lays there and you slap your iron down into it...and that's that. Nothing fancy, and you don't need good aim. Upright stands make you work too hard, lifting the iron high enough to reach the hole and then hitting the "bullseye" to actually get the iron into the stand. Sounds silly, but really, who needs that.

To make matters worse, all those stands with the coil springs that the iron slides into, well they're magic or something. They have the magical ability to suck the power cord from the iron into the spring so the iron winds up melting the insulation off the wires. If you're lucky, you see or smell the smoke before the short circuit comes:-)

Now it's time to fess up. The Hakko 456, my favorite iron, doesn't really lay in it right, but I don't care, I just hate the other stands. If you just need to have a good fit, we have the stand made by Hakko just for the 456 listed just below. I'm sure it's a great stand, but honestly I've never tried one.