A tie press is a device, based solely on pressure, to flatten neckties. Its use is necessitated by ties usually being of silk or some other textile ill-suited to the heat of ironing.
Tie presses usually operate based on two separate wooden boards which are clamped together with spring-loaded levers. A cardboard cut-out is usually included to retain the shape of the tie during pressing.
Tie presses are particularly useful for bow ties, due to the creasing and thus deformative nature of the bow tie knot, which involves crushing the ends to produce the 'bow' effect. In time, this crushing affects the appearance of the finished knot. This is particularly the case with bow ties with rectangular ends, rather than the 'bow' shaped ends in some bow ties, though both suffer from crushing to some degree or another. Four-in-hand ties, naturally, are also creased, but rarely to the same extent and, as such, usually require less regular pressing.
Famous quotes containing the words tie and/or press:
“Not because Socrates has said it, but because it is really in my nature, and perhaps a little more than it should be, I look upon all humans as my fellow-citizens, and would embrace a Pole as I would a Frenchman, subordinating this national tie to the common and universal one.”
—Michel de Montaigne (1533–1592)
“The Dada object reflected an ironic posture before the consecrated forms of art. The surrealist object differs significantly in this respect. It stands for a mysterious relationship with the outer world established by man’s sensibility in a way that involves concrete forms in projecting the artist’s inner model.”
—J.H. Matthews. “Object Lessons,” The Imagery of Surrealism, Syracuse University Press (1977)