Thanks for the reply. However, I am aware that they exist, I guess I was just looking to see if anyone had any recommendations.
Yeah, if you don't already have one in your lab, add a good smoke detector to your shopping list.
Second recommendation: The timers you just got recommended might all not do what you want. These timers typically repeat the timer settings daily. So next day your iron will turn on again unsupervised
Third: If you want a DIY solution, but don't want to mess with main, there are DC switchable power strips available. The most simple ones I have seen have a simple relay inside, controlled by 5V or 12V DC. More "advanced" ones have a USB PC interface, and others use an RF remote control or even GSM (we use those to remotely power-cycle a server that likes to crash ...).