Boot drying, old way vs new way

[EatenByLimestone]

For years, at the cabin, I’ve dried my winter boots by heating an assortment of rocks on the stove top and then dropping them in. It’s cheap and works!

I saw a yard sale today and stopped in. I found a boot and glove dryer for $4! I plugged it in and it worked, so worth the risk!

At home I use a Peet dryer. I can’t say enough good things about them. All year long they have boots, turf shoes, cleats, sneakers, wrestling shoes, etc rotating on it.

 

[NickW]

Yep, the old boot dryer gets regular use. Just the little bit of warm air moving in the toes helps a lot.

 

[bigealta]

Never tried the rocks. I like that.

 

[bogieb]

I have a set of those I got probably back in the 90's and they work pretty well. At my old place we had a wood stove, so although it stayed nice and warm, there was no air current to help articles of clothing to dry out.

Now that I'm in a place with pellet stoves, I don't use the device often (I can only recall a couple of times). I usually just set my boots/gloves in front of a pellet stove making sure the opening is aimed so the airflow goes in them, not just over the outside. I also have more than one pair of boots/gloves for extended snow storms.

I was cleaning out the closet the boot/glove drier is in a couple of years ago and I thought about giving it away. But, decided there are those times when the pellet stove isn't running that I might need it, so in the closet it still sits.

 

[EatenByLimestone]

The rocks work well! It can take a while to dry out a big rubber Muck style boot though!


I use my boot dryer at home all year long. In the 90 degree weather we’re having they get soaked with sweat every day. That’d eventually do bad things to the leather. Rain storms can also do bad things.

Periodically I also retreat the leather with neetsfoot oil. My container of it lives under the kitchen sink in a bag with an old sock/applicator. It must be around 20 years old and still has a lot left in it. A little bit of leather care keeps it from cracking and destroying itself.

The kids shoes aren’t leather, but sports shoes are only worn when you’re sweating. They’ll stink without some drying help.

Field hockey season is about to start. She’s a goalie. That gear bag is going to reek horribly pretty soon. Then I need to yell at her to clean her pads. Not looking forward to the smell, lol.

 

[Dieselhead]

I’d crumple up and stuff newspaper into my work boots for a faster dry. That back when we had newspaper, now a thing of the past!