Having the appropriate work shoes is fantastic, but maintaining them is crucial if you want them to last a long time.
Remember that not all footwear is made equal if you possess a pair of steel toe boots and are unclear whether it is good to fast dry them after cleaning them. Different kinds of maintenance are needed for various types of shoes and boots.
You can place your steel toe dryer boots in the dryer to answer your question more directly. Do you need to dry your steel toe boots, though? No, is the answer.
Here are some specific reasons why you shouldn’t dry your steel-toe boots
Can You Put Steel Toe Boots In The Dryer
We’ve already established that steel toe boots (or shoes) should never be dried in a dryer.
But if you’re wondering what could go wrong even if you do dry your steel-toed boots, here is a brief explanation:
First scenario: Assume that the leather on your boots’ exteriors is genuine. In this instance, the dryer’s overheated air will harm the leather’s natural fibers.
Your boots will become dehydrated, and the leather on the outside will shrink and crack, giving them a dirty, worn-out appearance. Due to the steel being continuously rammed into it for 15 to 45 minutes, your dryer will also sustain some damage.
Second Scenario: Assume you dried your boots using the “no heat” option. While the leather coating may remain intact in this instance, your dryer will undoubtedly sustain damage.
There is no option to stop this from occurring. Additionally, there is a potential that the boots will emerge twisted, rendering them useless.
6 Top Methods For Drying Steel Toe Boots
The good news is that several methods for safely drying your steel toe boots are just as simple.
What exactly are these alternate strategies for drying steel-toed boots? Let’s look at this:
1. Allow Your Boots To Naturally Dry
The most satisfactory remedy for anything can be found in nature, even for drying your wet steel toe boots. Keep your boots in an area where sunlight may easily reach.
The throat of the boot should face the sun at all times. Thus it is advisable to maintain your shoes in a tilted position. After that, you can leave your boots alone and let nature work its magic.
You will need to periodically rotate your boots so that all sides are exposed to the sun if you want your boots to dry as quickly as possible.
2. Apply a Fan
Use a fan as a risk-free method of drying your steel toe boots. This approach can be used inside or in conjunction with natural light.
A fan and some sunlight will quickly dry your boots.
If you want the drying process to go even more quickly, you can tie your boots to the fan so that the air is directed right at the body of your boot.
However, if you do this, be sure the fan you use can support the weight of your boots; if not, position the boots so they are immediately in front of the fan (or below, if you’re using a ceiling fan) and the air is blowing onto them.
3. Stuff Newspapers Into Your Boots
You can stuff a newspaper inside your wet steel toe boots by rolling it up. The newspaper will help dry your boots by absorbing extra moisture from the threads and fibers.
Newspapers can be replaced with paper towels or other thin, porous paper to get the same results.
To ensure that all moisture is eliminated from your boots, you will need to maintain replacing the balls of newspaper or paper towels every few hours.
The drying process can be sped up utilizing this method and a fan. So don’t be afraid to combine the fan and newspaper methods.
4. Using a Towel, Dab And Wrap Your Boots To Dry
Stuffing your steel toe boots with a dry flannel or bathroom towel and wrapping the remaining towel over your boot is another technique that aids the fan method.
You will need to replace the towel with a fresh, dry towel every few hours if you use this method, which is identical to the newspaper method. But unlike with a newspaper or paper towel, you won’t need to change the cloth towel as frequently.
The drawback of this approach is that you can’t reuse the same towels for regular bathing activities again. That is if cleanliness is important to you, which it should be!
This method is therefore superior to the newspaper method in terms of how often you need to change the towels. Still, it is more impractical unless you have many extra large towels hanging around that you do not want to use.
5. Put Your Boots Into a Rice-Filled Container
You must be familiar with what magic rice can do for wet electronics. Your phone fell into the water. Place them in rice and observe the miracle.
Your steel toe shoes (and boots) can also be dried using the rice method. However, avoid putting your boots in rice that has just been dried off. Only use this technique to remove the last trace of moisture when your boots are almost dry but still have slight dampness.
As a general rule, one or two cups of rice per boot are typically adequate for this strategy to function. Therefore, you must put some rice in a plastic bag with your boots inside and wait for the magic to unfold overnight.
I don’t particularly enjoy this method because it requires more cleanup and wastes fine food.
6. Employ a Boot Dryer
Last, you can spend money on a gadget called a boot dryer explicitly developed for drying
steel toe boots.
The heat settings on electronic hand-held boot dryers can typically be adjusted to produce cold or warm airflow. Consequently, based on the kind of boot you have, you can select the appropriate configuration.
If the outer layer of your boots is leather, it is advisable to use a cold blow; otherwise, a warm blow, which is often no more than 2 horsepower, is good.
Conclusion
Your steel toe boots can be dried in various methods, but one that is not advised is to use a dryer attached to a washing machine.
Your boots and the dryer may get damaged if you dry them in there. And who wants that?
As alternatives, you might use a fan, newspaper, towels, or a tiny hand dryer. You can even let your boots dry naturally in the sun.