Hot (and mostly dry) Jeans

Your frozen jean hack reminded me of the inverse, (or is it the converse). Allow me to explain.

1. Snow + Denim Jeans Don't mix well.

Every year at winter camp, some if not the majority of Scouts would show up wearing blue jeans. Also known as giant cotton sponges. It did not take long for the jeans to end up soaked through.

2. In single digits, wet cotton will kill you.

And with no easy way to dry them, it was time to be ingenious.

3. Wood cookstove to the rescue.

The central lodge had a big wood cookstove that was kept stoked and roaring during winter camp weekends to provide a warm refuge. Not for cooking. That was done at the individual sites. Just to heat the building.

4. Clotheslines would never cut it.

We would be in camp only about 40-48 hrs. Denim was never going to dry naturally in that time frame.

5. But that darn stove is so hot it almost glowed.

In fact, we often had someone posted at the stove just so people wouldn't accidentally bump into it.

6. What if we placed our jeans on the stove?

It doesn't take much imagination to picture how much steam this released into the room. And the sound!

7. Is that steam or smoke?

Yep. Very quickly we would discover the fine line between.

8. And then the stroke of genius.

How do you prevent things from burning when using the cooktop or over a roaring fire?

9. Keep it Moving.

With meal prep, this usually involves some form of stirring. Obviously, a different technique was required.

10. The Long, Slow, Drag to Dryness.

First make sure the person is not in the jeans. Then while holding the waist, flip the jeans out and across the hot cooktop. Then slowly drag them across the width of the stove.

11. Flip. And Repeat.

Usually, 3 or 4 trips per side, alternating each time, would result in a pair of dry, steam cleaned jeans.

12. But Timing was critical.

Too fast and you ended up with very hot, but still damp jeans. Try wearing them outside and they would freeze in minutes. Too slow and the denim would scorch.

Eyegor