Restored from the Ashes

For weeks my trusty pair of Doc Martens have been lying around like a discarded old pair of shop rags. Crusty and smelly from their last adventure inside our house after it burned to the ground. You may recall my triumphant post exclaiming that I found Wifey's wedding ring among the ashes the morning after the fire.

I wore my Docs on the hunt that morning for one reason: it's what I had on when the house burned down. Typically I wore these sturdy, leather boots with my favorite pair of jeans. With an added Dr Sholes insole, they were like walking on pillows and I could wear them all day. The sturdy brown leather withstood just about everything I could throw at them. Everything except...

The ash and debris was piled above my ankles as I slogged through the remains of our home. The firemen had hosed the house down with so much water that parts of the house had deep puddles of water and sludge. Insulation could be seen bobbing up and down in the living room. It was here that I took my Docs to battle.

Wifey knew that her wedding ring was in her jewelry case in the southeast corner of the bedroom. I entered through the bedroom window, careful not to step on any of the exposed nails.  Using downed two by fours of wood as a walkway through the sludge, I made my way to the corner of the room.  My shoes were ankle deep in the sludge as I began to dig around for the ring.

Thirty minutes later, a blackened metal circle could be seen in a pile of unidentifiable rubble. A few strokes with my now blackened fingers and I could make out the shape of her trillion diamonds. With a tear in my eye, most likely from the chemical smell in the house, I made my way out of the house.

I returned to the neighbor's home where we were graciously being allowed to stay a few days. After sharing the good news with Wifey, I kicked off the ash encrusted boots towards an outside wall of the house. They stayed there for two weeks until we moved to a different guest house. Again I brought them along, awaiting the day I could attempt to restore them to their prior glory.

Today was that day. It started with a warm water bath and soap scrub in my old blue igloo ice chest.  The soot quickly turned the water black but progress was being made.  After a thorough wash, the damage could be more clearly seen. The moisture has been sucked right out of several areas on the boots: toe, tongue and heel side.

A long hand bath in Obenauf's and they look remarkably better. I handworked the substance into every nook and cranny until even my hands were shiny. I placed them in the laundry room to spend the rest of the evening soaking up the moisture. I'm sure they'll get another coat tomorrow and look near brand new. I have a small tin of Kiwi brown polish awaiting any necessary touch ups.

Any time that I can, I like to renew something old rather than run out and buy something new like so many folks seem to do these days. Once I get them back into shape, I'll wear them with pride knowing that they made it through our house fire...just like I did.

~OJD

PS, I did a YouTube video on this too.