How to dry out thread?
 

Our basement started flooding tonight. Not really a surprise, but this time it was coming in from the out side and backing up through the basement drain. Wife handed me the plunger and said get to work. I said it's coming "IN" not plugged up. She said plunge it anyway. So I did. I plunged it till I got some bubbles back out of it then plunged it some more till the handle came out of the plunger. By then I had a little whirl pool and the water started draining out.

We got all the machines that were down low out of harms way except my treadle. I'll float it in Liquid Wrench then oil. No problem

However one box of my thread was on the floor. Two rows of thread on each side got wet. Probably close to 80 spools. It's good thread I want to try and save it.
It's on plastic spools.

How best to dry it?

Joe

Joe,

Mail it to me??? I'm expecting 100 degree weather this weekend. Which means my garage will be at least that hot. I bet I can dry out most anything very quickly. :D :D :D

Cathy

First if you have a sprayer at the kitchen sink I would take a couple and hose them down, gently. You may want to get a glass 8x8 baking dish with a little liquid laundry soap and water or what ever you use for hand washables and roll them on their sides a couple minutes. Then on a rack hose them down with the kitchen sprayer over the sink. I would then lay them length-wise in a thick terry cloth towel and just press and roll them. Then let them dry over night. After that you can test them to see if the fibers have intertwined or not and try sewing with them. You can also take a blow dryer to them for faster results. If they do well then you can do the same to the rest of them by using a larger baking dish, etc. You could also probably put them on a type of drying rack and it probably wouldn't take long.

It was around midnight so we just took the thread and laid them on a towel on the kitchen table. Checked them this morning and they seem to be drying out. I don't think they got hurt.

Joe

Put them in the car, and let the solar dry them. But I think I would have tied them up in pillowcases and run them through the washer a bit first.

I would definitely wash them first Joe. I remember what water seepage from the basement drain used to look/smell like and it's awful stuff. Soak it in sudsy water for a few hours or so. Drying it in the hot closed car is a good idea.

I agree with the wash, towel dry and then dry in hot car folks.....you may not be able to use them (if the fibers swell then stick to each other) but it's worth a try.

All these ideas sound very good. But I do have a question - would putting them in a hot car cause them to mold? Would it be better to set them out in the sum where the air could circulate around them?

Flooded basement:
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The thread is dry. No obnoxious odors.

We've been busy cleaning the basement, especially the cat box area. Ugg, what a mess.
10:34AM my wife yelled up and said it is drying out ....... YAYYYYY!!!!!!

The treadle in the back has been sprayed with Liquid Wrench and I'll hose it again later today.
Other than the mess we have to clean up, and it really wasn't "too" bad we didn't get hurt. More frustration than damage.

Now I have to check all the cat litter tubs behind the treadle. If they haven't cracked then all my stuff in them is OK. That is why the tubs, in case of floods.

Then we have to start checking all the plastic tubs of fabric and sewing supplies that was on the floor.

Oh what a pain in the ........... derriere :(

Joe