Drying boots and gloves between uses in the winter provides ready protection to hands and feet the next time a venture outdoors is necessary. Unfortunately, these items don't dry quickly if the boots are left sitting upright on their soles and the gloves are laid on a flat surface. Warm air rises and cooler air remains near the floor or a surface, preventing rapid drying. Gloves and boots must both be hung on a rack so the warm air dries them as it rises upward, and some heat should be available as well.
Lay the 4-foot-long piece of 2X4 lumber flat on the ground, preferably outdoors on soft soil. Measure from one end to the other, marking an 'x' every six inches in the center of the board.
Insert the 1-1/2 inch hole saw bit into the drill and drill holes on each of the marked locations across the board.
Measure each of the dowels and cut each precisely in half so there are eight 2-foot tall sections.
Move the 2X4 board to a location with a hard, level surface and press one end of one dowel piece into the hole. If the dowel is a bit too large in diameter, wrap a piece of course sandpaper around the dowel and sand off some of the wood on the end until it slides into the hole far enough that the end comes to rest against the surface beneath the 2X4 in which it is being inserted.
Remove the dowel briefly and apply enough wood glue along the inside of each drilled hole so the entire interior wall is saturated. The glue must then be allowed to dry completely so the dowel cannot be pulled from the hole. Add a dowel to each hole in like manner.
Set up the rack near a wall outlet and plug in the portable floorboard-style heater into the receptacle. Set the heater lengthwise along the front edge of the 2X4 facing outward away from the dowels to prevent the heat from being aimed directly at the wood. Turn the heater on the lowest setting, just enough so that a gentle heat rises upward to the tops of the vertical dowels.
Hang gloves and boots on the tops of the dowels and allow to dry with the electric heater assisting. Turn the heater off as soon as possible once the apparel is dry.