Winter in New England #7: Hand and Foot Warmers

When sitting in a duck blind or deer stand, standing on a ski slope watching your grandkids, and winter hiking, it's much more pleasant to have warm toes and fingers. I have had times in duck blinds when my fingers were too cold and numb to pull a trigger, but I have a touch of Raynaud's Syndrome.

Assuming that you wear things to keep toes and hands dry, hand and foot warmers can add plenty of comfort.

This site has aluminum-coated insoles and insoles ("footbeds") with inserts for 6-hour warmers.

They also sell Grabber Hand Warmers for your gloves - or for your pocket.

Posted by The Barrister in Hunting, Fishing, Dogs, Guns, etc., Our Essays, The Culture, "Culture," Pop Culture and Recreation at 18:37 | Comments (14) | Trackbacks (3)

Trackbacks

Trackback specific URI for this entry

Winter in New England #7: Red-neck Yankee garb
This is #7 in our series. Previous posts here�-#6: Hand and Foot warmers#5: Do you need snow tires?#4� Layers#3 Wood and pellet stoves#2 Jump Starters#1 Oil lamps and lanternsRed-neck Yankees wear fuzz-lined overshirts (like the one in the photo, from Moo

Weblog: Maggie's Farm
Tracked: Dec 02, 20:02

Winter in New England #8: Do you need snow/mud tires?
We all must adapt! With Global Cooling hastening our certain death and doom by freezing to death, we offer this final post in our Winter in New England series. The prior posts in this annual series were: Winter in New England, Part 1: Lamp

Weblog: Maggie's Farm
Tracked: Oct 28, 12:32

Weblog: Maggie's Farm
Tracked: Oct 28, 12:35

Comments

Display comments as (Linear | Threaded)

The "new" hand and foot warmers are sure better than the ones we used in the day. They were blackberry sized that opened on one side. The insides were lined with asbestos and you lit charcoal sticks and placed them in the pocket and closed the top.

Ever try lighting a charcoal stick in a howling Alberta Clipper?

#1 Tralfaz on 2008-11-24 15:59 (Reply)

You'll need those whichever end of this New England Police Chase you are on... (turn volume down - it comes in hot!)

#2 Pajak on 2008-11-24 19:47 (Reply)

I've got 4 sets of original Woolrich coats AND pants from my grandfather and father.

They're still in great shape.

It's all I've ever worn for winter hunting here in NE Pa.

#3 chris horton (Link) on 2008-11-24 20:16 (Reply)

Polar bears are on the verge of extinction because industrial capitalism has melted the ice caps, and yet you are wantonly advertising and advocating hand warmers, a product that can only augment and accelerate dangerously out-of-control global temperatures. I say it's sickening.

#4 Epistemon on 2008-11-25 03:34 (Reply)

If you want some bona fide hysterical global-warming lunacy, try reading the following by George Monbiot in today's The Guardian: (title) The planet is now so vandalised that only total energy renewal can save us (subtitle) It may be too late. But without radical action, we will be the generation that saved the banks and let the biosphere collapse

www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/nov/25/climate-change-carbon-emissions

#5 Epistemon on 2008-11-25 03:36 (Reply)

I hope you're trying to be funny here, Epistemon, because your calamity-Jane view of "global warming" [I assume this is the usual hysterical man-made global warming meme] is totally ridiculous. Polar bears have a relatively stable but slowly increasing population. They've been around as a separate species for more than 200,000 years and an occasional increase in global warmth hasn't killed them, because it's always followed by global cooling. The warmest year in the most recent cycle was 1934 not 1998, as inaccurately reported by The Goracle and his hysterical followers. Since 1998, we have been slowly cooling, not warming, and it looks like we're in for another Ice Age, at least a small one. So wash your long-johns and calm down.

The Maggies guys know it isn't warming. So should you if you'd do your research.

Marianne

P.S. "The biosphere" isn't collapsing either. Jeez Louise. The earth is a living organism. As Jules Crittenden memorably said, "the world gets warmer, the world gets colder. And nobody quite knows why." Smart man, Jules is.

#6 Marianne Matthews on 2008-11-25 18:20 (Reply)

Of course I was trying to be funny. Where is your sense of irony? Anyway, see the likes of George Monbiot, for whom I provided a link above, if you want to gasp at even more lunatic levels of global-warming ridiculousness, but meant in complete earnest.

#6.1 Epistemon on 2008-11-26 04:30 (Reply)

I like the ones they sell at Wal Mart and other places in Canada (and certainly in the US). The brand is "Hot Hands". They are very inexpensive and work pretty well. I keep a pair in my pockets of my parka when I'm working in the winter, as it can get down to -45C often, and sometimes I have to work with my bare hands.

A neat trick is that you can "pause" these heaters. They require exposure to oxygen to create the catalytic heat. You can get more life out of them by placing them in a small airtight container like a ziplock bag (not perfect), or better, a very small Starfrit locking box (like a tiny tupperware with a gasket). They will "hibernate" once they've used up the air in the container. To continue using them, just expose them to air again. The smaller the container, the better.

#7 rg on 2009-10-24 20:43 (Reply)

My son loads up on these things when we are sitting in deer stands in December. So far he hasn't burst into flames, but he's made me nervous a couple of times.

#8 Dirk on 2010-10-30 20:17 (Reply)

Been riding motorcycles in cold weather for years. Gerbing makes heated jackets, pants, gloves and socks. I have gloves that plug into my jacket sleeves. As long as there is no ice on the road, I'm just fine. The jacket plugs into my motorcycle.

The same garments will plug into a 12 volt battery,and are useful in hunting and outdoor sporting events during cold weather. The gloves will make your cold sensitive hands very comfortable.

#9 Gabby on 2010-10-30 21:27 (Reply)

My wife also has Reynauds, and has a set of "electric sock warmers" powered by a 9V battery. One 9V battery heats the device, like an insole, to about 80 degrees F, and runs for about 10 hours.

And if your FEET are warm, ALL of you seems warm.

#10 Ken Mitchell on 2011-10-28 20:58 (Reply)

Hand warmers?! I don't need no stinking hand warmers. (At least I hope I don't...).

#11 Jephnol (Link) on 2011-10-29 04:22 (Reply)

Try a duck blind in a January sleet.

#11.1 Bird Dog on 2011-10-29 09:31 (Reply)

Yeah, I was wrong anyway. I was out last night in the Nor'easter and I caved. Hand warmers all around.

#11.1.1 Jephnol (Link) on 2011-10-30 16:10 (Reply)

Add Comment

Name
Email	(Your e-mail will not show in your comment)
Homepage
In reply to
Comment	By commenting on this site you agree to the site rules listed here. Email addresses will not be displayed and will only be used for email notifications. Quick reference guide: [i] italics [/i], [b] bold [/b], [u] underline [/u], [url] (web address) [/url]. More tips here. Enclosing asterisks marks text as bold (word), underscore are made via _word_. E-Mail addresses will not be displayed and will only be used for E-Mail notifications. To prevent automated Bots from commentspamming, please enter the string you see in the image below in the appropriate input box. Your comment will only be submitted if the strings match. Please ensure that your browser supports and accepts cookies, or your comment cannot be verified correctly. Enter the string from the spam-prevention image above: BBCode format allowed
	Remember Information? Subscribe to this entry

Maggie's Farm

Our Recent Essays Behind the Front Page

Categories

Quicksearch

Links

Blog Administration

RSS Readers

Friday, October 28. 2011

Winter in New England #7: Hand and Foot Warmers