Handwarmers S04E10: The Red Star Handwarmer, memories of the Cultural Revolution?

When Chairman Mao introduced the handwarmer to his troops he said, "Giant strides are achieved with small steps". As she confiscates the remote, She Who Must Be Obeyed always tells me, "A Fossil cannot put his best foot forward if it's in a horizontal position". To address this metaphysical conundrum, I got a new handwarmer, and got off the couch to test it.

This Chinese made handwarmer caught my attention when I noticed the burner design that resembles a cross between the original Jon-e design and the case like the cover of the "Little Red Book". So I grabbed a sample, and tested it. Unfortunately it did not march forth like the Red Army, in fact it took quite awhile to light it, and when it did, it kept demonstrating a reluctance to endure. It could not produce heat greater than 110F. So I took the rather strange looking catalyst screen out, and it seemed to be filled with some sort of powder (as seen in video). I then did a few mod's:
- put a carbon felt strip at the top of the reservoir,
- and then placed an entire catalyst pad into a large diameter spring (the same diameter as a Jon-e Giant, but shorter to fit this burner head).

This seemed to make a difference, and the unit subsequently achieved maximum temps of almost 150F. I have not tested the total burn time yet, but with the smaller reservoir size, and the higher temperatures with the high density of catalyst material, I anticipate burn times around 6 hours.

Time will tell if this unit can function as a better Zippo replacement, but I've added a few to our quiver for the time being.

Timeline:
00:00 Overview of parts
01:00 Initial performance
02:15 Toxic smoke?
02:40 Initial heat output test
04:00 Looking at the mystery substances in the catalyst
05:00 placing a spring in the burner head
07:00 lighting the new burner head and performance test
07:50 fast forward through the modification sequences
08:40 preview of upcoming video

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