Just bought a Jon-E catalytic hand warmer

[sketchbag]

I just got one of these

I filled it with methylhydrate (wood alcohol/methanol) to avoid the odors of lighter fluid.

I'm really pleased with this thing, I wish I had known about them... since I was old enough to play in the snow. Best $15 I ever spent. And the methylhydrate was only $2.50/liter at walmart.

 

[richard j]

i used to have one many years ago. i only used lighter fluid in mine. after a while it seemed like the wick went bad or something and quit heating up properly.

 

[Tim the Slugman]

We used those back in the 1970s, I also had one that used the solid fuel sticks, both worked pretty good!

 

[pinetree]

My brother has a Zippo, uses lighter fluid, works great.

 

[desmobob]

I bought one years ago for ice fishing. I could never get it to stay lit. I spent more time messing around with it than getting any heat from it.

Any tips?

Stay sharp,
desmobob

 

[xxguitarist]

would someone be interested in sharing how they work, also?

 

[sketchbag]

The "burner" contains a platinum coil which acts as a catalyst, converting the methanol into formaldehyde.
Not exactly sure about the naphtha. They say the coil has a life of 5000 hours.

I havent tried this with lighter fluid so I cant really compare, but with methanol I only have to light the wick for a couple seconds and it'll kick up. It also takes several hours to "cool down" I disassembled it, left it sitting for about 1 hour, all the parts were cool to the touch, and when I replaced the burner it kicked back into action without even relighting it.

 

[Bwilson]

Here's some advice for those of you that I hunt..........don't place a jon-e in a coat pocket that also has shells in it. I made that mistake when I was younger and the heat from the jon-e actually bent the plastic hull of a 12 gauge shell in half and the shot fell out in my pocket. The good lord above made sure it didn't go boom but it still scared the hell out me.