Instructions on how to make a Reusable Sodium Acetate hand warmer
(For more detailed instructions see my instructable here http://www.instructables.com/id/Sodiu...)

I bought my Sodium Acetate from http://www.hvchemical.com/. It was both local and cheap for me.

There are lots of instructions on how to make sodium acetate from baking soda and vinegar, but none of these instructions went all the way and showed how to actually make a worthwhile reusable hand warmer.

This video shows how to make the activator (clicker), the bag, and the proper solution consistency.

One of my motivations for making this video is to get some new ideas for making these hand warmers better.

1st idea. Right now I am using vinyl for the bag which works fairly well. The biggest problem with vinyl is that at super low temperatures it becomes brittle. I have thought that the plastic used in hydration bladders might work well but I don't know where to get that plastic.

2nd Idea I want a better way to warm up the bags. Larger/Thicker bags take forever to recharge via boiling. One idea I played around with for a while was putting metal in the bag and trying to heat the metal using an induction cooktop. I think that has some promise except my induction cooktop is cheap and keeps turning off if there isn't enough metal on it. Also, the cooktop's controls were very rudimentary and I would often burn through bags. (Note I had to use 420 Stainless Steel or else the metal would rust).

3rd Idea I have starting making insulated bags to put the hand warmer in to make the heat dissipate slower.

Hopefully you find this video useful and maybe can provide some feedback on how to make it better.