Heard the saying "cold hands, warm heart," no longer do you need the cold hands

While I was at Outdoor Retailer, I had the chance to chat with many interesting people. I was chatting with a wonderful man named Kurt, we were discussing gloves. I put the glove on my hand and stated "My hands will be cold in this glove!" He looked at me with a grimace on his face. Of course being a sheila, I had to go into great detail how when I am out fox chasing, my hands and feet just freeze. After my long detailed statement he said, "Well you need to train your hands and feet." Now I am the one with the high eyebrows! Kurt then explained how fisherman are out in the sub-zero temperatures, without gloves. How is this possible, they have trained their hands for their mission.
The technique is actually pretty simple. The objective is to train the nerves in your hands to be unresponsive the temperature changes. Not to say that you won't know the difference between hot and cold, you will. It just won't be so drastic. Place your hands in cold water for 5 minutes, remove then and place in room temperature water, again for the same time. You are to do this daily for a week. If you really want to be a superhero, you can use ice water, to room temperature water. I think that I will be using just cold water! To train the tootsies you do the same thing. I am going to give this a try, I challenge you to also join the fight against cold hands...just warm hearts!

What is Oilskin Weather Protection?

Lately we've been receiving questions lately about the Outback Trading Co.'s classic Oilskin outerwear. See our oilskin collection at www.outbacktrading.com

So here's some great trivia information: What is Oilskin?

Oilskin is an impregnated cotton fabric. The cotton is very tightly woven and then immersed in a special oil bath. The hats and coats are sewn with a special non-wicking thread that is a polyester core wrapped with a cotton outer shell which absorbs the oil.

Why does Oilskin work so well? We asked Wilson King from Outback who told us:

True to the old adage "they get along like oil and water", the reason oilskin works is the oil coating will not let the water pass through the fabric. This is why oilskin works, and is the "Natural Waterproof Fabric". Cotton, as a natural fabric, does have a slight nap to it. Sometimes with heavy rains or long term exposure to rain and mist, the surface of the fabric will "wet out". Wetting out is not an indication of leaking or failure of the protection. This phenomenon also occurs with seam sealed, waterproof, breathable fabrics as they age. The wearer should not be getting wet.

After some years the oil will dissipate. Then, it is time to reproof with Ducks Back reproofing cream. It is especially important to reseal the seams of both hats and coats.