Strike anywhere wood matches

[MaryB]

I have 4 boxes of the green tip matches, all 4 half empty with the striker strip worn off. Haven't found a use for them other than a quick light of the pellet stove if I pile a bunch against the ignitor. Around the house if I need it on fire I use a presto-light torch, I KNOW it will light and the 16 canisters of propane are not that expensive. Truck has some of the green tip matches and a half dozen lighters floating around in the back seat. I need to measure that space and make a cargo carrier that fits under the seats. Also several magnesium rods and sparkers, a bow starter and dowel and board but that is absolute last ditch.

[Blacksmith]

I have 4 boxes of the green tip matches, all 4 half empty with the striker strip worn off. Haven't found a use for them other than a quick light of the pellet stove if I pile a bunch against the ignitor. Around the house if I need it on fire I use a presto-light torch, I KNOW it will light and the 16 canisters of propane are not that expensive. Truck has some of the green tip matches and a half dozen lighters floating around in the back seat. I need to measure that space and make a cargo carrier that fits under the seats. Also several magnesium rods and sparkers, a bow starter and dowel and board but that is absolute last ditch.

Include in that kit a twist type pencil sharpener. Insert an appropriate sized stick and make your own fine shaved tinder great for starting the kindling.

[Ajax]

I carry a small pouch of lighter pine with me, dont take much for me to get it going.

Andy

[webfoot10]

I don't even carry any matches, I fired up my forge and made a striker out of some drill rod and found some flint schards
and made a fire start kit that I store in a old Altoids tin with some char cloth and tinder. Any of you guys that go to the
primitive blackpowder shoots know how fast some guy's and gal's can get a fire going. Not as handy as matches, but is
good in a survival situation.
webfoot10

[trapper9260]

Two things that really chap my keister........dam-o-craps and FTF!

One I cannot do anything about (except vote). The other one I can........buy commercial primers all the time! For 3 cents a piece!
Making your own primers is just asking for FTF's. Makes absolutely ZERO sense. We have enough variables in casting and reloading to worry about, let alone the stupid primer not working.

But have fun playing with matches!!!!!!!!!!! Your momma warned 'ya!

banger

As for your statement .my primers that I reload always work.and I seen in the past that primers was not to be found besides powder.That is why I started to reload them.There will be a day to come when you are not going to be able to find any primers or able to buy them anymore for .3 each and your out of luck.I rather be ready for anything to happened that be stuck like so many have and pay high price for something that is not worth it.But if you need it that you will pay the price.I know the matches dose not work like some I seen on other sites stated.also for how much more you need to do to reload a primer is not worth it.But for how i do it is simple and it works for shotgun and handgun with no problems at all.just what I stated in my last post about rifle.I will be doing some test on that after all warm up.to take care of that.

[Ajax]

I also carry a flint and steel with charcloth.

Andy

[jaysouth]

I think that cheap reliable butane lighters have more to do with the demise of wooden matches than lawyers, treehuggers or space aliens.

[oldred]

I think that cheap reliable butane lighters have more to do with the demise of wooden matches than lawyers, treehuggers or space aliens.

It's not the demise of wooden matches themselves they're not going away and are very easy to find, it's the type that will strike on any surface (and more specifically the older types) rather than needing the chemically treated strip on the box in order to ignite. That has nothing to do with butane or other types of lighters and the disappearance of the old style matches is a direct result of liability and legal restrictions (and quite possibly space aliens).

[owejia]

Those old strike anywhere matches were used to make mail bombs with, that is one of the main reasons they were replaced with this **** we have today.

[bearcove]

I just strike them on the box, crazy I know but I keep them there.

[mtnman31]

I'll just stick with a butane lighter. They are cheap and plentiful, usually less than a buck if bought in bulk. Yes, I understand the fact that you can't buy reliable strike anywhere matches anymore is a drag, but why loose sleep over it. The lighters I use are clear so I can see how much life they have left and they last a long time. They light fires just as easily as matches. If I don't want to stick my hand and lighter into whatever I am lighting, I can use the lighter to spark up a piece of paper and stick that in there. A lighter in a small ziplock is just as compact as a waterproof tube of matches and will start a lot more fires than the number of matches you get in a kitchen sized box. For the Murphy's Law folks out there that will say the lighter can break or what have you... I've never had a lighter break in normal use. I've had Zippos that unexpectedly go dry or the flint is used up, but the cheap old butane lighters seem to just work well for me. I suppose if I fell off a cliff and landed on my pocket that has the lighter in it, it might get crushed. But then again, my waterproof match tube could get crushed too. I've done a lot of camping over my lifetime in a variety of environments and never had weather or conditions so bad that I couldn't start a fire with a lighter. If it is too windy to light a fire with a lighter, it's probably too windy to safely have a fire in the first place (at least that's what Smokey Bear would tell me). I also like the long barreled style lighters for lighting fires. My favorite is the one I have in my garage. It is about 10 inches long, refillable (a most useful feature) and has a window so I can see how much of a charge it has.

In my opinion, spending time looking for the matches of old is like spending time driving around trying to find leaded gas for your car. The old stuff is gone, live with the new stuff or find a suitable replacement.

BTW - since you can't hear me or read my mind, my tone is conversational and NOT confrontational.

[MaryB]

vaseline thinned down then soaked into dryer lint. Makes a great fire starter although dryer lint on its own is decent.

[oldred]

I'll just stick with a butane lighter. They are cheap and plentiful, usually less than a buck if bought in bulk. Yes, I understand the fact that you can't buy reliable strike anywhere matches anymore is a drag, but why loose sleep over it. The lighters I use are clear so I can see how much life they have left and they last a long time. They light fires just as easily as matches. If I don't want to stick my hand and lighter into whatever I am lighting, I can use the lighter to spark up a piece of paper and stick that in there. A lighter in a small ziplock is just as compact as a waterproof tube of matches and will start a lot more fires than the number of matches you get in a kitchen sized box. For the Murphy's Law folks out there that will say the lighter can break or what have you... I've never had a lighter break in normal use. I've had Zippos that unexpectedly go dry or the flint is used up, but the cheap old butane lighters seem to just work well for me. I suppose if I fell off a cliff and landed on my pocket that has the lighter in it, it might get crushed. But then again, my waterproof match tube could get crushed too. I've done a lot of camping over my lifetime in a variety of environments and never had weather or conditions so bad that I couldn't start a fire with a lighter. If it is too windy to light a fire with a lighter, it's probably too windy to safely have a fire in the first place (at least that's what Smokey Bear would tell me). I also like the long barreled style lighters for lighting fires. My favorite is the one I have in my garage. It is about 10 inches long, refillable (a most useful feature) and has a window so I can see how much of a charge it has.

In my opinion, spending time looking for the matches of old is like spending time driving around trying to find leaded gas for your car. The old stuff is gone, live with the new stuff or find a suitable replacement.

BTW - since you can't hear me or read my mind, my tone is conversational and NOT confrontational.

Can you reload primers with a butane lighter?


I think some are missing the entire point here, it's not about starting fires it's about using the tips of the old type matches for purposes other than matches.

[bearcove]

Please identify current manufacturers of Strike anywhere wood kitchen matches. Recently, I can obtain only "safety" matches.

OP is about matches not primers

[montana_charlie]

I'll just stick with a butane lighter.

BTW - since you can't hear me or read my mind, my tone is conversational and NOT confrontational.

I needed to light a fire yesterday to burn an accumulation of old records.
There was a light wind to make my 'burner' draw well, and all I had to destroy was common paper.

My attempts to light it off with a butane lighter became 'confrontational' in the extreme.
A single strike-anywhere kitchen match got her going, but I had to go back to the house to get some.

In that breeze, the lighter would simply not produce a flame.

CM

[357maximum]

you're hurtin' my feelings, callin' me a turkey. I think this is a situation with an abundunce of old matches and a dearth of flintlock rifles.

Trust me.....I would not call someone a turkey unless I knew them well and they actually deserved it. Not many animals out there that deem less respect from me......they are like brainless lice that just happen to have a good set of motion detectors......if it were not for their eyesight and do-gooder reintroductions we would only know them from the fossil records just like their dodo cousins......next to libtards/demturds I do not think God has ever made a dumber critter.

[Iowa Fox]

The days of lighting matches with a BB are long gone. Heck me and my pals were doing "Imposible shots 60 years ago". I watched the old guys light their matches with their thumb nail to light up a smoke as a kid.

[geargnasher]

Mike, I would submit the domestic barnyard duck as the dumbest creature on earth, but only by a narrow margin over turkeys.

Around these parts, the Spanish word "Guajalote" is used as a mortal insult, most likely due to the fact that Mexican turkeys are every bit as stupid as turkeys from Michigan or anywhere else.

Iowa Fox, I still have a little spot under the edge my thumbnail where the nail bed doesn't grow quite right from my early childhood attempts to mimic my dad lighting Ohio Blue Tip matches. He popped them with his thumbnail to light the Prince Albert in his pipe while driving, but knew how to keep from breaking off a chunk of 4,000-degree pain under his nail. I did not. We used kerosene lamps exclusively for light, propane for the kitchen stove and refrigeration, and wood for heat. We had little ceramic crocks full of kitchen matches scattered throughout the house and one of my chores was to keep all those "light switches" filled. They all had their un-glazed bottoms blackened from years of striking matches there. One particularly suitable limestone rock in the wall with the fireplace still bears the marks of 30 years' service as a match striking surface, the white slashes across it being from attempts to use the "new" matches when they first came out. I can remember the cussing like it was yesterday. Butane lighters are worthless for lighting kerosene lamps save for the "bbq" lighters, which aren't nearly as classy as a good old fashioned MATCH. I wish lots of things were still made like they "usetabee".

Gear

[otter5555]

At around 3¢ a piece for any size primer, why would anyone waste their time trying to make unreliable home-made primers from matches? I could see if you were living in a cave in Afghanistan (or a blue state!), but I can buy all the primers I could use in a lifetime locally by the thousands. I have watched videos on the net of guys in their basements whittling down matches. The time I wasted watching it is gone and I can never recover it!!!!!!!

What good are strike-anywhere's other than camping? I have them in my camp gear. And plenty of them.

banger

right NOW you can (and should) buy a lifetime supply of primers but how about after the next shooting?
i have 2 lifetime supplys (bought during the clinton years) but still learned to make reliable primer material from the original strike anywhere matches. mine worked just fine so i bought a lifetime supply of them also.

my reloading supplies and matches are in my will

[Iowa Fox]

Mike, I would submit the domestic barnyard duck as the dumbest creature on earth, but only by a narrow margin over turkeys.

Around these parts, the Spanish word "Guajalote" is used as a mortal insult, most likely due to the fact that Mexican turkeys are every bit as stupid as turkeys from Michigan or anywhere else.

Iowa Fox, I still have a little spot under the edge my thumbnail where the nail bed doesn't grow quite right from my early childhood attempts to mimic my dad lighting Ohio Blue Tip matches. He popped them with his thumbnail to light the Prince Albert in his pipe while driving, but knew how to keep from breaking off a chunk of 4,000-degree pain under his nail. I did not. We used kerosene lamps exclusively for light, propane for the kitchen stove and refrigeration, and wood for heat. We had little ceramic crocks full of kitchen matches scattered throughout the house and one of my chores was to keep all those "light switches" filled. They all had their un-glazed bottoms blackened from years of striking matches there. One particularly suitable limestone rock in the wall with the fireplace still bears the marks of 30 years' service as a match striking surface, the white slashes across it being from attempts to use the "new" matches when they first came out. I can remember the cussing like it was yesterday. Butane lighters are worthless for lighting kerosene lamps save for the "bbq" lighters, which aren't nearly as classy as a good old fashioned MATCH. I wish lots of things were still made like they "usetabee".

Gear

I only tried lighting a match with my thumbnail once. The pain from the match head burning under my thumbnail was horrible, never forgot it. At home and grandma & grandpas we had tin match holders that looked like a miniature hog feeder hanging on the wall. I think they were from the local elevator at Christmas. You slipped the slidding cover off a box of wood matches and then slid the box into the holder that had a trough at the bottom with a lid on it. When you needed a match you just took your finger and lifted the hinged lid and grabbed one. Sure didn't need the box with a striker because they would go off on anything you rubbed them on. Most usually on top the stove.