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Recently I came across a book, "American Boys' Handy Book of Camplore and Wood Craft" By Dan Beard, copyrighted 1920.
And beside all the other great info in it, it mentioned Spunks or also known as Sulfur matches. I had read of them somewhere before, but kind of forgot about them.
Also found out that they have been around since 577 AD, when the Chinese invented them! T'ao Ku, mentions them in his book " Records of Unworldly and Strange" Written in 950 AD. But, the earliest I could mind mention of these in use in europe was 1350 AD.
So these have been around awhile! But, have you ever heard of them?? Seems to me a dying piece of history.
All they are is a piece of wood, usually pine, that has been dipped in molten sulfur.
And to light them all you need is a simple ember from either some type of char, such as you use in flint and steel, or from some form of friction fire.
I see these as being handy for when all you want to do is light a candle or a lantern. Or even for wet/damp tinder bundles when a spark jsut won't get the job done.
Here is how I made mine:
I made a simple sulfur melting set up, using an old pop can and a tea candle
Powdered sulfur, this was from a friend, but i am told it is also sold for fungicide for plants and trees at the hardware store.
I simply let the sulfur melt, which really doesnt take too long. And also made sure to have a breeze so the air was moving and I didnt have to breathe that nasty sulfur in! And then dipped mine splints into it.
they light quite easily
i made several different types, some more modern match size and others alittle bigger (as was said to have been used in europe)
I had also come across mention of them being dipped in wax then coated with sulfur. I tried this as well and it really works well, burns much hotter and with a bigger flame.
Recently I came across a book, "American Boys' Handy Book of Camplore and Wood Craft" By Dan Beard, copyrighted 1920.
And beside all the other great info in it, it mentioned Spunks or also known as Sulfur matches. I had read of them somewhere before, but kind of forgot about them.
Also found out that they have been around since 577 AD, when the Chinese invented them! T'ao Ku, mentions them in his book " Records of Unworldly and Strange" Written in 950 AD. But, the earliest I could mind mention of these in use in europe was 1350 AD.
So these have been around awhile! But, have you ever heard of them?? Seems to me a dying piece of history.
All they are is a piece of wood, usually pine, that has been dipped in molten sulfur.
And to light them all you need is a simple ember from either some type of char, such as you use in flint and steel, or from some form of friction fire.
I see these as being handy for when all you want to do is light a candle or a lantern. Or even for wet/damp tinder bundles when a spark jsut won't get the job done.
Here is how I made mine:
I made a simple sulfur melting set up, using an old pop can and a tea candle
Powdered sulfur, this was from a friend, but i am told it is also sold for fungicide for plants and trees at the hardware store.
I simply let the sulfur melt, which really doesnt take too long. And also made sure to have a breeze so the air was moving and I didnt have to breathe that nasty sulfur in! And then dipped mine splints into it.
they light quite easily
i made several different types, some more modern match size and others alittle bigger (as was said to have been used in europe)
I had also come across mention of them being dipped in wax then coated with sulfur. I tried this as well and it really works well, burns much hotter and with a bigger flame.
