Strike Anywhere Matches

Mannlicher

Mannlicher

Joined
Nov 19, 2008
Messages
3,372
These have been in seeming short supply, at least in my area. Last week, at a Piggly Wiggly store in Fitzgerald Georgia, I found the Diamond Brand, packages of 10 (32 ct each) small matches for a few bucks. I picked up 4 packages, since I have not seen any for sale in ages.
 
I just picked up 3 big boxes at Giant [a food store] for like.....$5?

And they are available on line as well...Amazon has them.
 
I bought a case of these via Amazon a while ago and they were not the Diamond strike anywhere I grew up with. Every other match failed to light, fizzled,head snapped off or plain dud. Very piss poor quality stuff. Wonder if these are being knocked off as well?
 
Made in China ? They get matches and other things as cheap as they can usually from China , no wonder they don't work. Do a Google search on "melamine in milk scandal in China " that will educate you. They executed some of the people but I'm told it still goes on.
The other problem is some states don't permit 'strike anywhaer matches '! Get a propane torch with starter on it -press the button and the wood stove is started ! Or use the newer fire sticks - instant start !! Rub two politicians together , well no that wouln't usually start a fire
 
Diamond strike-anywhere matches are no prize. At lest 25% have no tip or a tip too small to trust in the woods. I pointed this out to Diamond, and they thanked me for my "interest in their products." :rolleyes:
 
I don't see The point of them. Matches are usually carried in a box ,or match container , right? This has a striker on it. The only use I can see for strike anywhere matches is inside the hollow hand knife survival kit. It doesn't make sense to me that you would have loose matches and no striker , except in extreme survival situations. If you know you are going into the woods , you'd take storm proof matches . Even camping , I'd probly rather have storm proof matches, or if I've got got std matches and they don't work , I've got storm proof matches ,and a firesteel.
 
Things rarely fail according to plan. "The Boy Scouts' motto is the right one." Wiseman, John, Survive Safely Anywhere - The SAS Survival Guide, 1986
 
Ausseknifeknut said:
I don't see The point of them. Matches are usually carried in a box ,or match container , right? This has a striker on it. The only use I can see for strike anywhere matches is inside the hollow hand knife survival kit. It doesn't make sense to me that you would have loose matches and no striker , except in extreme survival situations. If you know you are going into the woods , you'd take storm proof matches . Even camping , I'd probly rather have storm proof matches, or if I've got got std matches and they don't work , I've got storm proof matches ,and a firesteel.
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Some of us who are a little older used strike anywhere matches when we were growing up. They were good quality and you could light one on a lot of different surfaces. To waterproof them you just dipped the tips in melted wax. The storm proof matches are great, but I don't think they existed back then, or perhaps I should say we never saw them in my small, rural town. These days I mostly carry a fire steel and a lighter, but I still have a soft spot for strike anywhere matches.
 
I tried a box of the new green tipped ones and about half of them wouldn't light striking them on the box. Even the red tipped ones don't seem as good as the ones I remember using when I was a kid. You could light those on your jeans if they were still new.

Bruceter
 
It’s been a while since I looked it up but…strike anywhere matches were changed by safety regulations.

Some lawyers thought the good old matches with a thick head and reliable tip would spontaneously combust. :grumpy:

Maybe even burn your pocket down. :eek:
 
Wasn't there a little magnesium in the old white tips? They were so good you could strike them off of each other, probably why the nannies had them banned.
 
Phosphorus I thought. I seem to recall that they would slightly glow in the dark from a failed strike. And yes, we could light them with a flick of a thumbnail, across the seat of our jeans or on the zipper. I guess Bic Lighters (with the childproof removed) are the new strike-anywhere matches.
 
Yes, phosphorous would make more sense.

Codger, any tricks for quickly drying your Bic when it gets wet?
 
trestle said:
Yes, phosphorous would make more sense.

Codger, any tricks for quickly drying your Bic when it gets wet?
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Yes! Pull out your spare miniBic!

Ok, being a canoeist I do get a lighter wet occasionally. Shake and sling it vigerously to remove any water droplets. roll the sriker wheel on your (dry) shirt or jeans. It is usually water there that keeps one from lighting. You can also tuck it inside your shirt in your armpit where the body heat (96 degrees or so) will help it dry by evaporation. Note that if your lighter has the little metal cover over the wheel, these methods may not help. But you know the flint does not absorb water nor does the wheel. So whatever water is present and affecting lighting is on the surface of those. No way is the gas affected. In fact an alternate way to dry one is to depress the valve tab and light it with the backup mini-bic. The flame heat will dry the wet components pretty quick. Still have to sling/shake/blow the excess water out first. Or if you aren't in a hurry just expose it to sunlight and let it dry naturally.

One more? Rice. If you have rice with you put the lighter in the rice container. The rice will absorb all moisture in short order. I have done this with submerged flip-phones to save them.
 
Codger_64 said:
Phosphorus I thought. I seem to recall that they would slightly glow in the dark from a failed strike. And yes, we could light them with a flick of a thumbnail, across the seat of our jeans or on the zipper. I guess Bic Lighters (with the childproof removed) are the new strike-anywhere matches.
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I used to do that until I got a lump of burning phosphorous stuck between my thumbnail and my finger. :eek:

I’m not easy to train. But one hot finger did the job. I found other ways to show off.
 
The strike-anywheres were banned in australia quite a while ago, they are more concerned here with large fires that a lot of places. Or at least that was my understanding. In other places they have been changed since the meth cooks use the phosphorous in their concoctions, spoils it for the rest of us. I still think a dry stike-anywhere match is the best fire-lighter ever invented, just can't buy any.
 
A bit of trivia? AN original name for those matches was "lucifers" because of the smell of burning sulphur. You can make them yourself but working with the phosphorus is hazardous. Easier for me to just stash Bics everywhere. Oh... and paper matches. As a teen I learned how to double the number of matches in a book. Tear one out and split it down the middle. Tuck one half back in the book and strike the other half. Paper match books still exist, yes?
 
Codger_64 said:
A bit of trivia? AN original name for those matches was "lucifers" because of the smell of burning sulphur. You can make them yourself but working with the phosphorus is hazardous. Easier for me to just stash Bics everywhere. Oh... and paper matches. As a teen I learned how to double the number of matches in a book. Tear one out and split it down the middle. Tuck one half back in the book and strike the other half. Paper match books still exist, yes?
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The first match was named Promethian. I like that. It’s a better myth for the job that Lucifer. But Lucifer won out.

You can split kitchen matches as well. Even the small ones in a pocket box can be successfully split.

Some claim to quarter a match, to make four fires. I’ve never managed more than splitting any match, and gotten fire from each stick.
 
popedandy said:
Some of us who are a little older used strike anywhere matches when we were growing up. They were good quality and you could light one on a lot of different surfaces. To waterproof them you just dipped the tips in melted wax. The storm proof matches are great, but I don't think they existed back then, or perhaps I should say we never saw them in my small, rural town. These days I mostly carry a fire steel and a lighter, but I still have a soft spot for strike anywhere matches.
Click to expand...
Oh , cool to know, thanks.
 
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