Thanks for watching! Please leave me a thumbs up and a comment in the section below. Also, make sure and check out the website for the classes that we teach and the required gear list as well at www.waypointsurvival.com.
Here in the UK we have no problem getting strike anywhere matches, the most common brand being Swan Vestas. But the most obvious place to your red phosphorus from is the strike of your regular match box. Just soak the match box in water and you can just scrape it off with a knife. Even so, disposable lighters are a far more practical solution. If you're worried it may not work, just carry two. They're completely water proof. If they get wet you just have to blow on the friction wheel to dry it off before use.
@@battleofarmageddon1366⚠️ God has said in the Quran: 🔵 { O mankind, worship your Lord, who created you and those before you, that you may become righteous - ( 2:21 ) 🔴 [He] who made for you the earth a bed [spread out] and the sky a ceiling and sent down from the sky, rain and brought forth thereby fruits as provision for you. So do not attribute to Allah equals while you know [that there is nothing similar to Him]. ( 2:22 ) 🔵 And if you are in doubt about what We have sent down upon Our Servant [Muhammad], then produce a surah the like thereof and call upon your witnesses other than Allah, if you should be truthful. ( 2:23 ) 🔴 But if you do not - and you will never be able to - then fear the Fire, whose fuel is men and stones, prepared for the disbelievers.( 2:24 ) 🔵 And give good tidings to those who believe and do righteous deeds that they will have gardens [in Paradise] beneath which rivers flow. Whenever they are provided with a provision of fruit therefrom, they will say, "This is what we were provided with before." And it is given to them in likeness. And they will have therein purified spouses, and they will abide therein eternally. ( 2:25 ) ⚠️ Quran
Lots of very obvious chemistry going on here, but I don't want to take away from the fact that you provided honest information about how to make what you said you could make. Inexpensively and with generally available materials..Good job.
I also wrap a strip of duct tape around each match beneath the head. It extends the burn time of the match by about 5X with a larger flame which is great for getting a fire going.
The old rolls of "Bang caps" we got for our toy six shooters used real gun powder, not red phosphorus, as I recall. We used to carefully peel the red paper away from the white paper to expose the little dots of dark gray powder. My brother and I once put a whole roll of caps into the vise on my dad's shop table down in the cellar and cranked it down as far as we could, then BLAM!! the whole roll exploded at once and blew the vise wide open! Our ears were ringing for quite a while. We kept our guardian angels busy in those days.
The rolls of caps came in cardboard boxes of 5 rolls that were perforated and you'd pull them apart. So of course I took the whole 5 high stack and put it on an anvil and wacked it with a hammer. That was the end of my playing with caps days. You could say I went out with a bang. A loud bang at that.
As a kid I used to take a roll at a time and hit it with a big rock on the driveway or street. Pretty big bang. I got lucky a few times and found boxes of the rolls of 20 I believe it was, instead of 5. And at a discount.
Totally agree with the comments below, great hack. I would like to add a few more chemical details about the caps mentioned in the video, these caps contain not just red Phosphorus but the mixture of red Phosphorus and Bertholite Salt - (P+KClO3), this mixture explodes on impact ( !!! that's why you need grind it in a mortar wet with water ) and this is what makes your homemade matches more powerful compared to factory ones, and this, by the way, makes them flammable not only from friction but also from impact, so be careful.
Here in western Canada, we always bought Eddy strike anywhere matches, now we buy strike anywhere matches that seldom light if not struck on the box. The old style matches would light on your blue jeans or even just by flicking the end with your thumb nail. My mom worked for the Eddy Match Company in Vancouver B.C. back in the mid 40's. Great video, very well done!
I remember striking them with my thumbnail. A piece of the blue tip got wedged under my thumbnail while igniting. A strong reminder for a good week or so. Also remember making stink bombs with blue tips. Reconfigure a basic click pen with the internal spring. Adding a hairpin into the mechanism the match would be wedged into the spring and you would have a situation where the ignited match would burn inside the pen body and create a smelly odor. Fun when I was a kid.
I learned to put a cotton ball, or several, in a pill bottle. Then put the match heads on the cotton. They don't chip, shake, or get bumped, and stay very dry in there. That cotton is a good tinder, too. It even works with a ferro rod. Cotton would fit in that little box, too.
I spent hours making a whole box of 50 once. Lost half of them in an small explosion halfway through and had to start again. I finally finished making them all and put them in the box. Then I was like "thank god I'm done" and gave the box and little toss on to the bench in front of me and they all went up in flames within a split second. That was dumb thing to do.
Cotton is awesome for fire starting. I soak cotton balls in Vaseline and stuff them into 1 inch sections of plastic straws. Then I melt the ends to close the straws. It keeps the Vaseline soaked cotton from getting wet. I then put a few of these in my knife sheath for emergency fire starter. Works great with a ferro rod.
I put my matches in my empty prescription medication bottles. I am a medically retired vet who is diabled. I have various sized bottles that i use in my hiking and community defense tactical kits. Waterproof and already paid for. I started using empty med bottles early in my military career. I even use them to put seasonings, baking flours/powders and powdered soaps! I have my survival kit in a large and tall med bottle that held 3 months worth of large muscle relaxers. Point is you can re-utilize many things if you just think outside the box. I suped up my strike anywheres with candle wax as well.
My aunt Virginia used to have a thing on her wall that was made of metal that held that bigger box of matches and I would always get some of them out and I learned from my dad how to take one of those stick matches and run my thumbnail across it and light it. Had to be real careful. I didn't want to get any of that match stuff under my thumbnail as I was striking at across the head of the match. But it worked every time. The things you learn when you're a kid. That's why they don't make them anymore because little kids were starting fires with them.
Same lol! I remember when I was a kid I emptied the caps into a big pile and it all went off in my face. Had the smell stuck in my nose for days and ended up getting pneumonia from the smoke 😂
You can also coat the tip of the match with fingernail polish. I use clear nail polish. It waterproofs matches just as well as wax does, with the added bonus that it won't melt in hot weather. Edit: I stick the matches in a block of Styrofoam to dry. It's a lot easier to manage than duct tape.
@blueberry766 I haven't noticed a bad odor when I've lit the nail polish coated matches. I doubt that the fumes are harmful. The match is lit for only a few seconds, probably not long enough to make a lot of fumes. If you're worried about it, just dip your matches in wax. Um, better make that BEESWAX... It's all natural... And don't inhale, you might breathe in phosphorus fumes!
Great hack. May I also suggest you stagger the matches so that all the heads aren’t facing the same direction. Every other one seems to work fine. One other thing that seems to work well, especially in our HOT South Texas Summers, is instead of candle wax, dip the match heads in Outdoor Spar Polyurethane Varnish. Not near as sticky, and seems to waterproof at least as well as wax. Thanks!!!
Mark, do you mean varnish bought at a Spar Supermarket? Under the Spar brand? Interesting because I didn't know you had Spar Supermarkets there in America. They are ubiquitous here in South Africa.
We know the Spar name in the UK as well , though I believe they have been bought by other companies now by companies like Co-Op and McColls . The Spar shops here would be what we call convenience stores , smaller than super markets , maybe with a floor plan only as large as a house . They would be the local stores in villages and small towns , possibly twinned with a post office , they might also be licenced to sell booze . @@susanp.collins7834
Great hack James. It made me think of a science report I did in 9th grade on phosphorus. Back in the late 1800’s someone came up with a candle that had white phosphorus coating the wick. Of course white phosphorus burns immediately upon contact with oxygen so these candles were enclosed in a glass vacuum tube, similar to a traditional test tube. All that was needed for a lighted candle was to break the glass! The ultimate emergency light for the times!Ingenious but very dangerous at the same time. I love your shared technique here and the fact that you stress the safety in process. I’ve dipped strike anywhere matches in wax like you demonstrated to help ensure they worked in damp conditions. I used a piece of fluted cardboard to hold them apart. Thanks for another project for all of us to try.
I was reminded of high school chemistry class. When we handled volatile chemicals (I suppose they would not allow that nowdays) the teacher cautioned us to not pound on the mixture, or it will pound back. 😳 Somehow we got the point about being careful, and we survived the class. 😂
Excellent video & it brings back childhood memories of me being a crazy chemist cutting match heads off from mountains of matches lol. I used a mix of 50/50 water to 70% isopropyl alcohol to decrease drying time. Glad you popped up in my feed bro!
Tkx James! I remember the original matches and grandpa used them. Remember sometimes on Sunday, they didn't cook but occasionally they would drive out to Long John Silvers for fish for the whole gang if we were coming up. We would ride along in his old yellow Ford pickup truck with a camper on the back and the Aooooga horn. It had a Mack truck bulldog emblem standing on the hood in the middle. Grandpa liked Prince Albert tobacco in a can and he would use it to roll an Old fashioned cigarette. He always managed to accomplish this while driving down the road with one hand. When he was done and everything was put away he would get one of these strike anywhere matches and fire it up, usually striking it on the zipper at the top of the pouch on his Liberty overhauls. Of course they used them with the wood stove too. Brings back a lot of fond memories of ice cold glasses of buttermilk and cornbread, saying grace over supper and friendship.
When I was a kid all we had was strike anywhere matches. One day we smelled smoke and found that it was coming from a chest of drawers. We discovered a box of srike anywhere matches that had been ignited and a dead mouse (crispy critter) among the smoldering graments.
Another thing you can is tie a bundle of them together with waxed string by wrapping the string in a coi pattern arpund the sticksl. Then submerge the wrapped bundle very quicky in wax, and you have a complete waterproof firestarter
Every time I get matches i always get a cheap bottle of clear fingernail polish and dip or paint the natch heads and partky up the match stick. It can be tedious when you get a big box but it is a life saver. I do this because over time if there's any fluctuations of things like moisture in the house or wherever you have the matches will ruin the whole box. I know from experience growing up at my parents house. So it became a habit to coat them in fingernails polish to ototect the match head and half the stick from moisture.
I have used nail polish to coat strike anywhere matches to waterproof them. It seems to hold up to temperature extremes and jostling very good. I like it better than wax. BSA 35 years.
Wow thats amazing James , im gonna try this hack because I've been looking for strike anywhere matches and cant find them. Another trick you might try is to wrap duct tape on the match stick below the match head and about 3/4's down the stick. Duct tape is a fire starter and this will extend the match flame for a while instead of it burning up and being wasted.
I would suggest you buy a small piece of bees wax at a sewing shop and melt that in a small pan for coating the match heads. Safer than dipping them in a lit candle and the bees wax is a harder coating. It can be much thinner and more even.
Hi James, great video, as usual, I always learn something new from you. Sometimes I keep my matches in the plastic pill bottles from Walgreens or CVS ( being an old man I have SOOO many ) thanx, Sam
I watched your pocket lamp video yesterday. I once tried using Everclear in a Zippo lighter and it worked like a charm. I’m sure it would work in a lamp as well. Forget matches and kerosene. Everclear, a Zippo and your pocket lamp!
When I was a kid [ in the 80s ]. My friends and I were major badasses and just about the coolest cats to ever have walked the planet. We knew this in our hearts and we knew everyone else knew this to be truth. One of the ways we'd demonstrate this truth. Was with strike anywhere matches. Which we'd ignite by striking them on our teeth, the seat of our britches, or, and this was the coolest method While slightly less badass than striking on one's teeth. We'd use our thumbnail to pop the top of the match. Once after having shown all the other kids our own age, 9 to 11. How godlike we were in our coolness. We'd then pull our lucky strike non filters. From our rolled up plain white t-shirt sleeve, and proceed to make every little boy and probably most of their father's as well, want to be us, and every little girl and most of their mothers, want us. By striking our strike anywhere match and lighting our cigarettes, without filters, because we were men, the coolest of men, and all knew we were. To be fair we were pretty much as cool and badass as we believed ourselves to be
Another excellent exercise in doing what you can with what you have. While I may not be making my own matches anytime soon, it is great to know how to make them if need be. Solid information here and who knows the day may come when I’m gonna have to think about using resources such as this. Like they say, knowledge is power. Thanks for the effort that you put into these episodes to share important information. Merry Christmas to you and yours! - Tennessee Smoky
I miss the strike anywere matches. It was maybe 20 years ago the last ones I saw. They were always my first choice for matches. I always kept some wax dipped ones in a backpack and in an emergency kit in the car. Use to make darts out of some, split the end of the wood with a razor blade, put two small strips of paper in the split, fold out for fins and they would light when they hit a solid surface squarely alot of the time. Of course you had to be ready to put out any fires. These would be even better for that, I would think, but maybe without the wax.
I remember the old strike anywhere matches aka kitchen matches. I could get one to light up with the edge of a fingernail. That’s how I lit my cigarettes beck in the day. Thankfully I quit smoking many years ago….don’t smoke kids it’s not good. Great match hack thank you for sharing this.
Being European and watching this, knowing that often they won’t let us buy chemicals without the license(the party knows best and adults needs a leash). Thanks and happy Christmas!
You sir are amazing I have been watching you for a while now and every video you drop I always learn something from you.. keep it up I really enjoy the way you deliver your knowledge through your content.. thank you so very much
50 years ago we pulled into a dark campground and were unloading from the trunk. Didn't notice the box of matches on the trunk ledge. When we slammed the trunk, they all went up. No harm done as they fell on the ground, but quite a fright.
Wow! Ohio Blue Tip, was the standard when I grew up, about fifteen miles from Wadsworth. I can remember talking to a chemist from “The Match”, one evening in a tavern. He covered all of the mechanics and chemistry involved. I had wondered at times about whether “box matches” could be converted. Now, after more than fifty years I have the answer, and the details. I thank you for the look over your shoulder. A zipper on a pair of jeans is a stand by dry striker in wet weather.
When I was a child back in the fifties, we made match guns out of wooden clothespins. You need three wooden half-pins of the spring type. and one clothes-pin spring to make the match shooter. It actually lights the strike -anywhere match as well as shooting the match fifteen or twenty feet while burning. Great fun for a budding pyro.
Great idea, I remember these matches because as a kid we used to have to start our wood burning stove during the Fall and Winter mornings. I would strike those matches against the stone floor around the wood stove. I could even start them with a finger nail (thumb) or against a zipper.
When I was in the Boy Scouts in the 60's we would cover our strike anywhere matches with parafin wax to render them waterproof. Unless your father had a zippo lighter, that was just about the only way to easily start a fire, but usually we had to scrape the wax from the head to allow it to strike. Thank you for the video. Very effective technique.
I do like the period specific equipment, as an old guy, the fact that these "hacks" worked back then is validation that these people were successful even in their failure to integrate in society. My wife and I made some holiday candy this weekend that used my grandmothers taylor candy thermometer that is likely 80 years old or older. Merry Christmas.
Those Ohio blue strike away matches were are main way to light fires in scouts. It took a little skill and practice to light them. The ones diamond makes.are not very good. Thanks for the video
The strike pad on the match box is Red Phosphorous. The red stuff your scaping out of the caps is called Armstrong mixture. You can easily make it your self with. There's tons of videos on TH-cam showing how to do it.
Wrap the match stick with one wrap of the Duct Tape (Heavy Duty Black is nest), starting right at the base of the head. Extra wind protection and the DT adhesive burns Hot
Man did that take me back in time. My older brother was in boyscouts in nw pa. He did a project like this using parts from an ink pen. Thank you for the video. I too remember remember ohio blue tips and how well they worked, now I can make my own. Great channel!
I've never seen strike anywhere matches here in Australia. I've seen them on USA tv shows. Mystery solved. Handy to know. I carry a firesteel as backup to regular matches. Thank you for sharing.
Potassium permanganate is a good thing and is common good for first aid water purification fire etc...l. its a dye our could be used to signal people potentially i think there are lots of uses for it in survival a video would do very well. I do a lot of chemistry and KMnO4 is one of my favourite oxidizers @@WayPointSurvival
I’ve watched half a dozen or so of your videos and I have to say, this is the one to make me subscribe. Genuinely great video, well made and great advice. Thank you for making this.
I managed to get a package of 4 large boxes of their strike anywhere and coated them with wax, halfway up the sticks. They're in ALL my bugout / get home bags (adult kids too).
What you've really done for me is remind me that my 5 year match test is due! I bought a bunch of the UCO matches when they were "available" and coated them with clear fingernail polish and stored them away in zipock bags inside metal tins.
Ace Hardware stores! That’s about the only place that still sells them. When you go, buy them out because you never know when the supply will dry up completely! And they don’t like to ship strike-anywhere matches on account of them being somewhat subjective to vibration during transit. Thanks James!!
I used to dip my matches in hot paraffin to water proof, it worked great. I just tested one from 20 years ago and they still work great. I hoarded strike anywhere matches, 20 years ago. But I'm down to a single box now so this video will get me back up to snuff.
I've been going crazy trying to find Strike Anywhere Matches. Thank you for an excellent and well-taught video on how to make them. I'm going to start gathering my supplies today.
You can usually find the blue diamond brand at Ace Hardware stores. They're probably not as good as these, but I don't have a mortar and pestle at the moment.
What I did making detonators, Hexamine treated with 100-percent nitric acid producing material like PETN, heating the mixture is highly unstable until mixed with wax, with what was left over I used for matches.
What you could try doing is to find or make some duct tape the very same length as the match body. Leave a couple of inches between each match. Then dip them in already melted wax without removing any of them from the duct tape. Kind of mass production process like Henry Ford did for cars. Once you have them all dipped and cooled down cut them apart and roll the duct tape around each match stem. The duct tape is a perfect fire extender and will burn a very long time. In a way it turns a regular match into a survival match. And there’s no need to throw away perfectly good duct tape.
Hey! Great video! A few years ago, I tried to purchase a box of strike anywhere matches and couldn’t find them anywhere. When I was in Boy Scouts many many moons ago, that’s all we ever used! One could purchase strike anywhere matches just at any grocery store. I’m going to make some! Thank you!
I used to always have matches in my pack when I'm backpacking but I decided that I prefer a lighter. Clipper lighters because the "flints" and the fuel are both refillable. Its easy enough to top off the fuel before I leave. I have a ferro rod on backup in case somehow the lighters fail, which they never have. Even dropping one in water its easy enoigh to blow out the water and get it functioning again. I like the idea of matches, however in practice I generally prefer a lighter. That said, I still have a few big boxes of Diamond strike anywheres in my house, but they just dont get used much.
This will sound strange, but.. my entire life, born a d raised mountain/farm/ranch, we've struck regular stick matches off our metal zippers on our jackets or our jeans. I still do it today. They light. So you don't need that strike board on the box. JS.
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![MINI OIL LAMP [Really Works!]](/img/tr.png)
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Thanks for watching! Please leave me a thumbs up and a comment in the section below. Also, make sure and check out the website for the classes that we teach and the required gear list as well at www.waypointsurvival.com.
ACE Hardware still carries them.
Here in the UK we have no problem getting strike anywhere matches, the most common brand being Swan Vestas. But the most obvious place to your red phosphorus from is the strike of your regular match box. Just soak the match box in water and you can just scrape it off with a knife.
Even so, disposable lighters are a far more practical solution. If you're worried it may not work, just carry two. They're completely water proof. If they get wet you just have to blow on the friction wheel to dry it off before use.
can we make big scary boom with this!?!?!?!? pls share i am not a fed! promise!
@@battleofarmageddon1366⚠️ God has said in the Quran:
🔵 { O mankind, worship your Lord, who created you and those before you, that you may become righteous - ( 2:21 )
🔴 [He] who made for you the earth a bed [spread out] and the sky a ceiling and sent down from the sky, rain and brought forth thereby fruits as provision for you. So do not attribute to Allah equals while you know [that there is nothing similar to Him]. ( 2:22 )
🔵 And if you are in doubt about what We have sent down upon Our Servant [Muhammad], then produce a surah the like thereof and call upon your witnesses other than Allah, if you should be truthful. ( 2:23 )
🔴 But if you do not - and you will never be able to - then fear the Fire, whose fuel is men and stones, prepared for the disbelievers.( 2:24 )
🔵 And give good tidings to those who believe and do righteous deeds that they will have gardens [in Paradise] beneath which rivers flow. Whenever they are provided with a provision of fruit therefrom, they will say, "This is what we were provided with before." And it is given to them in likeness. And they will have therein purified spouses, and they will abide therein eternally. ( 2:25 )
⚠️ Quran
You talk too much
Lots of very obvious chemistry going on here, but I don't want to take away from the fact that you provided honest information about how to make what you said you could make. Inexpensively and with generally available materials..Good job.
Thanks so very much!
What would you have done differently? source the phosphorous from elsewhere?
There is nothing so obvious as something pointed out to you.🤗😉😂😉🤗
60yrs+ old found recent, fell in love, ex-usmc, learned and continue to learn. ❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤
As I'm watching this I'm thinking jokingly didn't his momma teach him not to play with matches. Anyway... Nice video. 👍
I also wrap a strip of duct tape around each match beneath the head. It extends the burn time of the match by about 5X with a larger flame which is great for getting a fire going.
I was thinking wax paper between the heads. Also a good tinder source
Yes
Great idea
The old rolls of "Bang caps" we got for our toy six shooters used real gun powder, not red phosphorus, as I recall. We used to carefully peel the red paper away from the white paper to expose the little dots of dark gray powder. My brother and I once put a whole roll of caps into the vise on my dad's shop table down in the cellar and cranked it down as far as we could, then BLAM!! the whole roll exploded at once and blew the vise wide open! Our ears were ringing for quite a while. We kept our guardian angels busy in those days.
The rolls of caps came in cardboard boxes of 5 rolls that were perforated and you'd pull them apart. So of course I took the whole 5 high stack and put it on an anvil and wacked it with a hammer. That was the end of my playing with caps days. You could say I went out with a bang. A loud bang at that.
We used to do that w a hammer. But then we had lawn darts too 😅
As a kid I used to take a roll at a time and hit it with a big rock on the driveway or street. Pretty big bang. I got lucky a few times and found boxes of the rolls of 20 I believe it was, instead of 5. And at a discount.
Totally agree with the comments below, great hack. I would like to add a few more chemical details about the caps mentioned in the video, these caps contain not just red Phosphorus but the mixture of red Phosphorus and Bertholite Salt - (P+KClO3), this mixture explodes on impact ( !!! that's why you need grind it in a mortar wet with water ) and this is what makes your homemade matches more powerful compared to factory ones, and this, by the way, makes them flammable not only from friction but also from impact, so be careful.
Thanks so very much for the information and the additional safety warning. I really do appreciate the comment!
That’s some critical and high quality chemistry information!!
Isnt it called Armstrong's mixture? I know you can make it with the phosphorus from the strike pad and ground up match heads.
Here in western Canada, we always bought Eddy strike anywhere matches, now we buy strike anywhere matches that seldom light if not struck on the box. The old style matches would light on your blue jeans or even just by flicking the end with your thumb nail. My mom worked for the Eddy Match Company in Vancouver B.C. back in the mid 40's. Great video, very well done!
Thanks so much!
RedBird is available at Crappy as well.
@@Aviator747a Red Bird are made by the Eddy Match company, and are the matches I now buy.
I remember striking them with my thumbnail. A piece of the blue tip got wedged under my thumbnail while igniting. A strong reminder for a good week or so. Also remember making stink bombs with blue tips. Reconfigure a basic click pen with the internal spring. Adding a hairpin into the mechanism the match would be wedged into the spring and you would have a situation where the ignited match would burn inside the pen body and create a smelly odor. Fun when I was a kid.
I learned to put a cotton ball, or several, in a pill bottle. Then put the match heads on the cotton. They don't chip, shake, or get bumped, and stay very dry in there. That cotton is a good tinder, too. It even works with a ferro rod.
Cotton would fit in that little box, too.
I spent hours making a whole box of 50 once. Lost half of them in an small explosion halfway through and had to start again. I finally finished making them all and put them in the box. Then I was like "thank god I'm done" and gave the box and little toss on to the bench in front of me and they all went up in flames within a split second. That was dumb thing to do.
Cotton is awesome for fire starting. I soak cotton balls in Vaseline and stuff them into 1 inch sections of plastic straws. Then I melt the ends to close the straws. It keeps the Vaseline soaked cotton from getting wet. I then put a few of these in my knife sheath for emergency fire starter. Works great with a ferro rod.
I put my matches in my empty prescription medication bottles. I am a medically retired vet who is diabled. I have various sized bottles that i use in my hiking and community defense tactical kits. Waterproof and already paid for. I started using empty med bottles early in my military career. I even use them to put seasonings, baking flours/powders and powdered soaps! I have my survival kit in a large and tall med bottle that held 3 months worth of large muscle relaxers. Point is you can re-utilize many things if you just think outside the box. I suped up my strike anywheres with candle wax as well.
Absolutely! Thanks so much for watching the video and for your service to our country!
My aunt Virginia used to have a thing on her wall that was made of metal that held that bigger box of matches and I would always get some of them out and I learned from my dad how to take one of those stick matches and run my thumbnail across it and light it.
Had to be real careful. I didn't want to get any of that match stuff under my thumbnail as I was striking at across the head of the match.
But it worked every time.
The things you learn when you're a kid.
That's why they don't make them anymore because little kids were starting fires with them.
Yes, you could definitely start the old ones that way.
@rebeccasilveous😅because kids could not start fires with regular book matches they only banned the strike anywhere type😅😅😅
I could smell the caps as soon as I saw them. Brings back childhood memories. Great vid! Thanks!
Glad you enjoyed it!
Same lol! I remember when I was a kid I emptied the caps into a big pile and it all went off in my face. Had the smell stuck in my nose for days and ended up getting pneumonia from the smoke 😂
You can also coat the tip of the match with fingernail polish. I use clear nail polish. It waterproofs matches just as well as wax does, with the added bonus that it won't melt in hot weather.
Edit: I stick the matches in a block of Styrofoam to dry. It's a lot easier to manage than duct tape.
Good tips. Thank you.
Do you brush the polish on or dip them
@@shibosuru I dip the head of the match into the bottle of nail polish, then stick the other end into a styrofoam block to dry.
@@j.l.emerson592 won't the matches smell nasty and possibly have harmful fumes?
@blueberry766 I haven't noticed a bad odor when I've lit the nail polish coated matches. I doubt that the fumes are harmful. The match is lit for only a few seconds, probably not long enough to make a lot of fumes. If you're worried about it, just dip your matches in wax. Um, better make that BEESWAX... It's all natural... And don't inhale, you might breathe in phosphorus fumes!
Great hack. May I also suggest you stagger the matches so that all the heads aren’t facing the same direction. Every other one seems to work fine. One other thing that seems to work well, especially in our HOT South Texas Summers, is instead of candle wax, dip the match heads in Outdoor Spar Polyurethane Varnish. Not near as sticky, and seems to waterproof at least as well as wax. Thanks!!!
Good tips!
Nail polish works too.
Mark, do you mean varnish bought at a Spar Supermarket? Under the Spar brand? Interesting because I didn't know you had Spar Supermarkets there in America. They are ubiquitous here in South Africa.
We know the Spar name in the UK as well , though I believe they have been bought by other companies now by companies like Co-Op and McColls . The Spar shops here would be what we call convenience stores , smaller than super markets , maybe with a floor plan only as large as a house . They would be the local stores in villages and small towns , possibly twinned with a post office , they might also be licenced to sell booze . @@susanp.collins7834
@@susanp.collins7834 spar varnish is a nautical product that dates back to the 1890s or so, one of the first commercial offerings of nitrocellulose.
I make mine the same way. They are even better than the originals. You can also use fireplace matches if you want to make longer ones.
Good idea!
Great hack James. It made me think of a science report I did in 9th grade on phosphorus. Back in the late 1800’s someone came up with a candle that had white phosphorus coating the wick. Of course white phosphorus burns immediately upon contact with oxygen so these candles were enclosed in a glass vacuum tube, similar to a traditional test tube. All that was needed for a lighted candle was to break the glass! The ultimate emergency light for the times!Ingenious but very dangerous at the same time. I love your shared technique here and the fact that you stress the safety in process. I’ve dipped strike anywhere matches in wax like you demonstrated to help ensure they worked in damp conditions. I used a piece of fluted cardboard to hold them apart. Thanks for another project for all of us to try.
You're very welcome and thanks for the history lesson!
I believe they contained sulfuric acid actually and potassium perchlorate or chlorate called a promethean match i believe
Watched a video by NurdRage called making a Promethean match or something good video
Fun!!! Gonna have to try this. I really miss the old blue tips, they were so convenient.
True. Thanks for watching!
I was reminded of high school chemistry class. When we handled volatile chemicals (I suppose they would not allow that nowdays) the teacher cautioned us to not pound on the mixture, or it will pound back. 😳 Somehow we got the point about being careful, and we survived the class. 😂
Cool video! When I was a boy scout in the 80's, I used store bought strike anywhere matches on camping trips.
Right on!
Great video James.
The old Ohio Blue tip were the Best Matches ever.
Too bad they don't make them anymore!
Excellent video & it brings back childhood memories of me being a crazy chemist cutting match heads off from mountains of matches lol. I used a mix of 50/50 water to 70% isopropyl alcohol to decrease drying time. Glad you popped up in my feed bro!
Thanks so much for stopping by!
Great video! Isn't it a wonderful world we live in, created by lawyers who have cleansed the world of every useful product.
Right?
Tkx James! I remember the original matches and grandpa used them. Remember sometimes on Sunday, they didn't cook but occasionally they would drive out to Long John Silvers for fish for the whole gang if we were coming up. We would ride along in his old yellow Ford pickup truck with a camper on the back and the Aooooga horn. It had a Mack truck bulldog emblem standing on the hood in the middle. Grandpa liked Prince Albert tobacco in a can and he would use it to roll an Old fashioned cigarette. He always managed to accomplish this while driving down the road with one hand. When he was done and everything was put away he would get one of these strike anywhere matches and fire it up, usually striking it on the zipper at the top of the pouch on his Liberty overhauls. Of course they used them with the wood stove too. Brings back a lot of fond memories of ice cold glasses of buttermilk and cornbread, saying grace over supper and friendship.
Lots of great memories there! Thanks so much for watching.
When I was a kid all we had was strike anywhere matches. One day we smelled smoke and found that it was coming from a chest of drawers. We discovered a box of srike anywhere matches that had been ignited and a dead mouse (crispy critter) among the smoldering graments.
Yes, I have heard that that was a rather common occurrence back in the day.
Another thing you can is tie a bundle of them together with waxed string by wrapping the string in a coi pattern arpund the sticksl. Then submerge the wrapped bundle very quicky in wax, and you have a complete waterproof firestarter
True!
Yay. I've finally found a prepping chanel that actually shows useful tips and hacks💯
Glad that you are enjoying it!
Five-star information. Thank you very much.
Every time I get matches i always get a cheap bottle of clear fingernail polish and dip or paint the natch heads and partky up the match stick. It can be tedious when you get a big box but it is a life saver.
I do this because over time if there's any fluctuations of things like moisture in the house or wherever you have the matches will ruin the whole box. I know from experience growing up at my parents house. So it became a habit to coat them in fingernails polish to ototect the match head and half the stick from moisture.
Excellent!
I really miss the old matches. This looks like a fun project for the kiddos.
I have used nail polish to coat strike anywhere matches to waterproof them. It seems to hold up to temperature extremes and jostling very good. I like it better than wax. BSA 35 years.
Good tip!
Wow thats amazing James , im gonna try this hack because I've been looking for strike anywhere matches and cant find them. Another trick you might try is to wrap duct tape on the match stick below the match head and about 3/4's down the stick. Duct tape is a fire starter and this will extend the match flame for a while instead of it burning up and being wasted.
Yes. Thanks for watching!
Love your work, thanks for the video.
Thanks for watching!
I would suggest you buy a small piece of bees wax at a sewing shop and melt that in a small pan for coating the match heads. Safer than dipping them in a lit candle and the bees wax is a harder coating. It can be much thinner and more even.
Good idea!
you can also buy blocks of parafin wax in the supermarket in the canning supplies section.
Hi James, great video, as usual, I always learn something new from you. Sometimes I keep my matches in the plastic pill bottles from Walgreens or CVS ( being an old man I have SOOO many ) thanx, Sam
You're welcome!
I watched your pocket lamp video yesterday. I once tried using Everclear in a Zippo lighter and it worked like a charm. I’m sure it would work in a lamp as well. Forget matches and kerosene. Everclear, a Zippo and your pocket lamp!
Thanks for watching!
When I was a kid [ in the 80s ]. My friends and I were major badasses and just about the coolest cats to ever have walked the planet. We knew this in our hearts and we knew everyone else knew this to be truth. One of the ways we'd demonstrate this truth. Was with strike anywhere matches. Which we'd ignite by striking them on our teeth, the seat of our britches, or, and this was the coolest method
While slightly less badass than striking on one's teeth. We'd use our thumbnail to pop the top of the match.
Once after having shown all the other kids our own age, 9 to 11. How godlike we were in our coolness. We'd then pull our lucky strike non filters. From our rolled up plain white t-shirt sleeve, and proceed to make every little boy and probably most of their father's as well, want to be us, and every little girl and most of their mothers, want us. By striking our strike anywhere match and lighting our cigarettes, without filters, because we were men, the coolest of men, and all knew we were.
To be fair we were pretty much as cool and badass as we believed ourselves to be
Thanks for watching.
Just a bit of advice, store these in mouse and rat proof containers, one chew and they will burn down the cabin.
Thank you
That's why I recommended storing them in the metal tin.
Thank you for this video. This is tremendously valuable. Strike-anywhere matches are worth their weight in gold in a survival situation. Many thanks!
You're very welcome!
Excellent idea. Thank you very uch.
You are most welcome!
Excellent. They don't make anything like they used to so thankful for videos like this. God bless you and yours.
Thanks so much, you too!
Another excellent exercise in doing what you can with what you have. While I may not be making my own matches anytime soon, it is great to know how to make them if need be. Solid information here and who knows the day may come when I’m gonna have to think about using resources such as this. Like they say, knowledge is power. Thanks for the effort that you put into these episodes to share important information. Merry Christmas to you and yours! - Tennessee Smoky
Thanks so much and Merry Christmas to you too!
I miss the strike anywere matches. It was maybe 20 years ago the last ones I saw. They were always my first choice for matches. I always kept some wax dipped ones in a backpack and in an emergency kit in the car. Use to make darts out of some, split the end of the wood with a razor blade, put two small strips of paper in the split, fold out for fins and they would light when they hit a solid surface squarely alot of the time. Of course you had to be ready to put out any fires. These would be even better for that, I would think, but maybe without the wax.
Indeed!
I remember the old strike anywhere matches aka kitchen matches. I could get one to light up with the edge of a fingernail. That’s how I lit my cigarettes beck in the day. Thankfully I quit smoking many years ago….don’t smoke kids it’s not good. Great match hack thank you for sharing this.
The web site you gave didn't have the caps anymore, But Walmart does! Thanks!
This isvery usefull and easy thank you !
Thank you so very much! I really appreciate the support!
Being European and watching this, knowing that often they won’t let us buy chemicals without the license(the party knows best and adults needs a leash).
Thanks and happy Christmas!
Thanks, you too!
This is exactly how Dad used to do it. Excellent video. 😊
Thanks for watching!
You sir are amazing I have been watching you for a while now and every video you drop I always learn something from you.. keep it up I really enjoy the way you deliver your knowledge through your content.. thank you so very much
I appreciate that!
Clear nail polish or varnish to water proof them works very well. I learned that in Scouts
Yes, that is also another good way to get it done.
50 years ago we pulled into a dark campground and were unloading from the trunk. Didn't notice the box of matches on the trunk ledge. When we slammed the trunk, they all went up. No harm done as they fell on the ground, but quite a fright.
Yes, one definitely needs to be careful about storage and transportation with these types of things.
I carry a box of small matches Vic lighter and a faro rod good video
Excellent!
Wow! Ohio Blue Tip, was the standard when I grew up, about fifteen miles from Wadsworth. I can remember talking to a chemist from “The Match”, one evening in a tavern. He covered all of the mechanics and chemistry involved.
I had wondered at times about whether “box matches” could be converted. Now, after more than fifty years I have the answer, and the details. I thank you for the look over your shoulder. A zipper on a pair of jeans is a stand by dry striker in wet weather.
Thanks so much for watching and I'm glad that you enjoyed the video!
When I was a child back in the fifties, we made match guns out of wooden clothespins. You need three wooden half-pins of the spring type. and one clothes-pin spring to make the match shooter. It actually lights the strike -anywhere match as well as shooting the match fifteen or twenty feet while burning. Great fun for a budding pyro.
Excellent! That sounds like a lot of fun to make and play with!
I caught the neighbors field on fire with one those.Kids can`t have no fun no more.@@WayPointSurvival
Great idea, I remember these matches because as a kid we used to have to start our wood burning stove during the Fall and Winter mornings. I would strike those matches against the stone floor around the wood stove. I could even start them with a finger nail (thumb) or against a zipper.
Indeed.
I miss Ohio blue tips. I wish I didn’t take them for granted as a kid. I’m excited to try this!
Great video James...I like those matches
Thanks!
Cool video, I've often waterproof my matches with wax but never thought of making them strike anywhere, I'll keep this in mind when I make new matches
When I was in the Boy Scouts in the 60's we would cover our strike anywhere matches with parafin wax to render them waterproof. Unless your father had a zippo lighter, that was just about the only way to easily start a fire, but usually we had to scrape the wax from the head to allow it to strike. Thank you for the video. Very effective technique.
You're welcome!
I do like the period specific equipment, as an old guy, the fact that these "hacks" worked back then is validation that these people were successful even in their failure to integrate in society. My wife and I made some holiday candy this weekend that used my grandmothers taylor candy thermometer that is likely 80 years old or older. Merry Christmas.
Those Ohio blue strike away matches were are main way to light fires in scouts. It took a little skill and practice to light them. The ones diamond makes.are not very good. Thanks for the video
You're welcome!
Spectacular, I have to do a video on my extended burn time matches. Thank you for everything you do And God bless.
Sounds great! Make sure and send me a link. God bless you too!
I really like Blue Diamond wooden matches, haven't seen them in years, next time I go to the store I will look for them.
Excellent!
The strike pad on the match box is Red Phosphorous. The red stuff your scaping out of the caps is called Armstrong mixture. You can easily make it your self with. There's tons of videos on TH-cam showing how to do it.
Thanks for watching and for the information!
Wrap the match stick with one wrap of the Duct Tape (Heavy Duty Black is nest), starting right at the base of the head. Extra wind protection and the DT adhesive burns Hot
Hello from the thumb of Michigan
Great video I learn on everyone of your videos God bless you James stay safe brother
Thanks, you too!
Man did that take me back in time. My older brother was in boyscouts in nw pa. He did a project like this using parts from an ink pen. Thank you for the video. I too remember remember ohio blue tips and how well they worked, now I can make my own. Great channel!
Thanks so much!
This definitely makes a change, something I can get readily in the UK that you guys can't. It's usually the other way around
Yes, it's very cool that you can still get the good ones!
I've never seen strike anywhere matches here in Australia. I've seen them on USA tv shows. Mystery solved. Handy to know. I carry a firesteel as backup to regular matches. Thank you for sharing.
Thanks so much for watching!
More chemistry related bushcraft/survival methods please very interesting!!
Thanks!
Potassium permanganate is a good thing and is common good for first aid water purification fire etc...l. its a dye our could be used to signal people potentially i think there are lots of uses for it in survival a video would do very well. I do a lot of chemistry and KMnO4 is one of my favourite oxidizers @@WayPointSurvival
Brilliant! Thank you, James and Fowlers!
Glad you enjoyed it!
Love it. I already dip the ends of matches in wax to make them waterproof. Now I need to get some caps so I can strike them anywhere.
ACE hardware had some strike anywhere matches in my area
I’ve watched half a dozen or so of your videos and I have to say, this is the one to make me subscribe. Genuinely great video, well made and great advice. Thank you for making this.
Excellent, thanks so much for watching and welcome aboard!
Once again, James, another helpful idea. Thank you! Merry Christmas to you and your family! 😃👍🙏
Same to you!
I managed to get a package of 4 large boxes of their strike anywhere and coated them with wax, halfway up the sticks. They're in ALL my bugout / get home bags (adult kids too).
Excellent!
What you've really done for me is remind me that my 5 year match test is due! I bought a bunch of the UCO matches when they were "available" and coated them with clear fingernail polish and stored them away in zipock bags inside metal tins.
How did the test go?
Ace Hardware stores! That’s about the only place that still sells them. When you go, buy them out because you never know when the supply will dry up completely! And they don’t like to ship strike-anywhere matches on account of them being somewhat subjective to vibration during transit.
Thanks James!!
You're welcome!
I used to dip my matches in hot paraffin to water proof, it worked great. I just tested one from 20 years ago and they still work great. I hoarded strike anywhere matches, 20 years ago. But I'm down to a single box now so this video will get me back up to snuff.
Excellent!
Very nice James, great video. And yes very powerful match.
Awesome! Gonna be doing this one with my kiddos for a homeschooling science project in the future!
Excellent!
Definitely a good idea.thanks for the video
Thanks for watching!
I've been going crazy trying to find Strike Anywhere Matches. Thank you for an excellent and well-taught video on how to make them. I'm going to start gathering my supplies today.
You're very welcome!
You can usually find the blue diamond brand at Ace Hardware stores. They're probably not as good as these, but I don't have a mortar and pestle at the moment.
Looks very handy James! God bless you brother!
Thanks, you too!
Very cool, now I have something to do this weekend lol. Merry Christmas James, to you and yours!
Thanks, you too!
Very cool weather proof matches. Thank you for sharing. Everyone stay safe warm, happy and healthy. From Henrico County Virginia
Thanks so much!
Great match for matchsticks ❤
Indeed!
Just today, I bought those diamond matches - strike anywhere -- both sizes.
Excellent.
What I did making detonators, Hexamine treated with 100-percent nitric acid producing material like PETN, heating the mixture is highly unstable until mixed with wax, with what was left over I used for matches.
Very cool!
Truly informative. I'll share to my adventure group.
Excellent!
What you could try doing is to find or make some duct tape the very same length as the match body. Leave a couple of inches between each match. Then dip them in already melted wax without removing any of them from the duct tape. Kind of mass production process like Henry Ford did for cars. Once you have them all dipped and cooled down cut them apart and roll the duct tape around each match stem. The duct tape is a perfect fire extender and will burn a very long time. In a way it turns a regular match into a survival match. And there’s no need to throw away perfectly good duct tape.
Yes
You are a useful Species. Thanx for the video my Brother!!!
Thanks so much!
That was a usefull video to watch. I think I'll make a few to use the next time I'm on the trail.... - Have a nice day
Cool video and the added shabang of the caps powder is extra explosivy! Haha. Thank you James!
Thanks for watching!
Hey! Great video! A few years ago, I tried to purchase a box of strike anywhere matches and couldn’t find them anywhere. When I was in Boy Scouts many many moons ago, that’s all we ever used! One could purchase strike anywhere matches just at any grocery store. I’m going to make some! Thank you!
Excellent. Thanks for watching!
Another great video
Thanks!
Another great video.
Thank you !
Glad you enjoyed it!
Excellent vid James. Good warnings too.
Thanks!
I used to always have matches in my pack when I'm backpacking but I decided that I prefer a lighter. Clipper lighters because the "flints" and the fuel are both refillable. Its easy enough to top off the fuel before I leave. I have a ferro rod on backup in case somehow the lighters fail, which they never have. Even dropping one in water its easy enoigh to blow out the water and get it functioning again. I like the idea of matches, however in practice I generally prefer a lighter. That said, I still have a few big boxes of Diamond strike anywheres in my house, but they just dont get used much.
Again as usual another excellent 👍👌 video sweetie ☺️!!!!
Thanks!
This will sound strange, but.. my entire life, born a d raised mountain/farm/ranch, we've struck regular stick matches off our metal zippers on our jackets or our jeans. I still do it today. They light. So you don't need that strike board on the box. JS.
Interesting. Thanks for watching.
Love learning from yall😊 Happy Holidays and be safe
Same to you!
Nice! Thanks for the tip. I wish you could still buy strike anywhere matches more readily.
I've been looking on how to make these for along time. Thank you Sir.
You are very welcome!