Storm Matches

[Quixoticgeek]

Lifeboat matches, storm matches, hurricane matches. They seem to go by different names, but all of them seem to be the sort that still light when you have dropped them in a stream, and are supposed to stay alight even in a modest breeze. That's the theory.

I want to get a small pack for an emergency kit, purely for lighting candles. Are they all created equal? Can anyone recommend a reliable rugged set of lifeboat matches?

J

 

[tiger stacker]

Would a ration packet suffice, if so i have a few of them kicking about.

 

[bb07]

Can you get these in your area?
http://www.mec.ca/product/5022-110/uco-stormproof-matches/

These are impressive!
A short video:
http://youtu.be/BQAkZYYdXkU

 

[Quixoticgeek]

Would a ration packet suffice, if so i have a few of them kicking about.

Ration packet? Are they the ones included in the UK 24 hour rat packs? I have no experience of them, but I'm guessing so?

Can you get these in your area?
http://www.mec.ca/product/5022-110/uco-stormproof-matches/

These are impressive!
A short video:
http://youtu.be/BQAkZYYdXkU

That is rather impressive, and it looks like they are available in the uk:

http://www.thebushcraftstore.co.uk/uco-stormproof-matches-2859-p.asp

Julia

 

[bb07]

An excellent item in the wind or rain I would think. I haven't actually used them myself but if they perform as shown in the video then I would like to have some.

 

[tiger stacker]

Yip thats the packets i meant.

 

[Robmc]

When I was a kid, we used to buy matches around bonfire night. I'm sure they were called Bengal Matches and they worked in much the same way as the Storm Matches. They were pretty cheap and very effective.

Anybody know if you can still get them?

 

[Joonsy]

I used to buy the ones from survival aids/penrith that were very good, however that was many years ago so I don’t know if they are still the same ones anymore, they were sold as lifeboat matches, they would in fact stay alight in a good breeze and were much much better than ordinary matches. In fact I still have about 15 of those matches left that are about 34 years old and I have just tried one and it lit perfectly, they will light after being briefly dunked in water and stay alight with a good flame in a stiff breeze. One thing to note is that they light on the same type of striker as safety matches, they are not strike anywhere matches.

 

[tiger stacker]

In the post tomorrow

 

[bambodoggy]

I know you're getting a few rat pack ones to try Julia but otherwise I'd have said to save your money.

I've very much enjoyed playing with these matches over the years, amazing friends and family alike with party tricks of how they won't go out etc etc etc.

BUT....I find them very impractical for anything else, if you're in a tent or under a well placed tarp then you wouldn't need them for lighting candles as it won't be windy and you'll seriously smoke yourself out with them as they give off massive ammounts of smoke and fumes. If you're trying to light a fire in the dry then you don't need them and if you're lighting a fire in the wet they don't burn long enough to light anything other than a candle....which you can do with normal matches or a lighter (tucked inside your jacket with your back to the wind like smokers do to light their ciggy).
I guess the ones in the plastic containers might fair better but the rat pack ones go soft and crumbly after a few years at the bottom of a Bergen pocket (I found this out the one time I actually thought I might use one as I was soaked wet through and my lighter was too wet to work.....I know, I'll use my lifeboat matches....crumble crumble crumble).

You'd be better off with a mini bic lighter in a zip lock type little baggy...or if you're feeling retro, get a box of normal matches and dip and then dry each match in your choice of coating....wax, clear nail varnish etc and then put them back in the box....keep that in a little plastic bag too or the striker will get wet and not work....or use swan vesta red top none safety matches

Hope that helps.....don't mean to offend anybody who likes these matches but I've just found them gimmicky and of no real practice use.

Cheers,

Bam.

 

[Joonsy]

You'd be better off with a mini bic lighter

i second that, it's the simplest cheapest lightest and most reliable way to start a fire.

 

[MarkinLondon]

I'm a big fan of the UCO matches. Check out YouTube for reviews.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[rancid badger]

When I was a kid in the late 60's, early 70's, we used to buy "London Lights" around about this time of year. They were almost identical, to the ration pack matches I was issued later in life but similar to the "Bengal matches" already mentioned, the "London Lights" burned green or red. They were the cause of many a nasty burnt finger and the fuel for the odd minor arson attempt, being the incendiary of choice, when raiding other kids bonfire fuel stores, in the run up to bonfire night!

The military ration pack matches were variable in effectiveness in my experience.

The first ones I was issued in the early 80's worked extremely well, very much as well as the UCO matches and you could easily ignite your hexi blocks with a single match, even in strong winds or rain but by the mid 90's, they couldn't be relied upon to perform as well.

I recall instructing groups of recruits in the niceties of basic field cookery with ration packs, all through the mid 80's and using similar demo techniques to the UCO video to illustrate how good the matches were but eventually, after many a laughable failure of the matches to work, even indoors, giving up on them and using disposable lighters instead, advising the lads to do the same.

I've still got a load of the things stashed somewhere in the garage but I wouldn't bother to include them in any firelighting kit I might put together.

I suppose they may well have been improved again in recent years of course.

I'd suggest the gas lighter as the best bet for emergencies, with a small poly bag or envelope with vaseline impregnated cotton wool or make up removal pads for tinder/kindling.

Otherwise, those uco matches look pretty good, though I think I'd have to test a couple, before relying on them for a back up kit.

Good luck regardless

Steve

 

[Quixoticgeek]

I find it interesting the recommendations of Bic lighters. Personally I detest them. The reason that I want the matches is for a staying alive cold kit. The use case is one where hands are likely to be numb, where getting the candle lit is what is going to make the difference between life and death. As such, given I can't seem to get a bic lighter to light reliably outdoors with arm hands, I have no chance with frozen hands in a high wind. Where as the storm matches, if used with the right container, should be reliable and light even with frost bitten hands. It is a requirement of the kit that everything should still work even if it's been submerged in water. Will a bic lighter work in the wind and rain after a dunking?

I discounted a peanut lighter as being too hard to undo with cold or wet fingers.

Julia

 

[bb07]

I find it interesting the recommendations of Bic lighters. Will a bic lighter work in the wind and rain after a dunking?
Julia

I like Bic lighters and use them all the time. They do have their drawbacks though.
They aren't very good in the wind as you have noted. And after a dunking they are completely useless until they are dried out. They simply will not light until then.
Nor will they work in the cold, unless they are kept in an inner pocket. If they are kept in an outer pocket you will find that until they are warmed up they will not light.

 

[bambodoggy]

No it won't, hence, suggesting keeping it in a zip lock bag so it's waterproof until you need it.

If you struggle with a thumb wheel mini bic then go for a button press one instead

I'm really struggling to see how these matches are going to be of use to you Julia...if you've taken a crash through the ice on a frozen lake/river during a winter trip then getting a candle alight isn't going to save you (your pals and a lot of luck combined with good IA drills is all that will get you through). If your hands and in fact you have got that cold that you are losing dexterity then you are clearly not experienced enough to be out wherever you are and shouldn't be there! I am reliably informed that getting frostbite is actually a court martial offence in the Sweedish army as they have taught you to look after yourself and if you haven't done that then the injury is classed as self inflicted.

Other than the above mentioned lighter the only other thing I can advise is a good ferro rod and striker with some very good waterproof tinder....green gel or the Vaseline soaked cotton wool that Steve mentions below.

Please take the above as advice and not me being difficult or shirty (i'm serious about not being somewhere that you cant keep yourself warm or stop to rewarm yourself if you need too BEFORE you lose dexterity) I've done quite a bit in the arctic both in the military and as a civvy so I do have an understanding

Anyway, I probably haven't explained that very well and most likely sound patronising so I'll stop there

Really hope that helps,

Bam.

 

[mrcharly]

Bamboggy, what about the situation where you have got cold helping someone else? Sometimes it's not so easy and clear-cut.

There must be lighters that work off a simple press-down. I have a butane soldering iron/blowtorch that works like this (and lights in howling gales then stays lit). Kept in a pocket it would stay warm enough to work ok.

 

[bambodoggy]

Bamboggy, what about the situation where you have got cold helping someone else? Sometimes it's not so easy and clear-cut.

Same applies buddy, if you haven't looked after yourself first then how can you help anybody else....and if you allow yourself to go down through helping somebody else then you are no help to anybody....and now both of you will need help from a third person and so on and so on. You know as well as I do that it can be dangerous up there....so to me, it really IS that clear cut....albeit maybe not easy

I'm not saying don't have a back up....I always do....just that lighting a candle with storm matches isn't going to help if you're that far gone...better not to let yourself get that far gone in the first place, well that's what I've always been taught

 

[Joonsy]

Will a bic lighter work in the wind and rain after a dunking?

Yes it will I use cheap clipper lighters which can be refilled (they have a nozzle on the bottom for refilling), I don’t think bics can be refilled but I’m not positive about that so check with bic users. I will only use lighters that have a flint striker, some have an electronic striker (bics come with both striker types, electronic and flint, flint is the best one to get in my opinion). I carry a clipper lighter in my pocket and don’t bother to keep it in anything waterproof (I also carry a second one which is kept waterproof). If a flint type lighter gets wet all you have to do is shake lighter and blow on flint to expel excess water give it a few strikes and it will light in less than a minute even if it has been completely submerged. If you want to make sure it’s dry just keep it in little plastic bag (market stalls selling smokers stuff always stock little squeeze-close bags) so when you need it you can just rip the bag open even with teeth if necessary (which is a lot easier than trying to unscrew one of those match cases with frozen hands). In the wind just shield the flame with cupped hands or pull your clothing or anything else at all around it, it’s no big deal smokers do it every day. I really can’t understand peoples reluctance to use lighters, there seems to be a peculiar fascination in some to turn a simple task into a difficult one.

PS -- a bcuk member did a really excellent blog about the lighter versus ferro rod on his ''Woodtrekker'' website which I recommend anyone to read, I won’t take the liberty of adding a link to it out of politeness to him but it can be found on his website.

Just to prove lighters can work when wet, I have just left a clipper lighter completely submerged in the bottom of a bucket of water for 20 minutes, it lit after exactly 38 seconds (I timed it), I left a second one in the same bucket for the same time but in a little plastic bag, that one lit immediately first time after ripping the bag open.

Like Bambodoggy I will leave it there too. ATB

 

[bb07]

Just to prove lighters can work when wet, I have just left a clipper lighter completely submerged in the bottom of a bucket of water for 20 minutes, it lit after exactly 38 seconds (I timed it), I left a second one in the same bucket for the same time but in a little plastic bag, that one lit immediately first time after ripping the bag open.

/QUOTE]

I suppose the thing to do for anyone wanting to use a Bic would be to test it for themselves and see if one would be suitable for their needs or not.
I like Bic lighters and have used them for decades, but realize their drawbacks and make allowances for them.

Joonsy, I am not familiar with a clipper lighter. I wonder if it is different from the Bic lighters commonly used here?
I just now submerged my Bic for one minute, and after removing it from the water shook it vigorously to remove as much water as possible. It would not light. One and a half minutes later it still would not light, even though I was blowing on it between attempts to light it.
I am not doubting your results, so please don't think I am. I am curious though why we are getting completely different results, which is why i'm wondering if our Bic's are different.