matches

[maddave]

I have put away a lot of Army ration packs in my time and they all came with a little pack of lifeboat matches and a striker so I have a goodly stash of these.

Ditto.... All over my kit you'll find little poly bags with about 8 matches and a striker

 

[wizard]

I still have a 1960's Boy Scout matchsafe. Made of plated brass. It is unique in that the lid can't be lost and when opened it pulls the matches up for accessiblity. You can find them still on ebay by searching for boy scout matchsafe. I consider it one of my all time favorite camp items. I also use strike anywhere matches, uncoated. Made by Penley. Cheers!

 

[Joff]

For you Briits that said they used strike anywhere matches - where did you get them?

I've been looking all over for them - plenty in the States but I don't want to get the hassle through customs.

Thanks for any help!

Joff

 

[Tor helge]

Almost all my firelighting is done with matches. The regular ones, as strike anywhere matches are outlawed? in Norway.
I don`t waterproof them, just keep them in a box like this:

The box cost me 19 kroner at Clas Olson in Oslo. The box holds about 30 ordinary matches, or abot 20 storm matches (they are in the box when you buy it).
You can say what you will about ordinary matches, but I have never had any problems with them .

 

[Geuf]

I make sure I always have some matches lying around in my jacket and my backpack. I also make sure I always have matches in my backpack in a place where I can find them. I often use the matches found in the American MRE rations. ( just your usual damp weather matches in a matchbook with a striker) to back things up I have a waterproof bag with the , better, storm matches found in the Britisch MRE rations. next to that I have a normal firelighter with me. but it happened more than once that the button got pushed in whilst in my backpack so that my lighter was empty and my backpack full of gass. mind this. if you stuff your bag to hard, all the stuff might push the firelighterbutton so it empty's itself.
I also always have a magnesium stick with me.
as for the matches in an industrial produced waterproofmatchbox... I never use them because I can't see why a good waterproof bag doesen't play the trick. and its lighter.

How many of you guys ( and girls of course) take pieces of rubber innertube with you. it seems to be a good way to light a fire in damp conditions, but is it very bushcrafty?

 

[Longstrider]

I found that strike anywhere matches (Swan Vestas) with the heads dipped in candle wax became too damp to use if they got wet because the moisture would seep through the wood of the match. I solved this problem some years ago by completely embedding about 20 matches in a block of wax. This block of wax (about the size of an ordinary match box) with the matches seperate from one another inside it is safe to carry as the matches can not touch. When needed a match can easily be dug out of the wax with a thumbnail. Doing so carefully also means that I have a small handful of wax chippings to add to a linder bundle making it all the more likely to burn well once lit withe match.

If my hands were to become too cold to effectively dig one match out of the block I know I could easily break the block apart under my foot, allowing two handed (or between the teeth etc etc) striking of the match. Brass match cases could be lethal by preventing you from getting to your matches if you were becoming hypothermic.... the one time you REALLY need to get a fire going.

 

[Abbe Osram]

Any of you carry matches in your kit? If so, what kind? Do you use waterproof ones or waterproof them yourself? What do you carry them in?

Most of the time I use my firesteel to set up the fire, its the best thing there is but I have matches too, I buy the very cheap ones you get in the supermarket. If they get a little damp I move them trough the little hair I have left on my head and they drie out and start up easily.

cheers
Abbe

 

[BOD]

I
How many of you guys ( and girls of course) take pieces of rubber innertube with you. it seems to be a good way to light a fire in damp conditions, but is it very bushcrafty?

Yes it is if not traditional bushcraft.

It depends what the technology is used for.

Would you disqualify the craft of the knife maker from being bushcraft because he obtained his steel from a car spring?

What about a Penan or Iban blacksmith who started his forge fire with a lighter instead of fire-by-friction?

Or all of us who wear industrially manufactured clothes? (nobby can start a new thread - "How many of you do bushcraft with no clothes on )

I carry tube and lighter but only use it if conditions are too wet or I am too knackered by the thought of other methods.