Is it just me, or has the quality and dependability of Diamond strike anywhere matches gone to hell in the last 2 years? I used to put 8 or 10 in my pocket on outings with full confidence they could be used to get a fire going. Now it seems only 1 out of 10 will ignite, even for those left in the wall tent overnight and run across the striker. I think they have degraded the amount and chemistry of the tip, and most just seem to sputter.

Is there another obscure brand or source that still work? Much as I hate carrying things with moving parts or fluids, I will likely switch to packing Bic lighters and maybe a flint and steel.

If one knows of another good source, please post it. I want good boxes of simple matches. Not the $5.00 pack of a dozen or so wax dipped versions that are marketed as water proof.

Just my rant, 1Minute

There was a thread about this a while back. IIRC there is a chemical in the tip thatcan be used in the production of meth and also the strike anywhere aspect made them a hazardous substance. They can still be obtained but no one wants to pay the hazmat shipping fee. Anyway, something like that.

Another solution for a problem that didn't exist.

I'm sure the decline in dependability of those matches is in direct relation to all of the double digit IQ winners who burn themselves and their houses to the ground because they can't handle a simple product like a MATCH!

Some simpleton is running around his house shaking a box of those nice strike anywhere matches like its a f*ckin maraca when it ignites and turns his drooling ass into a living bon fire. As a result, we are supplied with downgraded garbage.

You can actually apply that same scenario to a lot of great products that have gone the way of the dinosaur over the years due to imbeciles.

I use a Gerber firestarter I got as a gift when I was in Boy Scouts 15 years ago. It's basically a flint and steel only it produces sparks like no other! It has a striker bar and a cap that holds a square of sharp metal. In the other end you remove the water proof cap and store your tinder. I keep a wad of dryer lint in a small plastic baggie stuffed in there.

I also used to use this flat magnesium bar with a smaller version of the Gerber striker bar on the back side. You'd take a knife and scrape off magnesium shavings, then light it with the striker. You could start a fire in the rain with that thing and a sufficient pile of shavings. I forget what degree that magnesium ignites and burns at.

Yes, the flint and steel is likely the way to go. A cotton ball soaked in vaseline or grease is also easily ignited and provides a good sustained burn.

From memory, magnesium yields about a 5000 degree F flame, but of short duration unless one has a substantial pile. In my Navy fire fighting days if a mag wheel or flare was to ignite on a carrier deck, we were urged to use anything available to keep it moving and shove it over board. In short order it could progressively work its way straight down through a series of steel decks. It's hot enough to separate the hydrogen and oxygen of water and burn even more explosively.

I knew that temp was way up there. As a test I showed the boys how to use that starter to light a fire in the rain when nothing else would work.

We heat exclusively with wood so I use a lot of matches... Usually Diamond...

Yes, the damn things started sucking. I noticed it about a year ago.

Was in the woods all day today; didn't depend on Diamond.

(there's a slogan for the bastiges...)

I haven't tried 'em myself, so I can't say for sure, but I've heard often that a C-cell battery and a puff of fine steel wool will start a fire anywhere, anytime.

Never tried that one!

BIC lighters are bullet proof and cheap......add a small firestarter and you'll have a fire even if the wood is soaking wet.

Could you explain how to do that?

I remember a tin metal box that held a box of matches. It used to hang on the door sill next to my Grandma's kerosene range.

When I was a teenager, a long long time agao, I worked at a grocery store. Monday night, most of us stayed late and unloaded a semi and stocked the stuff on the shelves. There were these roller thingies that hooked together and went up in the truck -- a guy could put a box on the track and give it a shove and it would roll down into the store backroom.

I'll never forget the time a case of Diamond matches fell off the side of the track and ignited. It was a pretty big blaze for a bit. It only took a few seconds and the whole case was gone. Nothing else caught on fire, but man did it make a lot of stinky smoke. We opened the all the doors and got the smoke out, but that sulphur smell lingered for days. I'd hate to see what a pallet of cases of those matches would do!

Texas Hunter, tease the steel wool into a loose strand long enough to reach the two poles of the battery. Arrange your tinder and other fire materials, because after you touch the steel wool to the battery, it will burn quickly.

A 9-volt batt works much better. Put the steel wool under everything else, then stick the battery under the pile until you get a connection. Whoosh.

The decline in the strike anywhere matches started at least 10 years ago. We use a lot of them in deer camp to light lanterns and our wood burner. Just finding them is a problem.

I ran across some good strike anywhere's up in BC 3 years ago. I think the brand name was "Cardinal". Had a red bird on the box. Maybe some of our Canadian members can help us out?

Last year, I ran across some Penley Strike-anywhere matches in a grocery store. I'd never heard of them before but I gave them a try. They're twice as good as Diamond.

I ran into a problem with matches in my camp trailer a couple of years ago. I have a catalytic heater in it. Elk season was REAL cold, enough so that we needed to leave the heater running on low during the day to keep the water system from freezing. The by-product of a catalytic heater is water. After about 3 days, the moisture build up inside the camper was so bad that all of our matches got damp and none would light. We played hell getting the stove lit for a couple days.

What a great survival tip.
Never heard about this before today.
Thanks.

He!!, I haven't been able to find "strike anywheres" in stores in years. I bought a case of Fire Chief's in the 90's that is getting low now, and have been searching high and low for them, and unable to locate them, well, anywhere. I can only find the strike on box type.

Looks like Penley matches are available at Dollar stores(?). Maybe worth a look.

http://www.thepenleycorp.com/storebrand/dollarstores.html

Hi folks,

I believe you are referring to Redbird Strike Anywhere Matches made in Pembroke Ontario.
Got a box right here. Cost around $5.00 for 1000 matches. I don't think they have changed much over the years as they still strike/light pretty quick.

You can thank the attorneys for Diamonds demise, after several hundred buildings burned from mice and rats chewing on the heads. The company dropped them because of liable law suits. I read this several years ago so don't ask for references, but it was in a gun rag.

Mr. Grizzly Bill;
Kudos to you on the fine memory sir! The matches are in fact called Red Bird and do have some sort of red bird on the cover that might be a cardinal. I'm at work so I can't check.

They are available everywhere except Walmart up here. They last a couple years if they don't get exposed to a lot of moisture. I saw about a quarter pallet of them at the Canadian Tire here in Penticton yesterday after work.

There is also a Danish (?) wooden match available up here - Sea Dog ? that has a seal or something on the front - that isn't worth buying. I use them 3 at a time and sometimes that works.

I'm not sure how I could get any Red Bird matches down to you folks, but perhaps that helps a bit? They are as good as I remember the wooden Eddy matches of my youth.

We have two wood stoves and use them at least 5 months a year, so we go through a fair pile of wooden matches every year.

By the way sir, thank you for the kind comments on my fall picture thread, I appreciate you sharing them and having a look.

Regards,
Dwayne

Strike anywhere wooden safety matches
Ideal for all outdoor activities
I have seen strike anywhere at Safeway up here, never paid much attention to what brand, I still have a box at home somewhere, could not tell you the brand, but they are pretty old ones.
They work well.

Mr. Partsman;
Thank you kindly sir, that would be them!

All the best to you from the south Okanagan this morning.

Regards,
Dwayne

Fire is dangerous, too dangerous for civilian use. Hain't y'all never heard of spontaneous combustion. You just pile up your sticks and wait for them to catch on fire by themselves.

Seriously though, I've got a medicine bottle crammed full of Stike-anywheres in my truck for emergencies. Thats the emergency that occurs after all the lighters I've got scattered around have run out of butane. I have some others that I keep in the boat that are water proof. I can't recall the brand but they have a big blue and white head covered in a waxy type varnish. They strike and burn very well but are a bit pricy for keeping laying around the kitchen but I guess if they light they're better than Diamonds.

Alan

My memories of those matches involve a Daisy BB gun. Dropped into the muzzle (with no BBs loaded) they are a hoot when fired against any solid surface. Just don't shoot at a rock in a weed field.

But I won't say how I know that!

I remember doing that!

Not to hijack but have you ever put a match to Magnesium dust, What a sight,ask me how I know.

I always keep my matches in a baggy whether in a tent or trailer or? Moisture will kill them. That being said. You can't find any strikde anywhere matches around here. I'm down to two boxes. I hear you can still find them in Amish country

assuming you could still see afterward....

Very bright!

Light anywhere matches shot from a pneumatic pellet gun at right angles into a concrete wall at close range, and they will make a nice loud bang.
Ah, the stuff kids do.

Even though they're a bit pricey, $5.00 for a small box, Stormproof matches by REI are the best I've encountered. They light first strike, won't blow out and even if immersed in water, they'll relight once removed from water.

Perhaps too pricey to use around camp but they've always worked for me out in the woods. They, along with a metal match, is what we also carry in our Search and Rescue packs.

Get yourself a magnesium rod with a flint rod attached. Takes some time to scrape off a little pile of the magnesium shavings, but then you just spark it with your knife and flint and it goes up in flames on your kindling and wood shavings, then some tinder, etc., and you have a fire.

Strike-anywhere matches are easy to find online. Amazon carries a number of different brands. The problem is getting them delivered. They have to be labeled as hazmat and UPS charges an exorbitant fee for them. It's a rip because their added cost for handling them is almost nil.

the high cost isnt in handling them, the high cost is incase the worst happens and they ignite and everyone elses packages in the back of the truck go up in flames....

Careful with this one

Link: http://www.graspr.com/videos/potassium-permanganate-and-glycerine-2

GTC

They charge the same fee for stuff that won't ignite. I spent 18 years working for an LTL carrier. The extra cost was built into the freight rates but it was nowhere near as high as what UPS charges.

I knew that as soon at it really got going it was going to melt the glass.

Looks like my cooking. Hard to watch, though, with the #$%^&* popup ads. They're getting by Firefox's popup blocker.

Yup, 9v works much better than the 1.5v C and D cell batteries, plus its lighter.

And in reference to doing fun things with matches...did you know if you take a tennis ball or other small hollow ball, and make an opening in it and fill it with the match heads of the good strike anywhere matches till its packed real good, seal the opening then throw it really hard against a wall or other solid object, it effectively becomes a small grenade?

Been there, done that

This one's kinda cool,....good old rocket fuel

Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HAYBB8kcxxw&feature=related

GTC

Troutfly: Next time I get into Canada, I'll make an effort to stock up. Thanks for the tip.

I'm old, and running short on time. That being, I'm intolerant of failure or anything that wastes my time, so I'm done with the Diamonds. Sad that progress in the USA has to screw up something that worked fine for a 100+ years. I put in an order for a 5 inch flint and steel this morning that I'll pack while hunting. In this instance, I think size matters.

I have some smaller flint and steel units that stay attached to Coleman stoves etc around camp. We demonstrate those to the kids in our hunter safety classes, and they always marvel at their simplicity and how well they work.

I drill a hole in piece of hacksaw blade and lanyard it to each stick. I just can't make myself use a fine knife blade as a scraper/striker.

Disagree. Bic lighters don't work when the "head" gets wet. Even the water from a wet thumb can put them out of commission till the little roller dries.

Strike anywheres have been sucking for the past 10 years.

I prefer storm matches for those times you gotta get a fire started.

I don't trust the lighters either. The Stormproof matches or a flint and steel, along with either dryer lint or cotton balls rolled in vaseline, work every time. Butane lighters rarely work when wet.
I like the magnesium rod idea; I have a little bar stock around here somewhere I might chop a couple pieces off of just for the camp kits.

Catch a cat walking along a stone or concrete wall,and give it one of those matches from a bb gun,right below it.Sure do jump!
No one could figure out why all our farm cats were so wild

Well, don't get the "head" wet, it's called dry storage!! Or your thumb......it's called wiping it off.

Ever been to western Oregon in the winter?

Almost every town has a "tobacco" store. I've found they are generally the best place to buy lighters.

Stay away from the "bics" and buy piezo lighters - first time; every time.

A simple road flare in the saddle bags or pack will greatly surpasss any type of new age fire starter

Good thought.

Unless your wife puts it through the washing machine It didn't completely kill it, but it's never worked quite right every since.

And anyone who's tried to start a fire in the wet knows, many things just don't quite work, which would be most matches, and bic lighters. Now if you had a fire to dry off the bic you'd be set, but then you wouldn't need the bic.

Link


A man that is handy with his hands can make a compression fire starter and never need to worry about all this other crap. Or if you are all thumbs you can buy one and never worry about matches again.

I agree with you and think your hacksaw blade idea is a good 'un.

My Grandmother had the same tin boxin the kitchen!

44henry

**the wisdom of the ages, baby. learn it or re-learn it. your call...

-tom

Also, my fingers can chill quickly and easily. That is when trying to spin the wheel on a Bic becomes a trick.


+1 on the hacksaw for a flint sparker. They are hard and throw sparks well.

...and save your blade.