Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire What happened??? Diamond Strike Anywhere Kitchen Matches...

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