Ahh something else I need to add to my survival kit. I need to find a master list of everything I need.

 

That is why there are two "survival" sections in this forum. What you need for wilderness survival might not apply to an urban situation. But some items, such as matches and first aid kit cross over.

 

When I had my cabin built in the bottomland, I stocked it with a few boxes of strike anywhere kitchen matches. They worked good for the first few years, but seemed to have degraded lately. Took about 10 of them to finally get one to light without having the head crumble. Has to be a heat degradation, (cabin gets over 110+degs in summer), they are kept in a cabinet where the humidity never gets too high.
But the bic lighters that have been out there for the same period of time still work perfectly.
I think those bics that are sold in the plastic wrap will last indefinately.

Bic now makes a long windproof lighter that I haven't tried yet, but it seems to have a tip that heats up to make it more windproof than the old long lighters they used to make.

Another thing about the bics, when I wade fish, I sometimes forget them in my pocket,....shake the water out, let it dry, and it will still light.

 

DIPPING THE HEADS OF NEW STRIKE ANYWHERE MATCHES IN PARAFIN WAX, KIND YOU SEAL UP JELLIES AND JAMS WITH, OR MAKE CANDLES..... SCRAPE IT OFF, STRIKE 'N FIRE THAT BURNS LONGER, LIKE A CANDLE!!

FOR A CAMPING BOX, GRAB 'N GO LONGER TERM STORAGE!!!

THE BRITISH SURVIVAL LIFEBOAT MATCHES ARE GREAT, BURN LONG, HIGH WIND. THEY ARE LONG WOOD MATCHES, HALF DIPPED IN HOT BURNING MATCHHEAD THEN WATERPROOFED WITH LAQUER AND IN A WATERPROOF CONTAINER.

EXPENSIVE, BUT FOR SURVIVAL KIT, LIKE GLASS MAGNIFYING LENS, MAGNESIUM FLINT FIRESTARTERS. A BOOK TO LEARN FIRE DRILL, FIRE BOW, TINDER COLLECTION.... Bic or Zippo lighters, boxes of strike anywhere matches, all that stored is great Just as barter items, a little baggie of matches for their family dog, just butchered. They have cans of chili, but dont want to waste them- but cant get fire started as they are unprepared.

Quaternary fire sources--- all backup my old standby, Bic lighter. Waterproof baggie storage. Theyre disposable, but last a long time. Dont waste your life with a cheap lighter. Bic. Or Zippo if youre the re-fillable liquid fuel type lighter! Zippo fluid is a great firestarter for blizzard conditions...

My multifuel backpacking stove will burn it, too. Expensive compared to a quart of diesel, jet fuel or 85 octane gasoline. Or ethanol, rather drink Everclear than be in a white out for a week, with only 3 days of white gas for the stove. Need water, melt snow. Hot drinks. Hot meals. Lifesavers in a winter camping situation.

Or a pile of dry wood, dry needles- is it worth wasting a quart of good drunk times, if you just fell in the river, soaking wet. Freezing to death!! Damn right, along with every dry piece of paper, even the toilet paper. Rather wipe with needles than die from an accident. Tinder cubes or vaseline impregnated cotton balls in a film can are great for survival kits, compact. Intead of petroleum jelly, a medicated 'bag balm' preparation would also work for fire, and better for first aid... Chapped lips, windburned skin, a small candle on a metal lid, or a blazing bonfire in a heartbeat. Thats survival!!

 

I have a bunch of the large boxes, of strike anywhere matches.

Got them 4 or 5 years ago in the supermarket.
Most have been stored in the house, but made fire starters out of some of them.

 

You might want to try vacuum packing 2-4 boxes of matches with an O2 pack in there. Then throw the bag into piece of PVC pipe and bury it in the ground to keep the temp down. They should last quite a while stored like that.

 

Back in the 60's the whole family took a trip out west. Camping every night. I was filling the Coleman lantern with gas and told my brother to get some matches. He gently tossed a box of kitchen matches over to me. The box ignited on impact. 3' of flame out of each end of the box. Fortunately the flame end's were not pointed at me and his toss was several feet short of where I was kneeling down. I went over and kicked the box away. Scared the crap out of both of us. I would assume that today's matches can't ignite like that?

 

I have a few thousand wood matches that I keep in a Tupperware container. I was experimenting with different kinds of matches awhile back, to see the qualities of each kind, and wound up with a lifetime supply.
Waterproof matches may be waterproof, but they are difficult to ignite and you Need to use the special strike surface.
Strike anywhere matches are very good, but I do not carry them in my kit. They Will ignite from friction against each other. You don't want your match safe turning into a pipe bomb. This can be overcome with some creative packing though.
Safety matches work well. I simply crazy glued a strike pad to the outside of my match safe.
My primary source of fire is a small Bic lighter. Very reliable and the equivalent of hundreds of matches.
YMMV.

 

Be cause of short lifetime, i don't use matches.
I have a huge variety of Bic, Zippo, Cricket, Clipper and noname lighters. I think will be enought for 2-300 years. Also, i think will be very good for barter also .

Bogdan

 

I have a bunch of kitchen matches in the large boxes. An old trick is to pour melted parafin into the open box, this seals the match heads and adds fuel as a fire starter. You need a pocket knife or simular tool to seperate the matches when they are used.
I suppose this could pose a increased fire hazard if the matches ignited in the box so care in storage and use is called for. Just my 2 cents worth of input!

 

i have about 200 hope to get more soon

 

Bics are great but they tend to leak and end up dry at the worst moment. Also they don't work when it's cold out....I too have had a box of strike anywheres ignite, it was a real eye opener but I will still use them. I have seveal boxes around the place as well as other sources of ignition. For my GHB and survival bottle as well as while hinting/fishing/ beigh outside I have a 5:1 match case with the whistle, ect. In it is a half and half mix of strike anywheres and storm matches as well as a piece of the striker paper to light them as nothing else I have found will work.
Im told that Red Robins from Canada are the best strike anywheres. The heads on the diamond matches here are so tiny anymore due to there use in meth making that half of them wont light.
When it's cold out (Alaska cold) and a fire is really the diff between life and death, I carry two road flares. 15 minutes of 1400 degree heat will get most things burning.

 

I found a bic lighter in a lake while fishing. The cowling was corroded away and it was coated with algae. I tossed it in my tackle box. I cleaned it with my tackle and once it dried if fired up. Bic lighters are the way to go with waterproof matches as a backup.

 

Fire starter items are like golf clubs - keep different types on hand. Use the one that suits the moment.

I have several of the big "Three Packs" of Strike-Anywhere matches stored, as well as regular kitchen matches, and a bunch of Bic Lighters.
Have many friction/flint type fire starters too.

The Strike Anywhere matches have been available in the BBQ cookery section of Publix Supermarket down here in north Florida. I see them for sale at the gunshows - much more expensive than at Publix, and the store is only a couple miles from the fairgrounds.

 

i live near woods and urban area so if i were to bug out i need mixes of both but i have 1 big box of stike anywhere matches and i keep plenty in the BOB in a old medicine container learned that from kev :thumb:

 

I posted a thread on stike anywhere matches last year.

Here is a reposting.

" Where To Find Strike Anywhere Matches?

Here is a start on sources for Strike Anywhere matches.


http://www.emergencyresources.com/er_p11.html


http://www.amazon.com/s/?ie=UTF8&ke...where+matches&tag=yahhyd-20&index=aps&hvadid=19709531011&ref=pd_sl_58ibavoey1_e

http://store.everestgear.com/eqdia101.html

http://www.riverjunction.com/catalog/saloon/matches.html

http://www.rangeroutfitters.com/matches.htm

http://www.diamondbrands.com/pages/wooden/29.php

http://www.mredepot.com/servlet/the-213/Box-Match-Strike-Anywhere/Detail

http://www.rangeroutfitters.com/matches.htm

http://www.instructables.com/forum/where-to-get-Strike-anywhere-matches/

http://www.dealtime.com/xGS-strike anywhere matches~NS-1~linkin_id-8013493




Many such threads have been posted across the WWW.

Availablity is fast becoming critical. If anyone has information on why, please share.

I suggest in the strongest terms that anyone serious about obtaining a supply of strike anywhere matches purchase a LIFETIME supply ASAP and do it Muy Pronto ! "

Now, they are still seen in stores across CONUS but fewer and fewer chains carry them.

 

How much of a stock pile do you keep of matches? What kind do try to keep on hand? Can you find the strike anywhere matches?

A buddy of mine gave me 8 big boxes of the strike anywhere kitchen matches. Besides those I have another 4 or so boxes of the "strike on box" kitchen matches.

Give me an address and a number of how many boxes you want and Ill quote cost and shipping, Im tripping over them where Im located.

 

I like to rubber band 7 strike anywhere matches together then dip the heads and half the stick length in wax to water proof them. When you ignite the bundle, unless you are in a hurricane, you cannot put the bundle out with a simple gust of wind, the wax on the stick portion makes the bundle burn a tad bit longer so you get the most out of using 7 at once and the flame from them will set fire to anything.

 

This is what I was going to recommend. I learned this in the military, with a twist. We would dip the heads of book matches in wax and then keep them in ziplocks, just dunk the whole mass at once keeping free of the cardboard book part. They are light, compact and take up almost no room.

Matches are the one thing I've neglected to stock pile so it's on my list for this month. Chewing on the elephant a bite at a time.

 

How much of a stock pile do you keep of matches? What kind do try to keep on hand? Can you find the strike anywhere matches?

A buddy of mine gave me 8 big boxes of the strike anywhere kitchen matches. Besides those I have another 4 or so boxes of the "strike on box" kitchen matches.

Do you think that will be enough?

I've got the equivalent of one box of strike-anywhere matches, all broken down into small ziploc bags (the little self-closing ones that small parts come in).

I've got a bunch of emergency candles, but also have stocked a dozen or so butane lighters.

I expect my needs to be met more by LEDs and such, as my plans are to bug in. But if I had a propane or nat gas stove I needed to light every morning, I'd consider far more matches.

 

Do you think that will be enough?

No, I do not think its enough.

Since this thread was started a few years ago, I have increased my stockpile of matches at the bug out location and at my home.

At the BOL I have around 7, 8 or 9 boxes of 250 count strike anywhere matches. Last time I counted, the total was around 2,000 matches.

At home, I probably have around 7 or 8 boxes, plus several lighters.

 

Dont want to use my flint if I dont have to. I keep a couple small books in my bob then stock some more in a small bucket. thier cheap. Stock up. Besides flint can be a royal pain some days.

 

I think I have around 10 boxes of regular boxed kitchen matches. Has anyone noticed how much the price has gone up? At my Walmart I used to be able to buy a triple box set for a dollar something. Then it dropped to a 2-box set for the same price. Now I noticed they are selling the individual boxes for 92 cents. Inflation has hit matches.

 

Barely any and mostly those are ones I have stolen from restaurants and hotels.

I do not like putting my faith in matches since they are finite and trying to light them in wind is a PITA. Instead a couple big bags of lighters from Sam's Club and firesteels around the house. My bag I have a 2 firesteels, couple lighters, and a pack of waterproof matches (as a last resort but I have barely ever touched them).

 

How well does the firesteel work in the wind?

Just askin'

 

If you run out, you can always make them. Although this particular article does discourage that. Apparently these chemicals aren't always the easiest to get or the safest to store.

Match Making

 

My precious horde of strike anywhere matches numbers just over 4,000. 16 unopened boxes of 250 matches each.
The only place I could find them was at the local Mom & Pop hardware store. Wally world only carries the "safety" matches. Pffttt!
I keep them stored in a .50 caliber ammo can and they fill the can completely.
I also keep several dozen disposable lighters, and about four or five zippo's with extra fuel and flints.

We also a fire kit in the get home bags in each of our vehicles and the BOB's as well. These fire kits have strike anywhere matches in water proof containers, disposable lighters, a magnesium firestarter and a couple of trioxane tabs for good measure.

 

I buy the small packs of strike anywhere matches at Ace Hardware. Lots of small boxes in each pack.

I also buy the larger strike anywhere matches in boxes of I think 250, that I find on occasion at a farm supply store.

I also keep a good supply of BIC lighters.

Funny thing is, two or three years ago I didn't even know there were two kinds of matches. I just thought they all could be struck anywhere. Live and learn!

I continue to add to my pile of matches as I don't think one can really have too many.

 

I have a 5gal bucket full of strike anywhere boxes. I have been considering vacuum packing them from now on.