DIY Strike Anywhere Matches! [ Powerful and Effective! ]

Discover how to make your own DIY Strike Anywhere Matches with our easy-to-follow guide, using affordable, easy-to-find materials! Perfect for survival enthusiasts and outdoor adventurers, these powerful and reliable homemade matches are a must-have for your next adventure. Learn the secrets to crafting these essential tools and enhance your outdoor experiences with our effective, practical DIY tips!

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[WayPointSurvival]

Thanks for watching! Please leave me a thumbs up and a comment in the section below. Also, make sure and check out the website for the classes that we teach and the required gear list as well at www.waypointsurvival.com.

[banjohappy]

The old rolls of "Bang caps" we got for our toy six shooters used real gun powder, not red phosphorus, as I recall. We used to carefully peel the red paper away from the white paper to expose the little dots of dark gray powder. My brother and I once put a whole roll of caps into the vise on my dad's shop table down in the cellar and cranked it down as far as we could, then BLAM!! the whole roll exploded at once and blew the vise wide open! Our ears were ringing for quite a while. We kept our guardian angels busy in those days.

[Thanos]

I also wrap a strip of duct tape around each match beneath the head. It extends the burn time of the match by about 5X with a larger flame which is great for getting a fire going.

[dopeymark]

Lots of very obvious chemistry going on here, but I don't want to take away from the fact that you provided honest information about how to make what you said you could make. Inexpensively and with generally available materials..Good job.

[nathanadrian]

Here in western Canada, we always bought Eddy strike anywhere matches, now we buy strike anywhere matches that seldom light if not struck on the box. The old style matches would light on your blue jeans or even just by flicking the end with your thumb nail. My mom worked for the Eddy Match Company in Vancouver B.C. back in the mid 40's. Great video, very well done!

[qawsedyhujik]

Totally agree with the comments below, great hack. I would like to add a few more chemical details about the caps mentioned in the video, these caps contain not just red Phosphorus but the mixture of red Phosphorus and Bertholite Salt - (P+KClO3), this mixture explodes on impact ( !!! that's why you need grind it in a mortar wet with water ) and this is what makes your homemade matches more powerful compared to factory ones, and this, by the way, makes them flammable not only from friction but also from impact, so be careful.

[gotkittys]

I learned to put a cotton ball, or several, in a pill bottle. Then put the match heads on the cotton. They don't chip, shake, or get bumped, and stay very dry in there. That cotton is a good tinder, too. It even works with a ferro rod.
Cotton would fit in that little box, too.

[highonimmi]

I put my matches in my empty prescription medication bottles. I am a medically retired vet who is diabled. I have various sized bottles that i use in my hiking and community defense tactical kits. Waterproof and already paid for. I started using empty med bottles early in my military career. I even use them to put seasonings, baking flours/powders and powdered soaps! I have my survival kit in a large and tall med bottle that held 3 months worth of large muscle relaxers. Point is you can re-utilize many things if you just think outside the box. I suped up my strike anywheres with candle wax as well.

[richardrogers]

Tkx James! I remember the original matches and grandpa used them. Remember sometimes on Sunday, they didn't cook but occasionally they would drive out to Long John Silvers for fish for the whole gang if we were coming up. We would ride along in his old yellow Ford pickup truck with a camper on the back and the Aooooga horn. It had a Mack truck bulldog emblem standing on the hood in the middle. Grandpa liked Prince Albert tobacco in a can and he would use it to roll an Old fashioned cigarette. He always managed to accomplish this while driving down the road with one hand. When he was done and everything was put away he would get one of these strike anywhere matches and fire it up, usually striking it on the zipper at the top of the pouch on his Liberty overhauls. Of course they used them with the wood stove too. Brings back a lot of fond memories of ice cold glasses of buttermilk and cornbread, saying grace over supper and friendship.

[yettimouse]

Just a bit of advice, store these in mouse and rat proof containers, one chew and they will burn down the cabin.

[j.l.emerson]

You can also coat the tip of the match with fingernail polish. I use clear nail polish. It waterproofs matches just as well as wax does, with the added bonus that it won't melt in hot weather.

Edit: I stick the matches in a block of Styrofoam to dry. It's a lot easier to manage than duct tape.

[markashlock]

Great hack. May I also suggest you stagger the matches so that all the heads aren’t facing the same direction. Every other one seems to work fine. One other thing that seems to work well, especially in our HOT South Texas Summers, is instead of candle wax, dip the match heads in Outdoor Spar Polyurethane Varnish. Not near as sticky, and seems to waterproof at least as well as wax. Thanks!!!

[Gator-]

I make mine the same way. They are even better than the originals. You can also use fireplace matches if you want to make longer ones.

[lauriemclean]

I was reminded of high school chemistry class. When we handled volatile chemicals (I suppose they would not allow that nowdays) the teacher cautioned us to not pound on the mixture, or it will pound back. 😳 Somehow we got the point about being careful, and we survived the class. 😂

[jbcardin]

I could smell the caps as soon as I saw them. Brings back childhood memories. Great vid! Thanks!

[peterbailey]

Great video James.
The old Ohio Blue tip were the Best Matches ever.

[sineriafrankenstein]

Fun!!! Gonna have to try this. I really miss the old blue tips, they were so convenient.

[steveturner]

Great hack James. It made me think of a science report I did in 9th grade on phosphorus. Back in the late 1800’s someone came up with a candle that had white phosphorus coating the wick. Of course white phosphorus burns immediately upon contact with oxygen so these candles were enclosed in a glass vacuum tube, similar to a traditional test tube. All that was needed for a lighted candle was to break the glass! The ultimate emergency light for the times!Ingenious but very dangerous at the same time. I love your shared technique here and the fact that you stress the safety in process. I’ve dipped strike anywhere matches in wax like you demonstrated to help ensure they worked in damp conditions. I used a piece of fluted cardboard to hold them apart. Thanks for another project for all of us to try.

[leearmstrong]

Cool video! When I was a boy scout in the 80's, I used store bought strike anywhere matches on camping trips.

[rebeccasilveous]

My aunt Virginia used to have a thing on her wall that was made of metal that held that bigger box of matches and I would always get some of them out and I learned from my dad how to take one of those stick matches and run my thumbnail across it and light it.
Had to be real careful. I didn't want to get any of that match stuff under my thumbnail as I was striking at across the head of the match.
But it worked every time.
The things you learn when you're a kid.
That's why they don't make them anymore because little kids were starting fires with them.