Home Made Waterproof Matches
Nov 30th 2007dbarnettTips and Tricks
I’m gonna share a little secret with you all that my dad taught me when I was just a little kid. He taught me a lot of things about life. He taught me how to change the oil in my car. How to skin an animal. How to catch fish, clean it, etc. One thing he taught me that I’ll never forget is how to make waterproof matches.
Making these matches is really quite easy. All you need are some storebought strike-anywhere matches, a candle, and a film canister to store them in. First, light the candle and let it burn for a while until there is a nice puddle of hot wax in the candle. Then, just dip the head of the match into the hot wax, making sure to cover the entire head with wax. Let it dry and, VOILA, waterproof matches.
I generally store them in a little film canister and throw them in my pack in case of an emergency. I’d rather carry that around than fool around for hours trying to get a spark to catch fire, or wearing myself out as I twirl a stick between my hands trying to create enough friction to start a fire.
2 Comments »
peripateo on 03 Dec 2007 at 5:50 pm #
Waterproof to a certain degree that is. Unless you wax the entire match, moister can seep through the wood and into the head of the match now enclosed in wax. Granted that inside of a film canaster they aren’t likely going to get wet. I still prefer a good lighter and a fire steel as a backup. These lighters are pretty amazing: http://www.countycomm.com/sslight.htm
outdoors girl on 14 Dec 2007 at 8:40 am #
Very clever…I had never heard of that idea before!