I picked up a couple of these little machined Al capsules at REI the other night. I thought it would make a nice little match safe to put on my keychain. It's spec'd at 5/8" dia. and 1-7/8" len., but the interior dimensions are about 1/4" too short to fit Swan Vestas. Bison makes a longer version (2-3/4" len.) that I think will fit 6 or 7 Swan Vestas and a bit of tinder nicely.

I found a web site that sells them for Geocaching at the same price that Bison sells them direct ($4), but without shipping charges (on orders over $10). Sissy-n-CR's Treasure Hunting Page

I ordered four of them, and I can't wait for them to get here!

I use the longer one to carry a few strike anywhere matches, a couple of very small pieces of fat wood and two vasonline cotton balls stuffed up into the cap. On the outside I have some textured stair tape. I keep this with my neck knife - it's handy.

I actually think a better approach is to carry a small firesteel (BSA HotSpark) and use the capsule to carry cotton/vaseline tinder. Many more fires in this combo than a few matches.

That is what I do.

I discovered today that the local EMS store carries the longer capsule, although the o-rings on them were in sad shape. I picked up one in green and one in black. I was able to fit fourteen (14) Swan Vestas (those fabulous little English/Swedish matches) into the capsule, with a little space left over for possibly a bit of tinder.

If the other capsule was just 1/4" too short for the Swan Vestas, couldn't you just trim the matches by that much?

I agree. If not a HotSpark, a SparkLight. Either takes up the space of less than 6 matches and provides hundreds of potential lights.

I took the metal wick base out of a tea candle and trimmed it to the interior diameter of my large Bison capsule. In place of the wick, I threaded in a piece of cord to use as a pull. Drop the wick base into the bottom of the capsule and leave the pull up. Stuff as many impregnated cotton balls into the capsule as you can (I think I have 7 or 8 in mine) and seal. Having the pull saves a lot of aggravation in trying to get at the bottom few pieces of tinder...

M

Being as Swan Vesta are pretty short to begin with (about 2" long), I decided that trimming them would make them too short to easily handle. That last 1/4" is critical.

I lined the cap with a piece of thin plastic bag (cut from a cheap plastic bag from a grocery store or where-ever) and put the cotton balls in it - twisting it closed, then stuffed it in the cap. It makes it easy to pull the cotton out and keeps the goo contained to a certain degree.