IMHO, a blastmatch is simply a gadget manner of selling flint and steel to those who don't know how to use a flint and steel. I already know how to use a plain flint which takes-up a fraction of the space of a blastmatch. I prefer not to depend upon any form of lighters either. I will certainly check out the web sites you mentioned. Thank you!
I can see you have not used one... <img src="/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />
Just for kicks, I tried it on a piece of paper that had been siting on the damp ground for a few hours, just to see if it would burn through it... It did more than that... It set it ablaze!!!...
This was NOT a cut up piece of paper either... Just a flat piece of very damp notebook paper...
Also, it can be used one handed...
I have also been practising using it with just one hand and and NOTHING to push against... That took a bit of practise, but I got that quickly enough, by using one to get make sparks as a signal(only problem being when you get one down your shirt <img src="/images/graemlins/shocked.gif" alt="" /> or you get one of the 'persistent' sparks that keeps burning for 3 or 4 seconds, and burns the carpet!!! <img src="/images/graemlins/blush.gif" alt="" />).
BTW I have never seen anything like the Blastmatch for producing 'persistent' sparks... I tried it on a cement driveway at night once, and it looked like a little fireworks display, with a bunch of sparks jumping and bouncing over the cement for almost THREE seconds!