I am toying with the idea of taking full sized stike anywhere matches and giving them more pizazz as well as waterproof. I have been thinking of wrapping the shafts directly behind the heads with something to increase the burn time, then waterproofing them, probably with nail polish. I thought about wrapping them with dental floss, but found that a string of floss seems to melt more than burn. Before I waste a box of matches with several ideas, has anyone done something like this before??? I could use some hints/tips/whatevers...

I really don't know if this will work, or how safe it would - Attach/glue magnesium shavings behind the match head. this would probably just create an intense, short lived, finger-burning flame. the burn time will not be extended that much.

How about wraping "waxed" string behind the match head?

I have done this. Wrap cotton string about half way down the stick. The reason for the half way down wrap is it gives some stick to hold onto. The size sould be what they call butchers twine. About 1/2 to 3/4 the size of the stick. Much thinner burn is to short. Much thicker it becomes far to bulky. Then dip in paraffin. This waterproofs and it soaks into the cotton forming a simple wick. A candle with a built in igniter.

While single sticks will work adiquately they are somewhat limited in remaining alight especially in windy conditions. A much better idea is to bundle 3 matches together then wrap with twine. Addmittedly they will take more space but does deviler a more intense initial flame.

For a real intense flare you can bundle 6 or 7 matches You might want to include one such bundle as a severe conditions lighter. If conditions do not warrent the need such bundles can be broken down into individual sticks.

Strike-anywhere matches dipped in paraffin wax do have a limited shelf life - someone pointed this out on the forum a while ago, and I tested it with a couple of wax-dipped matches I had made up some time previously. Neither of them would strike at all; the tips just scraped off. Apparently, the wax, over time, gets absorbed into the match head, so it no longer strikes.

I don't know if nail polish has the same problem, but I suspect it doesn't. Also, it seems that coating the match head with nail polish and then dipping the whole assembly in paraffin might be a good solution. (The nail varnish would protect the match head from the paraffin, and the paraffin would waterproof the butcher twine. In theory, at least.) <img src="images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

an effective thing to do is tape or glue slow-burning waterproof fuse onto the stick. the problem is in finding this stuff, i bought mine at a fireworks store in south carolina. it's usually green and you can buy coils of it, sometimes labelled "cannon fuse." it burns fiercely and can't be put out by wind or water (which lifeboat matches actually can).

"How about wraping "waxed" string behind the match head"

That was my plan with dental floss, but since it just seemed to melt I dropped that plan. I have some waxed linen thread in my leather working gear, I may try that next...

I don't have any cannon fuse handy, but I do have some gopher bombs, maybe I'll try a little chunk of fuse from one of them...

Got me to thinking.
I wonder if a mixture of the inside of a highway flare, mixed with some fingernail polish into a paste and then painted onto the wooden matchstick might work. Seems like it would set up when the polish dried, but not sure that the match head alone would be enough to ignite the mixture.
I might give it a try.

Hummm. Having a ready access to lots of 30 minute flares, I just might give that one a try. My last ditch, neverever fail fire starter is a flare cut down to about two inches in length, then the open end plugged. This would give me something to do with the part of the flare cut off. Have to give it a try tomorrow or the next day...

They aren't NATO Lifeboat matches, but the Coghlan's Wind & Water proof matches are widely available and are a pretty close approximation... Not the waterproof ones - Wind & Water proof, product No. 700.

If you really want to fool around with something like this... single base smokeless powder can be more or less plasticized - like a thick solvent-based glue, and molded around a matchstick, up to and including part of the head (leave enough exposed to strike). Use regular hardware-store acetone and mind the fumes from the acetone (not as nearly bad as many solvents, but be careful just the same).

Using just acetone takes a bit of mechanical effort to disolve the nitrocellulouse - it goes a little faster after you wash off the graphite coating (IMR, for example) by stirring the mess. Hogdon's Aussie-made single base powders don't appear to have any graphite coating, but I've never disolved any of it.

Stick to single base powders - only the nitrocellulouse disolves in the acetone anyway; double base powder has another ingredient that, while you won't be able to extract, might put a bug up the BATF's, er, nose if they THOUGHT you were trying to extract it.

Before anyone asks - no, it will not explode. Smokeless powder just burns softly with a feathery, hot flame - doesn't burn nearly as violently as a sure 'nuff match head. You could set off a block of TNT in a keg of smokless powder and you'd just make a big fireball of burning powder - it has to be REALLY confined to burn fast enough to build up enough pressure to make a sound like "bang" (even then it is NOT exploding). Confined, like in a gun barrel with a tight bullet in front of it. It's routinely disposed of by open burning in pits... left over cannon and mortar powder charges, for example. I've burned tons of it (literally).

Anyway, I never made modified matches with the stuff, but I have tinkered with molded smokeless powder - I needed a pyrotechnic breakaway device years ago and that fit the bill - sort of explosive bolts without the explosions <grin>. We learned MUCH more practical chemistry when I went to school than my kids have <sigh>...

But for the effort and expense, I'd just buy the real McCoy... and for the record, match heads are a much more sensitive compound than the chemical we call "smokeless powder".

Well, something to tinker with, perhaps.

Have fun; be safe. Let us know how your experiments turn out.

Tom

(I seem to want to spell it "Coughlin's" rather than "Coghlan's" - hence the edit)