OT-Sorta- Not all matches are the same

Matches on Ebay??

Wonder what kind of hazmat fee you have to pay to ship those!

I always thought that a few disposable butane lighters would trump a box of matches.

Jim

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Hmmm... I'm guessing space constraints mean you can't take the extra slightly-askew matches which will probably work anyway... Wouldn't hurt to have the extras anyway if you're in a windy area. To sum up, huh?

Tim

Just remember, a Bic is no good if it gets wet, and they take some time to dry out. Waterproofed matches are a good backup. Get the round disposable lighters and stick one or two in the plastic cigar tubes, or at the least, make sure that you get the child proof ones, as its far to easy for the gas valve to get depressed and you wind up with an empty lighter, when least expected.

Freeze dried or MREs are much better than TVP, even with the addition of bullion cubes for flavor.

Polar Pure is good for water treatment. Ever consider a small quantity of potasium permanganate? Its a good water purifyer, a good antiseptic, and by adding it to a bit of glyerine, makes a marvelous self combusting fire starter. Also a magnesium block and flint as well as a good folding magnifying glass, is invaluable and takes up little space. A 35 mm film can filled with cotton balls soaked in vasoline , give you a supply of damned good firestarters.

Redunency in fire starting is a Good Thing.

Be careful about that space blanket..some of them are absolute crap. The 99c ones are nearly worse than useless, as they are so thin as to tear simply looking at them.

I noticed, while (hopefuly you have more than this) you didnt list your complete contents..a knife seems to be missing.....as well as a small first aid kit.

Chuckle..google search Altoid Tin survival kit

Gunner

"You cannot invade the mainland United States. There would be a rifle behind each blade of grass." --Japanese Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto

On a related note...

Gunner

"You cannot invade the mainland United States. There would be a rifle behind each blade of grass." --Japanese Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto

That page brought back more memories of my misspent youth. Take two

3/8-24 bolts, a fairly thick nut and about eight of the little white striking tips sliced off those matches.

For those who can't figger it out on from the ingredients, the bolts get screwed in from both sides of the nut, carefully crushing the match tips between them.

Instant mini hand grenade when it hits something hard. Goodly noise and not really enough energy to send the parts flying very fast.

Jeff (Who denies ever writing this...)

Interesting. What's the failure mode for a wet bic lighter, is it just that the flint and striker steel don't give off sparks when damp? Makes sense.

Child proof? Now they make child proof lighters too?

And lighting too. I can recall one caving episode where I had a justrite battery lamp clipped to my belt, dragged that thing all through the cave. On the way out eveyone had gone through all their carbide and batteries, and we were ready to start with candles.

Then I remembered the clanky clunky anchor tied to my belt. Boy that light was nice.

Jim

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Yup. And the flints in some of the cheapies may simply disolve when wet. Really cheap ones.

Yup..chuckle..many have a lever that must be pressed before you can activate the valve with your thumb. Some are a real pain in the ass.

"You cannot invade the mainland United States. There would be a rifle behind each blade of grass." --Japanese Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto

On Mon, 06 Oct 2003 17:57:57 GMT, Gunner pixelated:

HUH? I didn't recall having any trouble with Bics after being tossed into the drink back in my smoking days. And to prove it to myself, I just ran my mini-Bic under the faucet for 10 seconds and shook it once. It lit on the first strike and 3 times thereafter. Did you mean Zippo, the one with the lighter fluid in it? I also have a nice magnifying glass as a backup.

Yabbut, you're less likely to get caught out there if you don't have all the nice edible goodies with you. ;)

Agreed! Forests are COLD! (I just learned HOW cold after moving to Southern Oregon in 2002.)

This one's a jan-you-wine Harbor Fright blankie so it's probably not one of the better ones.

Yes, Leatherman tool, small Swiss army knife, box cutter, mini screwdrivers round out the cut 'em down/protection bit. With the quart of water in there, I have about 10 lbs of goodies in my backpack all the time, just in case. And with the Shrub doing his thing, "just in case" might be as soon as next week.

Will do. NOGO.

P.S: It's 15 minutes later now (phone call) and I just tried the Bic again. You were right after all. It won't spark at all now. They (as most things) are stored in sealed ziplock bags. I'll remember to change them out more often, though.

I live in South FL, no one sells strike anywhere matches. I remember hearing that they're illegal in this state, but I'm not sure if that's true or it's just a county thing.