Strike Anywhere Matches

[Hickory]

Attachment 115935
Some months ago, well it could have been a year or more ago, there was a thread on strike anywhere matches and how they were all but impossible to find. Well, I found a source for them.
I was in Amish country in Indiana camping this past week end and at a popular Amish grocery store in Shipshewana I found a very good supply of them and bought a few boxes.

Attachment 115936

There is a email address on the box and if you can't make it out it's custserv@penleycorp.net
Snail mail address is;

Penley
P.O. Box 277
West Paris, Maine 04289

[Garyshome]

I had herd that they aren't strike anywhere any more, the EPA got to em and they can only be struck in a regulated areas only!

[Hickory]

These are imported here from Chile.
Maybe they just can't be manufactured here.

[TenTea]

Diamond still lists them on their site and I see them for sale at the local grocery store and farm store too.

http://www.diamondbrands.com/

[JTeale]

The last batch of diamond matches that I bought appeared to have a very short shelf life.

[GoodOlBoy]

Main reason strike anywhere matches are impossible to find in some areas? Truth be told it is because the chemicals used to make them are used by crystal meth cookers as one of their ingredients. Yep same reason you can't hardly buy sudafed anymore. Along with Propane and a couple other chems in the right proportions you get that crud that some morons actually put in their body. Is it any wonder we keep seeing meth houses and trailers blow up? Can you imagine some half out of it junkie scraping the end off of a match while another one is trying to adjust a propane tank? In my area stores have simply stopped even trying to carry them because of these motards.

GoodOlBoy

[nhrifle]

A quick search turned up this:

http://www.amazon.com/STRIKE-ANYWHER...ywords=matches

[Hickory]

WOW, I paid only 89¢ a box for mine.
Amazon want $5.25 + shipping. I should have bought more.

[Irascible]

I find them at the gun show 3 boxes wrapped together in shrink wrap for $5. Yes, they strike anywhere thats rough enough. Only problem is they absorb moisture and do get impossible to light if kept in a damp environment. They do dry out quickly in a warm or dehumidified area and work as new.

[RogerDat]

I picked some up at the local ACE Hardware awhile ago.

[Petrol & Powder]

They are fairly common but not well distributed; meaning readily available but at a limited number of retailers.
I can always find them in specific hardware/country stores.

[dragon813gt]

Can't believe I just spent what I did on matches. They are unobtanium around here. Bought some of the storm proof matches since they get good reviews. Now it's just a waiting game. Wonder if I can light them w/ my fingernail like the old ones

[RogerDat]

...... Wonder if I can light them w/ my fingernail like the old ones

Or make clothes pin flame throwers!

For those not in the know you can modify a clothes pin so that the spring snaps down and strikes the head of the match both lighting it and sending it shooting forward. Amazing we survived childhood, didn't even have bike helmets.

[AllanD]

They have actually been outlawed in places like NJ, NY, ME and CA.

In rural, areas of states that have hunting camping outdoors activities you can generally find them in hardware stores

the part that Meth makers want is the red phosphorous which is found in the striking surface on books of paper matches


BTW if you suspect a place has been used as a meth Kitchen, buy yourself a can of aerosol Spray Starch.
Meth cookers leave traces of elemental Iodine around and starch reacts with this by turning Blue/purple/brown

[Mr_Sheesh]

Also if someone sells you such a place without disclosing that use, that's a serious health problem and illegal as heck. Iodine can also end up if an amateur chemist / scientist lived there tho (Nitrogen Tri-Iodide is "Fun" if loud, for example. And lots of people use Iodine for disinfectant etc. - Betadine, Gimp, etc.)

[TheBoat]

When I was a kid in Jr. High school the Science teacher had all the kids come up with their own "Experiments" ideas, build it and explain it and demonstrate. so I cut the heads off about 50 strike anywhere matches. put them all in a large test tube and sealed with a cork. Went to the front of the class and explaind Energy expanding gasses. Had a large plastic shield to protect the class. and I put the test tube over the bunson burner and walked away. only took a few seconds and the entire area exploded with a big blast. I was not allowed to play the science games after that, but I did get a good grade. You can get the strike anywhere matchhes in most Market Basket stores. I always have them in the hunting, camping packs and for lighting the wood stove.

[Pipefitter]

When I was a kid in Jr. High school the Science teacher had all the kids come up with their own "Experiments" ideas, build it and explain it and demonstrate. so I cut the heads off about 50 strike anywhere matches. put them all in a large test tube and sealed with a cork. Went to the front of the class and explaind Energy expanding gasses. Had a large plastic shield to protect the class. and I put the test tube over the bunson burner and walked away. only took a few seconds and the entire area exploded with a big blast. I was not allowed to play the science games after that, but I did get a good grade. You can get the strike anywhere matchhes in most Market Basket stores. I always have them in the hunting, camping packs and for lighting the wood stove.

My high school science/chemistry teacher owned an apple orchard. Sophomore chemistry class one day mid fall he comes into class with a bushel of apples, a 10# bag of sugar, and a couple packets of Red Star yeast. Said "Y'all gonna get an education on fermentation and distillation now."

[eck0313]

FWIW, I quit with matches years ago. A cheap disposable butane lighter has a MUCH better shelf life than the new strike anywhere matches. You can get them wet, and they’ll still light.

[Winger Ed.]

[QUOTE. Wonder if I can light them w/ my fingernail like the old ones [/QUOTE]

Probably, but I quit doing it myself when most of the head broke off of one,
and got stuck under my fingernail---- as it lit.

[Hardcast416taylor]

As a young boy growing up on a farm I recall the cast iron match box holder hanging on the wall near the propane gas stove. Dad would get a few of the white headed matches and put them in a pants pocket to light his pipe with or for any other need, never had a fire in the pocket from them rubbing together. Robert