Fire steel protection.

Tactical

Tactical

Joined
Feb 3, 2001
Messages
331
OK, after multiple searches with the blank screen...I'll ask just...

:o

How do you protect fire steels/metal matches from corrosion/powdering during long term storage? I remember something about clear nail polish. But what is the the black coating they come with? Can it be renewed?

Thanks...

:D
 
Any color nail polish will work (at least it has for me).

I also have some with vinyl tubing stretched over them for storage. This is to keep the air away from the sides of the rod, although the end is still exposed. The nice thing about the tubing is that you could leave it extra long at the end of the ferro rod, then stuff a cotton ball coated with petroleum jelly into the available space to have some emergency tinder handy. However, removing the tubing from the rod is sorta hard if you try to pull it off and could even be a pain to cut off with a knife due to its thickness. That would be bad for emergency use when your motor skills are impaired.
 
Thanks! How about black nail polish...I could use the left over for the Goth look...

:eek:
 
I use heat shrink tubing on mine. Just put a piece over it and get it good and hot and it will shrink up tightly even over the end of it. It is also pretty easy to remove as it is very thin walled.
 
I've had good luck with nail polish. I put two coats on mine (the rods not the nails) and it seems to hold up. Mac
 
I use petroleum jelly coating and slipped into a nalgene tube- end of tube is stuffed with tinder.
2Door
 
I have a spare, unused, that I smeared clear liquid silicone over. When dry I have some slight shock damage protection from rough jarring, it's 100% waterproof, won't oxidize, and I can peel the rubber off easily when needed.
 
Is this really necesarry? How deep will it oxidize? I figure (maybe I'm wrong) that it won't go that deeply and a couple of scrapes will get to useable material.

Don't know that for sure though. :confused:

KR
 
What kind of store do you find heat-shrink tubing at? Is that a Radio Shack thing? Fabric store?
 
Stieg,
Radio Shack, electrical supply store, good hardware store- should have a selection of sizes so either measure diam or take the steel with you.
2Door
 
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