Match safes

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is there any advantage to the brass over the aluminum? does brass corrode less than aluminum?
 
Hey Guyon which Busse model is that? My Silva matchcase looks similar to your suunto just a different compass style.
 
thanks sodak :thumbup: I ordered an aluminum one a while ago, might try a brass one down the line if there's no difference in corrosion-resistance or durability.
 
Don Rearic said:
Put multiple coats of clear fingernail polish on the ferro rods and that should cut down or eliminate the oxidation.
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I have, it works as long as you don't use the rod or keep it in your pocket. I've also used some stuff similiar to plastic-dip(spelling?), same issue. The plastic stuff held up better, though; the finger nail polish doesn't last long on the little BSA hotspark on my key chain.
 
baldtaco-II said:
I think what makes a lot of difference is that amongst other things I am a smoker. I use a Zippo pretty much constantly. What compounds that is that I smoke hand rolled so they go out unlike a straight. Over the course of a day I couldn't guess as to how many times I fire up the Zippo. It's like a reflex. I prefer Zippos to anything else. They are simple and when I bust them I just have to wait a month for the turn around to get it back. At a pinch I can run one on all sorts of things. I've even got one making fire by filling it with hairspray. As to the the idea of them getting cold and that impeding the output, well really, one has to wonder where it was being kept to begin with. And one has to marvel at the lack of savvy that couldn't get one warmed up by putting it in a pocket, or even if under the arm pit if the conditions were truly that diabolical. I do have back up to the Zippo, but the Zippo does the donkey work.

As for a Bic, that is synonymous here with a cheap and nasty ball point pen, or perhaps one of those one shave razor blades. I'm guessing though that you're on about one of those crappy refill it a few times gas lighters we call clippers. Yep, got a bunch of them. I think they are rubbish. The flame is awful even when they are new. There is only one reason for me to own them. I poke them inside empty shotgun shells and give them away as novelty items to people who are easily impressed by such things and don't come across shotgun shells very often. The one truly endearing feature of them is that I seem to acquire them yet I can never remember buying one.

On top of that there is worse. I've just got another fistful of the cheapest of the cheap gas lighters. I get them free with bundles of tobacco when I nip over to Belgium. I've got them scattered around all over the place. Although they are rubbish they are still better than matches so they are poked in all sorts of bits of kit. There is also that saving grace that a toke of a pipe or bong lit with a Zippo tastes nasty.

Further, both nests have those turbo blue flame lighters kicking around. Now those do complement the Zippo really well.

I think what I am driving at is for me making a light is no big deal. It is not something that needs to be celebrated or gathered around, and it isn't something that warrants the bulk and weight of a small torch just to carry a measly few matches. I think that's a level of reverence a primitive tribes person my bestow upon matches after discovering them for the first time. On the other hand, when they are commonplace in a range of alternatives one may be inclined to look at them slightly differently. I do.
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SOoo? Your to cool for a match case. :cool: Whilst lighting your fag, do you have to take special care not to ignite your slicked back hair?:eek:
I have carried a Zippo many times as a young man in the wilderness..here in the northeastern US. They fail quite often. Now, I'm not talking about a rainy night in London town, but a minus 10 degrees F, your snot is frozen for breathing cold. Besides..they run out of fluid at the worst times.
It will be this cold here soon, I will load one of the old timey zippos and try it out for you..I bet it works perfectly, just to spite me.;)
I just bought 3 old match cases from a flea market..2 were made in china, and not that old. I sent one of these to Siguy, and the third was actually made here in the US about fifty years ago..an Everdry. I really like this one, and currently have it loaded with waterproof Cooglans. I like the idea of having a bulletproof backup...I wear mine on a piece of para-cord (550)around my neck while out hiking. I never even know its there.
I also carry a BIC (Clipper)in my waist pack as my back up to the matches, + a firesteel, so I guess I am redundant also.
 
For all you zippo guys, how do you keep the reservoir from drying out? I would carry one if it didn't run out of fluid after a couple days. Or is it that my zippo-fu sucks?

 
You can't. Some people wrap a bicycle innertube around it, but that only slows the evaporation. You can get a small cylinder from zippo that carries the fluid and works very well, or you can get a small tobasco bottle from an MRE. They both hold lighter fluid for a loooong time.
 
I had a zippo years ago that was great, never failed. The 3 or 4 I had since were awful.
A cheap ronson is a better lighter, bics or crickets next.

Someone asked about aluminum K&Ms, I find the brass one has a much tighter seal, someone else had a similar experience, I believe. Not sure why that is, and the brass one is more traditional too.
 
Dunno what fuel you're using but I'm not using Zippo brand fuel. How much of a difference that would make though is unclear to me. I know their stuff is an overpriced version of the industrial solvent naptha. I use Ronson brand stuff that just says petroleum distillates. Mine is usually good for a 5 days or so even with a couple of people pecking on it.

I've heard of that rubber band trick too but never tried it. As I said above, the Zippo does the donkey work, so that would be a PITA. Don't see why a bit of tape round it wouldn't dramatically slow down passive evaporation though if you wanted to stow one.

As for topping it up. I scrounged up some small glass screw top perfume bottles. They are just plain cylindrical not some fancy eye candy shape, and by a happy coincidence each is good for exactly one filling.
 
Liam Ryan said:
Someone asked about aluminum K&Ms, I find the brass one has a much tighter seal, someone else had a similar experience, I believe. Not sure why that is, and the brass one is more traditional too.
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The reason being that brass is much more elastic.
 
Hey guys quick question. I have a match safe that looks like this one, is the knurling on the side abrasive enough to start a 'strike anywhere' match? I currently have the side of a box cut up and wrapped in tin foil in it, but if I could just buy some blue tips that would be awesome.

mrb30045safeopen.jpg
 
TFin04 said:
Hey guys quick question. I have a match safe that looks like this one, is the knurling on the side abrasive enough to start a 'strike anywhere' match? I currently have the side of a box cut up and wrapped in tin foil in it, but if I could just buy some blue tips that would be awesome.

mrb30045safeopen.jpg
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Alternatively, you can put a small circle of skateboard tape on the end. That's what I do. I use strike anywhere matches, though.
 
Novel idea. I've used double sided carpet tape and sandpaper before, but your suggestion sounds more convenient and probably more durable. Likes that.
 
I also use it to put on pistols and rifle grips, as a poor mans alternative to stippling. So I bought enough for a whole skateboard deck when I was at a skate shop I found! If you need a chunk, lemme know. :thumbup:
 
TFin04 said:
Hey guys quick question. I have a match safe that looks like this one, is the knurling on the side abrasive enough to start a 'strike anywhere' match? I currently have the side of a box cut up and wrapped in tin foil in it, but if I could just buy some blue tips that would be awesome.

mrb30045safeopen.jpg
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I don't have one of those cases and I don't know how sensitive your strike anywhere matches are over there. Here the ubiquitous brand is Swan Vesta. I just struck one of those up off the knurling on a AA Mag Lite quite easily.
 
SpookyPistolero said:
I also use it to put on pistols and rifle grips, as a poor mans alternative to stippling. So I bought enough for a whole skateboard deck when I was at a skate shop I found! If you need a chunk, lemme know. :thumbup:
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Cheers dude. Should be cool, my city is pretty groovy for stuff like that. Thanks though.
 
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