Would you trust a regular household match to light up in a storm? How about in a flood or when you’ve just gotten off a swamped emergency raft? Your answer should be a resounding no! If so, you’ll probably need to invest in some good waterproof matches. Waterproof matches that have been designed to work under the types of conditions mentioned above.
You never want to be without some way of starting a fire in damp or wet conditions. This makes these little low-tech fire starters all the more important. As such they should be an addition to any bug-out bag or survival kit.
Waterproof Matches – And why they’re an ESSENTIAL Survival Item?
In a real survival situation, cold, dark, and wet conditions can spell almost certain doom. It’s vital you have at least some way of starting a fire. A good survival lighter, a fire steel or ferro rod, or even a piece of flint should always be in your kit. However, waterproof matches are a ‘must have’ too. They’re extremely affordable, especially if you make them yourself. They’re small and light, easily carried in a pocket if traveling lite.
Just like any match, they’re designed to create sparks and strike a flame. Using friction to rub the head of a match across a pad that contains phosphorous. The heads themselves, like any other match, include sulfur and other compounds that can spontaneously ignite.
The difference is that these usually have a much greater amount of surface area on their heads. This ensures that they can burn even when winds start to pick up. The wooden body is usually somewhat thicker too. Which means that they can usually burn for longer than your standard match.
What are the Best Waterproof Matches You Can Buy
Any waterproof match is already going to be at a compromise no matter how good it is. Since it’s difficult to start a fire under wet conditions regardless of levels of waterproofness. However, we looked at the options currently available on the market. Based on overall performance, we found the following exceptional waterproof survival matches.
1. Coghlan’s Waterproof Matches
Some tests have shown that Coghlan’s waterproof matches can actually start even after they’ve been soaked in water for more than half a minute. That’s really impressive considering that the striking surfaces are never really glued on their boxes all that well.
While the surfaces themselves might start to come off the box, a little bit of extra adhesive fixes that. You can probably light a whole box of matches right on one side of the box once you’ve done this, which is really important if you plan on using these in a real survival situation.
Once you’ve lit one of Coghlan’s waterproof matches, they usually stay lit even if they’re exposed to moisture, which is more than you can say for the vast majority of allegedly waterproof matches. These are a great pick for anyone who wants to keep a set of matches on them at all times.
2. UCO Titan Stormproof Match Kit
They might actually need these hard packs, however, because UCO matches don’t perform very well after being soaked. If you’re just concerned with rain or mist, however, then these should light perfectly every time.
Once you’re done with them, you could refill the kit and even change out the strikers. They burn for somewhere around 15 seconds, which should be more than enough time to get even a relatively damp piece of wood lit assuming that you’re using an accelerator of some sort.
Watch the match head when you strike one, though, because their chemical composition will sometimes make them crumble. As long as you handle them properly, these should see you through the day.
3. Coleman Waterproof Matches
They’re more like traditional matches than most other waterproof match kits. That means they offer the same large head and reasonable strike surface that you’d expect out of most other products.
Assuming that you’re not in an extreme driving rain, these should just sort of light up the same way that a traditional kitchen match does. On the other hand, the striking surfaces on the boxes themselves get waterlogged faster than any of the other matches on this list. You’ll want to keep that in mind if you plan on using them in your bug-out bag.
Out of 40 matches, you’d probably only be able to light half of them before the surface began to wear away to the point that you couldn’t use them anymore. While these might be the easiest to use in theory, they’re probably not the pick for those who absolutely have to light up a fire in the middle of a driving rainstorm.
4. Zippo Typhoon Match Kit
An integrated water-tight end cap should keep it dry and protected from humidity as well as rainwater. On the other hand, this is the only strike pad you can mount at a time. It comes with a few backups, but you’ll have to change them yourself.
They produce a fairly hot and strong flame for around half a minute. Since they’re safety matches, though, you shouldn’t expect to light one by just striking it against your shoe or a nearby rock.
Perhaps the single biggest drawback is that while these are pretty sturdy matches, the kit can only hold around 15 at a time. That means you might not have enough to see you through a long adventure.
Fans of the Zippo Typhoon therefore usually seem to carry more than one kit along with them if weight considerations allow them to do so.
How to Waterproof Matches
Making homemade waterproof matches shouldn’t be that difficult. Members of scouting organizations usually make some for a merit badge and its a popular craft, so you shouldn’t run into too many problems.
Start with a box of traditional strike anywhere matches. You don’t want safety matches or kitchen matches that make you strike them on the box. Test one of the matches by lighting it on a safe hard surface, like a rock outside, to make sure that it truly is a strike anywhere match.
Unfortunately, it can be hard to find these in stores, so you may have to specially order them. This is due at least in part to over-reactive safety regulations, so make sure that you’re getting real strike anywhere matches.
Waterproofing Matches – The Simple Process
Melt down some paraffin or other wax until its just hot enough to feel supple. Don’t let it get too hot for this project.
As soon as you can break the surface tension, dip the match head into the wax and gently remove it. Blow on the wax to cool it a little bit.
Candles that pool wax in their middle work well for this too. You can dip the heads of matches in the wet wax and then lean them off of the edge of the box they came in.
Don’t let the wet match heads rest on any hard surface. Hang them off the side of their boxes or some other item until they solidify. You might be able to suspend them along the side of a pencil, but you’ll want to periodically turn them to make sure that they dry evenly.
Since covering the whole entire match stick will stop it from drawing moisture up through the bottom, you might want to coat as much of it as you comfortably can. You don’t need to make it very thick. Just coat the length of the match in enough wax that its watertight.
When you want to light one, just scratch some of the wax off of the head and strike it like normal. The wax should burn along with the phosphorous on it as well as the wood that makes up the rest of the stick.
Once they’re completely dry, you can put them into a plastic baggie or a watertight canister to keep them extra safe.
An Alternative to Wax?
If you don’t have any wax on hand, then you can also paint them with nail polish and leave them on a flat surface to dry. Once one side has dried, turn it over and paint the other.
Nail polish-covered matches are much easier to make, but they tend to burn out more quickly. The good news is that you can technically use any color of nail polish to cover them, which means you can normally feel free to use any that you happen to have on hand at the time.
Even cheap stuff from the dollar store should work great.
This video shows some waterproof matches being made using wax
Finally…
Since you won’t want to risk being unable to start a fire. You will need to have waterproof matches in your bug-out bag. Coghlan’s Waterproof Matches are probably your best bet, if you’re going to buy off the shelf. As they tend to light and burn well and hold up to abuse MUCH better than the competition.
When you consider just how easy it is to make them yourself. There’s no reason not to give DIY waterproofing a try. Set aside a couple of hours and make a whole pack of waterproof matches. By doing so, you’ll save yourself some money and you’ll have what you need to light a fire the next time things start to go south.