No Survival Kit is complete without waterproof matches! So in this article, I will show you how to make waterproof matches in under 10 minutes with items most homes have in their kitchen. Why pay a fortune for commercial waterproof matches when you can make them for a fraction of the price, in you kitchen?
What You Will Need
To make your matches waterproof, you will need:
- Matches
- A Candle or paraffin wax
- A candle holder(helps you have both your hands free)
- A wooden board or glass or china plate
- A glass or cup of water (accidents happen)
- A fairly steady hand (or you burn all the matches before you waterproof them) 🙂
- A place to work, out of any wind and away from where other people are working.
Let’s Get Started
- Set up your Board or Glass work area away from where others are working. You don’t want to be bumped while trying to work with matches near an open flame.
2. Place your candle holder with the candle, in the center of your board or plate. This will stop any wax falling onto the work surface, especially if it has a cloth over it. I don’t know about you but I am in deep DooDoo when I mess on Table cloths or leave wax on any surface.
3.Lay out the number of matches that you want to waterproof on one side of the board or plate.
4. Place the cup of water within reach, but not too close to the work area.
Let’s Do The Deed
5. Light your candle. You will have to let it burn for a few minutes to build up a pool of liquid wax in the concave under the flame. If you are using a new candle, this could take a little while.
5.a. OK, OK, I left this step out so it is now 5.a. Lay a pencil on the opposite side of the candle to the matches.
6. When a pool of liquid wax has collected below the flame, take a match and dip the head into the wax, taking care to not get it too close to the open flame. Roll the head in the wax and then, while rolling the match, push it through the liquid wax as far as you can. You want to get as much of the match covered in wax as you can. You can, once the wax on the match head has dried, take all the matches, one at a time and roll the other end of the match through the wax. This will now seal the entire match.
7. As you complete each match, you lay them on the pencil so that the head does not stick to anything. When you do the bottom end of the match, you can do the same to get the wax to dry without sticking.
And It’s A Wrap
And that is it. Not rocket science and a heck of a lot cheaper than buying them on line or at the store. All you need now is to place them in a suitably sized tablet bottle to store them.If you would rather melt the wax in a pot, you can use paraffin wax, melt it in a pot and threat the matches as we have above. It is just as easy and effective.
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Great article, I try and find good activities for scouts. I think they will have fun doing this one. Would have not thought of this one myself. Thanks for the great idea.
Hi Irene, Thanks for the comment. This is a great, practical way to make your own waterproof matches. Stay tuned for lots of other practical tips and tricks for outdoor life.