When was the last year or decade you saw strike-anywhere matches in stores?

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AlongCameJones

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This would be in local grocery or retail stores where safety matches and cigarette lighters or normally sold. I've seen them in the 1970's but can't remember how long after the '70's I've seen them. A boy at school in the 1970's struck these kinds of matches on his pants zipper to strike them during a class camping trip. The thing I hate about safety matches is often the friction surfaces on the box wear out before all the matches are used.
 

AlongCameJones

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Ace hardware has or had them about a month ago. I got a box. 2.49 or 2.79, can’t remember for sure.
Ace Hardware site says not available in Lawton, OK.
https://www.acehardware.com/departments/heating-and-cooling/fireplaces/fireplace-matches/4397410
Walmart lists those Diamond green matches for special order only and they get bad reviews at Walmart website.

I just bought a box of the strike-on-box red tips from Walmart to keep in my kitchen drawer. The wooden match sticks are also handy for woodworking. I bought a wooden toilet seat at Lowe's this spring and the damn wood screws got loose already. Holes stripped out where hinges go. My grandfather taught me to use Elmer's glue and a piece of match stick to fill in a hole in wood. Might even be stronger than wood putty. When that material hardens overnight, I can screw the screws back in again and they should be tight.

The wood toilet seat is China made and not the hardest grade of wood there is. There should be metal anchor points with threaded holes pressed and glued into the wood as a reinforcement.
 
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JeffT

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The ones I got at Ace were those Diamond Green Tip, they strike okay, but the sticks are pitiful. They seem like balsa wood or maybe a styrofoam of some sort. I have broken probably 1 or 2 out of every 10 I’ve used.
 

GeneW

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Ohio Blue Tip was one brand, I can't recall the other big major brand name. They were awesome, they always lit, etc.

I wonder if you can get good ones in Mexico? Not this wimpy junk here in the States.
 

AlongCameJones

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I usually use a Bic to light incense or candles or a long fireplace lighter to light a Weber Baby Q grill in case the case the built-in clicker doesn't light it from dampness. I got sick of those safety matches when the box wore out before all the matches were used up. I just bought a box of those safety matches because I needed them to do wood screw hole repairs. I guess they will also come in handy if the Bic runs out of fuel and maybe for craft and hobby to boot.
 

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