I got this permanent match for Christmas. This is a really cool concept, but I’ve never seen one before. Essentially they are a piece of flint and steel that creates a spark coupled with a wick and lighter fluid to sustain the flame. Of course I didn’t have any lighter fluid around the house, so I had to order some.
I was pretty excited to see how the match worked, so when the lighter fluid arrived I got right to work filling the vial so I could give it a try. Like most any small container it was difficult to determine how full it was. With some fluid in the tube I gave it a try to, and the match lit right up. Worried I hadn’t put enough fluid in the tube I added more. This time I filled it right to the top. When I put the match in to add fluid to it, that caused some fluid to spill over the sides.
Not considering what had happened I struck the match again to see how it would work with a bit more fluid on it. Well the sparks created by the flint and steel were pretty awesome. They lit the match magnificently, which is where my focus was. The spark also lit the fluid that was on the outside of the container on fire as well. The fluid that had spilled over the container had also gotten onto my fingers that were holding the container. Looking back I realized that 2 of my fingers were also covered in the flames. It didn’t take me long to get the flames put out, but one of my fingers was feeling the heat a bit.
I think the experience cured my youngest of ever wanting to play with matches. We’ll have to be a little more careful when we use them in the future. I still think the whole idea is pretty awesome. Running cold water over my finger kept things in pretty good shape. I did end up with a small blister on the side of my first knuckle, but considering it was on fire that’s not so bad.
