Handmade MATCHES Turned Out Better Than Purchased Ones!
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Do not repeat the experiments shown in this video!
Hi everyone! In this video not only do I want to tell you about how matches are made but also to make my own matches. After that I will check how they will differ from shop-bought ones. Let us start off with a little bit of history. First predecessors of modern matches were invented in Ancient China. Those early matches were used only to simplify the process of starting a fire and It was just ordinary sulfur spread onto thin sticks. In Europe matches began to appear in 19-th century and in its early form they were very dangerous because they could light up upon friction against any surface which was quite dangerous as they could even light up in a box of matches having rubbed against each other. First safe matches appeared in 1855 and they were invented by a Swedish chemist, Johan Lundstrem. Since then they have practically remained unchanged. These Swedish matches are the very ones I am going to make in this video. Matches making starts with the simplest step which is preparing the wooden sticks which are also called strips. Such sticks are most frequently made from aspen but since I don’t have it I am going to use ordinary birch toothpicks and also barbecue skewers for bigger matches. The first step of making matches is soaking sticks in fire retardant that is in chemical that prevents wood smouldering. The thing is when wood burns down the leftover charcoals that continues to smoulder turning into light ash that can cause lots of inconveniences when it get onto clothes or valuable items. To prevent unwanted outcomes when using matches they get soaked in 2% ammonium dihydrogen phosphate that is in phosphoric acid and ammonium salt acid. After soaking and drying sticks we can see that the charred heads don’t smoulder which is a lot more convenient. I have quite ancient matches which are more than 100 years old. They were made in Revel which was the name of the modern day Tallinn during monarchy era until 1917. They still burn well but because of not being soaked in fire retardant, the burn down match heads fall off very quickly and keep burning which can cause ignition or even fire. That is the reason why soaking in fire redantant is such a necessary measure to take. Nevertheless sticks have to be soaked in combustible liquid that will simplify ignition of wood and consume most energy. Most frequently paraffin is used for those purposes. I melted down a paraffin candle and dipped chopped sticks. They looks like a deep-fryer and wooden chips which are fried in it. It is noteworthy that when such matches burn they give off a pleasant smell because wood contains sugars that give off a pleasant smell when burned.
