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Gary Cripps
02-27-2014, 03:29 PM
Hanging next to the chimney in my wives folks house for at least the 52 years I've known her. Checking the house Monday to see how it was wintering the match holder jumped out at me. Appears to be missing a lid. How plentiful are they?

Dean Romig
02-27-2014, 04:41 PM
First I've seen of that style.

Very nice.

charlie cleveland
02-27-2014, 09:20 PM
very nice...charlie

Gary Carmichael Sr
02-28-2014, 08:14 AM
Interesting piece, I have one but not like that, gary

John Gardner
03-02-2014, 10:14 PM
Gary here are a couple pictures of my Parker Match Safes. Sorry for the glare on the first picture.

They can be found on eBay fairly often and seem to range nowadays from $50 all the way to $150 although I have seen a few for less than that.

You don't see your wife's family's match safe, which is one of the earliest models, all that often. It is a Model 2, for regular size matches, and cost a whopping $0.14 each or $20.00 to the gross, according to the 1886 Charles Parker catalog.

You can see the various types in Volume II of the Parker Story on page 893. Cheers JG

Eric Eis
03-03-2014, 11:39 AM
You do have to be careful because there are repos of these too and some are hard to tell from the original.

Richard Flanders
03-15-2014, 05:14 PM
Nice! If I had one of those I'd have it on the wall beside the wood stove full of strike-anywhere matches.

Steve Huffman
03-15-2014, 06:40 PM
Repos ................ I hate that word the silver dollars their faking these days are terrible.

Destry L. Hoffard
03-20-2014, 01:04 PM
Richard finding the strike anywhere matches to go in it would be the challenge. Hardly anybody carries them anymore. And when you do find them, they're pretty hard to strike, unlike the old Ohio Blue Tips my Dad always kept around. You could tap those things on something rough and they'd go off easy. I always lit my pipe with strike anywheres just because I like the smell but I've finally given up and use a Zippo now.

DLH

Richard Flanders
03-20-2014, 01:26 PM
Righto Destry, except up here you can still get them. I've stocked up on them from a small hardware here that carries all sorts of stuff you'll never find at Home Depot. When was the last time you saw the brown okum used to pack cast iron sewer pipe before you poured molten lead in to seal the joints, and sold by the pound from a bulk box??? They are the only place even in Fairbanks that carries the demon "strike anywhere" matches. I think I'll go buy another 6 boxes just because I can. We love this hardware. They're even a Starrett outlet and have a cabinet full of goodies. I'd love one of those Parker safes for the wall...

Destry L. Hoffard
03-20-2014, 01:32 PM
I found some good ones a few years ago that struck pretty easy called RedBirds but the place that carried them stopped for some reason. They didn't actually say strike anywhere on the box but they were. The were short though, not a big long kitchen match like you really need. I'm guessing somewhere overseas you can still get the real good ones but I've looked when I've been out of the US and had no luck so far.


DLH

Bill Murphy
03-21-2014, 08:41 AM
Ohio Blue Tips have been outlawed in Maryland along with assault rifles and high capacity magazines. Linda buys them in bulk in Virginia or West Virginia, can't remember which. Same place we buy the other stuff.

Dean Romig
03-21-2014, 08:54 AM
Our various Federal, State and local governments are only doing their duty in protecting us from our stupid selves.... we might get hurt..... or even die :shock:

Personally, I agree with Darwin and I think he had it right when he said "The stupid shall perish..." or something like that.

Destry L. Hoffard
03-21-2014, 12:31 PM
Linda must be using a time machine on those trips, they quit making them in 1987.

The only ones I can find are Diamond brand and they're pretty much strike anywhere in name only......

I hear there's a brand called Penley that are somewhat better but I've yet to find a source.

You can still buy the Red Bird brand in Canada but as I mentioned, they aren't very big.

DLH

Bill Murphy
03-21-2014, 04:33 PM
Linda bought her last ones maybe more than a couple of years ago. "Ohio Blue Tip" is promenantly displayed on the box. They work just fine, strike on anything, just like they always did. They are also the same length they always were. My Parker match box is full of them and I keep them on the work bench by the outside barbeque area. Linda buys, or used to buy them, by the 250 box in Charlestown, WVA at the Walmart. It is right on the way to our pigeon club. Very convenient. I think they make "don't really strike anywhere" matches for some markets. I googled and read that Diamond quit making the red with white tip Ohio Blue Tips in January of 2010. Linda may have the last supply. I will check at Walmart next time I attend a pigeon shoot.

Destry L. Hoffard
03-21-2014, 05:03 PM
That's interesting, I just did some google work and it looks like they brought the name back out in 2012. I've never seen any of them, will have to try to locate a supply for testing.

DLH

John Dallas
03-21-2014, 07:31 PM
The next time I'm in the Amish hardware store near my cabin (AKA "The Amish Walmart"), I'm going to see what they have for matches.

Richard Flanders
03-22-2014, 04:38 PM
The matches on the bottom I bought here a couple of years back. The top ones are the current offering I bought yesterday and you can just imagine my elation at seeing that they are now green and "sourced from responsible forests!" I just hate those irresponsible forests. Since I light my woodstove in September and rarely let it go out until almost May I have at least a lifetimes supply on the shelf now... My math says it will take me approximately 325 yrs to use up what I have in stock...

Bill Murphy
03-22-2014, 06:14 PM
Way to go, Richard. I thought our supply would last forever with one each being used for the stove and the barbeque. I guess I was wrong, because we are down to the last two boxes. I guess we can make those last a bit longer since Linda loaded the barbeque match box with solid reds that have to be struck on the box. I still use the white tips on the stove. Knife maker and blacksmith Bill Moran built my fireplace tools and andirons, so I think the white tips are proper.

Gary Cripps
03-25-2014, 08:36 AM
Put the match holder up last night next to the stove and the Parker. Even found a few matches though I confess I took them from an old match safe I keep in a hunting kit. I know there are a couple boxes of what we call farmer matches-- where else-- up at the farm. Get them next trip.

charlie cleveland
03-25-2014, 09:40 PM
really nice photo... charlie

Bill Zachow
03-30-2014, 05:50 AM
Bill, did you know Bill Moran when he worked for American Optical in Frederick, Maryland in the early 70s? I used to fly into that plant from the main operation in Southbridge, Mass. Met Bill many times, but, sadly, never ordered a knife. Saw a lot of his early work and it was fabulous.

Norm Growden
03-31-2014, 12:01 AM
Destry - I picked up some Penley matches yesterday at a discount grocery store. They are better than the greenlight Diamonds, but won't light using a thumbnail like the old Blue Tips. My Dad called the Blue Tips "barnburners", saying he'd heard that rats gnawing the matches could ignite them.

Phillip Carr
03-31-2014, 01:17 AM
My brother and I would make match guns out of a couple of clothes pins when we were kids. Nothing like a flaming match firing out out of our match guns to keep us busy for hours. I am guessing the new matches would not light when fired now. Anyone else remember building these? I also remember some of the old guys pulling out a sack of Bull Durham rolling out a smoke and then striking a wooden match on the back leg of their jeans.

Eric Eis
03-31-2014, 11:01 AM
Yes Phil, I remember all of that, guess we are showing our age. :shock:

Bill Murphy
03-31-2014, 11:16 AM
Bill Zachow, I had no idea that Bill Moran worked anywhere except at his forge. The old shop is now a museum, preserved as it was when Bill worked there. Yes, I knew Mr. Moran in the early seventies, brought him Damascus barrels to study when he was contemplating forging Damascus blades. Although known as the "Father of Damascus" in the knife collecting world, I don't believe he had forged a Damascus blade at the time I showed him an assortment of Damascus shotgun barrels in 1974. I could be wrong about that, however.

Dean Romig
03-31-2014, 05:59 PM
Striking a wooden match on the back leg of their jeans.

Or your front teeth or your thumbnail.

How bout balloons tied to the fender stays of our bikes so they would sound like a Harley or a playing card clothes pinned to the stay for the same effect.

Yup, showing our age...

Bill Murphy
03-31-2014, 08:32 PM
The Damascus, or should I say composite, barrels that I brought to Bill Moran for him to examine were a Parker GHE 16 with very fine pattern Damascus, a 12 gauge E Grade Lefever with quite large pattern Damascus, and a PH 12 gauge Parker with normal Twist Steel pattern. I thought this was a good variety for him to start his project. At the time I was discussing the Damascus project with him, he was proud of the belt buckle hideout knife he was building for "the government". I would love to have one of those belt buckle knives today. I'm sure it has been imitated by many makers.