The grizzled marine places his boot on the chest of the fallen, reaches for a cigarette, and lights it by striking a match on his jawbone. His meditative gaze surveys the battlefield. War is Hell.
Classic Holywood war film image. But can you strike a match on the stubble of your face and have it light reliably? Anyone make a habit of doing this?
It MIGHT be possible if you have strike-anywhere matches and some very coarse stubble but I have never seen it done and I have seen people try just about everything when it comes to fire. However, you can light a match by flicking it quickly through the bottom of your front teeth. That requires strike-anywhere matches as well and takes some skill but it works and I have done it myself many times.
I cannot, no. Yes, I’ve tried before. I don’t know what prompted me to do that, but there it is.
I wonder if in the old day (40s movies) matches were made differently. Seems to me it’s was a lot easier to light a match when I was a kid in the 70s. Maybe they make them differently now?
It doesn’t seem like the skin would be firm enough or create enough friction. You can light strike-anywhere matches with your fingernail though.
Wouldn’t it depend on the thickness of the beard and the stubble? I mean my beard is pretty pathetic, I can almost get away with shaving every other day.
So the beard would have to be very thick and so you’d have to shave it to get lots of stiff stubble.
Would this resemble the thing Blondie does in the Man With No Name series of Clint Eastwood movies?
You are probably talking about the difference between strike-anywhere matches versus safety matches. Strike-anywhere matches can be lit by swiping them against lots of hard surfaces. This has caused some safety problems before so you usually see safety matches these days. They are designed so that they only light when quickly swept along the friction surface that they come with. I haven’t seen strike-anywhere matches around in a while but I haven’t actively looked for them either. I assume they are still made but it would take that type of match to make the question in the OP even remotely possible.
Hmmm… Given that I’ve had a couple of shots of vodka and I have a good stubble on and I have some strike-anywhere matches, I gave this a try. Didn’t come close but now I’ll have to wear my B undies tomorrow.
[Ford Fairlane] Clint Eastwood? I fucked him. [/FF]
You wouldn’t try lighting the original matches on your face. They were very volatile and unstable. People carried them in a vesta case. They were made of metal and could contain any unplanned fires. Vesta cases are very collectible these days.
According to this site it can be done but the match would need to be a volatile one with lots of phosphorus.
I seem to recall William Holden striking a match against Neville Brand’s face in Stalag 17.
Yes much differently now. When I lite my sauna stove I need a handful of those cheap strike anywhere matches as they just are not like the ones from years ago.
We used to bring some from Canada <15> years ago when they were not on the store shelves here.
Remember the match thrower made with a cloths pin?
So if you can’t strike a match on your face, how did they do this in the movies?
You light the matches with your finger nail. Zippers work well.
I would think the older movies were showing the older varieties they don’t make any longer, because they were dangerous to the people that made them and used them.
Yeah, but we’re talking heavy duty stubble there.
I can’t recall an example (at least in live-action film) when the detail of the match rubbing on the stubble was made visible - it seems that it normally takes place on a cheek turned slightly away from the camera - in which case, there’s probably a small bit of sandpaper stuck on there, out of sight.
Interesting bit of not-really-related trivia: You can strike safety matches on a pane of glass - if you sweep them rapidly across it and press near the head with your finger - the glass is slick enough that the match doesn’t get worn away, but just grippy enough that friction heats the match and ignites it. (it does sometimes leave a permanent mark on the glass, BTW).
Scar tissue on the face might help, as well.
Did with my thunbnail back in the day, but gave it up the one time a bit of match head stuck under my thumb nail while burning.
Sgt. Stryker?