Is it actually possible to do this outside the movies? And if so do you need to be a cowboy with stubble like sandpaper and skin like leather?
If it is possible, will it burn you? If not, why not? If it does cause a burn is there a special technique to use to avoid being burnt (apart from not doing it at all :))? What exactly happens to the match (and the body) as it moves across the chin?
Has anybody here on the SDMB ever attempted it? Did it work? Did it hurt?
Not any more - thanks to the development of Safety Matches which need to be struck against the strip on the side of the box.
In the “good old days” matches were able to be struck against shoes, trousers, underarm stubble, etc, in a truly manly and heroic sense - although it made carrying matches a dangerous activity if there was to be any friction involved (e.g. the midst of a Rugby Scrum)
Gp
P.S. Not that I remember those days - I read books you know!!
You can still get “strike anywhere” matches. They are wooden and have a red or blue head with a white tip. I’ve struck them on my teeth before and on my jeans, shoes, and pretty much anywhere else I could think of. With a little practice you can strike them with one hand in the exact way you would light a lighter, it looks pretty cool. Another cool thing to do with them is cut the heads off of them and fill a tennis ball with them, then tape the tennis ball up and throw it. 
Sorry, I should have said the question referred to “strike anywhere” matches. I understand why safety matches are safe. The reason for the question was because I found some “strike anywhere” matches in the cupboard and had a strange desire to play at being a cowboy and light one on my chin but I chickened out. Thanks to Cisco and grimpixie I now understand that I probably can light one on my chin but am I likely to burn myself?
Seems unlikely that you’ll burn yourself with the flame, but you might “burn” yourself in the sense that you’d get a friction burn from rubbing anything rough on your skin sharply (i.e. a rugburn). I say this because I’ve frequently lit matches by striking them on the strip on the side of the box, but by putting my finger over the head to get a better scrape. The flame doesn’t flare up for the better part of a second, so you have plenty of time to pull your finger away. Likewise, the flame wouldn’t flare up until after it was clear of your chin.
Last time I went looking for “strike anywhere matches” (good old Ohio Blue-tips), I couldn’t find any. I ended up buying some that were clearly supposed to look like Ohio Blue-tips (similar packaging design), but were “strike-on-box”. Whoopee.
When I was a kid, my granddad liked to amuse the grandkids by striking his matches various places, including his pants zipper.
So what’s the difference between the safety and strike-anywaher matches? Lower ignition temparature? Caused by what?
“Safety” matches have the good stuff (phosphorus?) on the sandpaper like striking surface itself, compared to the strike anywhere kind. I never thought of lighting them off my chin, I bet that would hurt, but I’ve seen people open beer bottles with their eye socket, and I’m not about to try that, either. That would be a good trick, though, to do them in unison or quick succession. "Whoa- don’t mess wit dat guy, fellas… "
I’m almost positive that lighting a strike-anywhere match on your chin would hurt if it was even possible. Just a guess though but don’t say I didn’t warn you!
I’ve done this and it does look pretty cool. One thing though – strike the match by lifting your nail up across the match. I used to do it by pulling my nail down across the match. I say ‘used to’ because once when I did this I got a piece of sulphur (or whatever the match is made from) stuck under my fingernail where it ignited. It hurt REALLY bad! Needless to say I stopped doing it that way after that.
Be careful about striking the match with your finger going up as well. Sometimes you’ll scrape a little chunk of match off which will go flaming through the air. It looks cool but it is uncool when said flaming ember lands on your parent’s couch.
[sub]You’d think I’d have learned to stop playing with matches at this point but I didn’t. It’s a wonder I never burned down my house![/sub]
Oops…I forgot to mention:
I think you can still get strike anywhere matches at a camping goods store (Sportmart doesn’t count…try a dedicated camping goods store). If not there try a military supply store.
[hijack]
Safety matches can be struck(stricken?) successfully on a pane of glass; it’s the heat due to friction that ignites them, rather than a chemical reaction like when you strike them on the box.
Oh, BTW it tends to scratch the glass.
[/hijack]
If everything works as it should then you will not burn yourself because by the time the head is burning, it is already away from you. BUT… it has happened to me quite a few times that the head comes off the shaft and sticks to your (or in this case my) finger as it flares. Result: burn.
I saw my favorite match trick in Mexico City. A young boy was holding a stick match between his fingers and balancing the box on his thumb with the strike surface against the match head. He would flip the box up in the air with his thumb, igniting the match, shake the match to extinguish it, toss the match, and catch the box.
Actually, it’s the type of phospherous used (http://nobel.scas.bcit.ca/resource/glossary/s-z.htm), not to mention little pieces of glass, etc. I’ve lit one from my chin before. It doesn’t hurt, I didn’t burn myself or anything.