How to Make Matches

Really this should be entitled "why you don't want to make your own matches". There are a couple of recipes for matches, pretty much using chemicals the average person doesn't want to store, use, or dispose. You can mix antimony sulfide (poisonous) and potassium chlorate, with a little cornstarch as a fuel and gum to hold it together. Alternatively, you can use sesquisulfide of phosphorus instead of an antimony compound. White and red elemental phosphorus also work, but they are extremely toxic. Friction matches on a stick are familiar to most people, though if you coat paper with the mixture, you can fold the paper and draw a fine splint of wood across the coating. Tell me more...