The wooden matchstick has a long and colorful history. According to Wikipedia the match was first discovered by Marco Polo over 5000 years ago in the vast rain forests of Nevada. When young Marco brought this amazing discovery back home to France, his father, Water, and his uncle, Segway, (both priests) declared the discovery of convenient fire to be heresy, and burned Marco, along with all the matches he had brought back, in a large bonfire (light by rubbing two sticks together, to prevent hypocrisy) . When the people of France discovered that their national hero had been killed, they rose up against the clergy and started the French Revolution.

History of the match began to fade.

History became legend, legend became myth, and for two and half thousand years the match passed out of all knowledge until, when chance came, it ensnared a new lighter ... Santa.

*blah blah blah

random nonsense

blah blah blah*

and, to make a long story slightly longer, that is the tale of how I single-handedly saved a large group of little people from Santa's sadistic elvish genetic modification experiments.


But seriously, why spend time making a coherent intro when I know you're all here for one thing

I was, of course, talking about pictures of me.
 
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Step 1: Match sizing

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To determine the measurements of a match I picked the most stereotypical looking match out of a box of strike anywheres.

The dimensions of a regular strike anywhere match are 2.5 mm x 2.5 mm x 57.2 mm.

The actual match head itself is 4 mm long and 3.7 mm wide. This means that the actual match head is .6mm thick on one side of the tip (3.7 - 2.5 / 2 = .6).

The ratio of the length of the match head to the length of the entire matchstick is 14.3

Scale this up to a 96 inch long 4x4 and we have a match head that is 6.71" long and .84" at its thickest point on one of the sides.
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tim_n says: Mar 16, 2013. 7:07 AM
Any chance of reuploading the videos to youtube?
mecuestasonreir says: Mar 16, 2013. 6:39 AM
the DYI no sense but you're very handsome
Dusk Shadows says: Oct 22, 2012. 1:02 AM
Giant match.... equals giant fire???
COOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
james4 says: Jun 24, 2012. 6:38 PM
Step-11
Picture-1
Ride 'em cowboy!
ilpug says: Apr 5, 2012. 5:22 PM
I just noticed that in the first unedited video the video quality make the distant city look like it it burning.
somebody12345 says: Dec 9, 2011. 3:36 PM
FUZZY LOL
somebody12345 says: Dec 9, 2011. 3:30 PM
How much would this whole thing cost???
gunspyop2 says: Aug 18, 2011. 6:13 PM
you bring the match i bring the big chandel
ilikeleprechauns says: Aug 16, 2011. 1:39 PM
I'm going to use this giant mach to light a huge bundle of fireworks. You know. For SCIENCE.
Micizzle says: Jul 2, 2011. 6:19 AM
How was that not illegal?
bwells2 says: Jun 22, 2011. 8:24 AM
Sweet!
venom1539 says: Apr 3, 2011. 5:30 PM
U should make an instructable on how to make a giant fire
ilpug says: Jun 19, 2011. 8:40 PM
heres how to make a giant fire: get a lot of flammable stuff, and combine it with a lot of flammable stuff. put it all somewhere. burn it. ta-da, giant fire.
vandal1138 says: Jul 11, 2009. 11:38 PM
"Dissolve the balls". Worst quote ever....
Cronos Dage says: Jun 19, 2011. 8:30 AM
Agreed.
planetsideplayer14billion says: Nov 12, 2010. 2:11 PM
Was supposed to be a smiley
tynow says: Jun 11, 2011. 5:14 AM
darn space loss
tynow says: Jun 11, 2011. 5:13 AM
now, you will tell us what we want or we will disolve the balls!!! mwahahahahaha!! okay coffee break now. (walks away while balls disolve)
tynow says: Jun 11, 2011. 5:01 AM
that was wood? i thought it was rubber :)
lightning r fun says: Apr 15, 2011. 11:52 AM
is that the double rainbow guy in the 2nd video?!?!
bugolf says: Jun 29, 2010. 2:47 PM
Where did you light it?
ducktape.mac says: Mar 26, 2011. 9:03 AM
it looked like he had a piece of sandpaper secured onto a piece of ply wood.
bugolf says: Mar 27, 2011. 6:15 PM
No,Like i mean the place
dscel says: Aug 9, 2007. 3:35 PM
apparantly, make sure you have enough alcohol to complete the project...
xraver7086 says: Feb 16, 2011. 3:41 PM
of course. what fun is fire without alcohol?
D00M99 says: Jan 6, 2011. 4:20 PM
Was it a school project?

And the flame does look quite like the outline of a baby...
D00M99 says: Jan 6, 2011. 4:14 PM
Looks like anemone. Very flammable anemone.
planetsideplayer14billion says: Nov 12, 2010. 2:11 PM
spray paint is flame able. explosivley falmable!OO
U
AlternateLives says: Oct 29, 2010. 8:22 AM
This slightly reminds me of that scene in "9" when 5 grabs a match to light a barrel of oil to destroy The Machine. though this match is slightly larger.
MrKazekage says: Oct 22, 2010. 8:04 AM
you sir are funny
L_L_L_L23 says: Oct 22, 2010. 2:15 AM
Lol reminds me of MythBusters. It would be a good idea to not do the match head cutting around New Years with all the sparklers and all
tarzioo says: Oct 11, 2010. 6:23 PM
wow..this is seriously awesome! =D
naruto the ninja13 says: Aug 2, 2010. 6:25 PM
Chuck Norris uses this to light his BBQ grill
sploge says: Aug 1, 2010. 5:19 PM
you have a giant match but only a normal sized fire crew on hand hahaha lol nice instructable
YoungPyro19 says: May 22, 2010. 10:05 PM
I wish I was creative.
geodez says: May 15, 2010. 10:10 AM
Here is the match.
ookikies says: Apr 27, 2010. 6:09 AM
The one pic looks like a meteor is about to hit you. And that thing is sweet
woody558 says: Mar 11, 2010. 6:54 AM
Marco Polo died from illness, and lived about 650 years ago.
Udon says: Mar 11, 2010. 10:25 AM
If wikipedia said it, then it must be true.
woody558 says: Apr 14, 2010. 6:28 PM
According to wikipedia, Marco Polo died from illness, and lived 686 years ago.
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