Spunks or Matches.

Brimstone or sulfur tipped matches/spunks that I made some years ago.

Spunks or Matches?

As occasionally happens one gets used to using a certain term or word to describe an object. Then one day your use of that word is put to question, & you find yourself clawing through the pages of a dictionary trying to justify your choice of word. Well this recently happened to me in regards to my use of the term “spunks”, to denote sulphur tipped matches. After my research I find myself still a little lost. I can not remember when or where I first heard this term used, but I have used it ever since. Here then below are the results of my search, & I leave it up to you to decide which term to use. From what I can see, the term “match” or “spunk” seem to hold equal sway.
Regards, Keith.

Detail of the altarpiece of the Saint Georges church in Haguenau, Bas-Rhin, France.

In this lower image Joseph is holding flint & tinder in his left hand, & is about to strike downward against the flint with the steel held in his right hand. Below you can see an open wooden tinderbox & some spunks/sulphur headed matches/splints/tapers.

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Fr_Haguenau_Retable_de_l%27Eglise_Saint_Georges_-_d%C3%A9tail_Sainte_Famille.jpg;

A relic of Sir John Franklin's last expedition 1845-1848. Seven brimstone matches found by Lieutenant W.R. Hobson at an abandoned camp site at Cape Felix, King William Island on 25 May 1859. They were collected by the McClintock Search Expedition 1857-1859. Each match is a flat sliver of wood. Traces of sulphur are visible on the ends of three matches.

http://prints.rmg.co.uk/index.cfm?searchString=Brimstone+matches+&orderBy=0&chunk=24&event=catalogue.qsearch;

Match Sellers.

Painting by Pieter Claesz 1636.

This wooden box for 'spunks' or sulphur matches dates from the early 19th century. It was turned out on a lathe at Kirkpatrick-Durham in Kirkcudbrightshire.

The box is in the form of a barrel which unscrews two-thirds of the way up. It has the initials R.I. (for Robert Innes) on the bottom.

Sulphur matches or 'spunks' have a long history, and may have been used by the Romans.

http://nms.scran.ac.uk/database/record.php?usi=000-100-103-604-C;

SPUNKS.

1815 “Ye may light a SPUNK o' fire in the red room.”—‘Guy Mannering’ by Sir Walter Scott, xi.

In the morning early, before dawn, the first sounds heard in a small house were the click, click, click of the kitchen-maid striking flint and steel over the tinder in the box. When the tinder was ignited, the maid blew upon it till it glowed sufficiently to enable her to kindle a match made of a bit of stick dipped in brimstone [sulphur]. The cover was then returned to the box, and the weight of the flint and steel pressing it down extinguished the sparks in the carbon. The operation was not, however, always successful; the tinder or the matches might be damp, the flint blunt, and the steel worn; or, on a cold, dark morning, the operator would not infrequently strike her knuckles instead of the steel; a match, too, might be often long in kindling, and it was not pleasant to keep blowing into the tinder-box, and on pausing a moment to take breath, to inhale sulphurous acid gas, and a peculiar odour which the tinder-box always exhaled.
Sabine Baring-Gould, Strange Survivals, 1892, Devon, England

1843, John Wilson, John Gibson Lockhart, William Maginn, James Hogg, The Noctes Ambrosianæ of “Blackwood", Volume IV, page 396,

“Spunks "” spunks "” spunks "” who will buy my spunks?" "” cried an errant voice with a beseeching earnestness 

Etymology

1530, blend of spark +‎ funk ‎(obsolete, “spark”).

Funk ‎(“spark, touchwood”) is from Middle English funke, fonke ‎(“spark”), from Old English *funce, *fanca ‎(“spark”), from Proto-Germanic *funkô, *fankô ‎(“spark”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)peng-, *(s)pheng- ‎(“to shine”), and is akin to Middle Low German funke, fanke ‎(“spark”), Middle Dutch vonke ‎(“spark”), Old High German funcho, funko ‎(“spark”),German Funke ‎(“spark”).

NOUN:  A piece of tinder, sometimes impregnated with sulphur; a match. 

spunk (n.) 

1530s, "a spark," Scottish, from Gaelic spong "tinder, pith, sponge," from Latin spongia

http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?allowed_in_frame=0&search=sulfur+spunks

The term "spunk" originated in the early 1600's in the British Isles meaning "a spark," having been adopted from the Gaelic spong for "tinder," which in turn comes from the Latin spongia. The Latin appears to be derived from how closely the popular kindling touchwood resembles natural sponges. 

http://etymologynow.blogspot.com.au/2010/02/etymology-of-punk-and-spunk.html

Spunk: A spark of fire or small portion of ignited matter.

Sponk: A word used in Edinburgh which denotes a match or anything dipped in sulphur that takes fire.

https://books.google.com.au/books?id=hotTAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA5&lpg=PA5&dq=when+was+the+term+spunk+first+used+to+mean+sulfur+matches&source=bl&ots=zAB2byv-j8&sig=uc-0A_1xJSvMRMkL-1QINL7b9sA&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiG7drVjarPAhUGjZQKHSphBbI4ChDoAQgaMAA#v=onepage&q=when%20was%20the%20term%20spunk%20first%20used%20to%20mean%20sulfur%20matches&f=false

Proceeding Of The Old Bailey. London’s central Criminal Court.

 Peirce Jones, Theft > burglary, 31st August 1692.

 a Betty was found lying near the Door, and some Matches and a Tinder box was found upon the Prisoner; 

Thomas Man, Theft > grand larceny; Benjamin Williams, Theft > receiving, 14th January 1702.

Williams lent them a Bag and some Matches,

Isaac Ragg, Theft > theft from a specified place, 14th January 1715.

 and a Pistol, several Picklock Keys, and some Matches, found upon him.

John Smith, Theft > burglary, 27th April 1715.

 Picklock Keys, and a Tobacco Box, with Tinder and Matches in it, were found in his Pocket. 

 Theft > housebreaking; Mary Powell, Theft > housebreaking, 7th September 1715.

 with a Chissel, a Dark Lanthorn, and a Bundle of Matches. 

Joseph Still, Killing > murder, 27th February 1717.

 Candle and Matches,&c. lying on the Ground. 

George Watson, Theft > grand larceny, 4th April 1722.

about him, with a Tinder Box, Flint, Steel, Matches, a Gimblet, Knife and Pick lock key:

https://www.oldbaileyonline.org/search.jsp?form=_divs&_divs_fulltext=matches&ref=&_divs_div0Type_div1Type=&submit.x=45&submit.y=12&submit=Search

America's 19th-century spunk-faker supposedly sold matches (spunks)

https://books.google.com.au/books?id=HVIPDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA23&lpg=PA23&dq=18th+century+spunk-faker&source=bl&ots=Svmahj4i4X&sig=dw-NG-CC1Kr7oldUNzcLdWEg6z0&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjQ2sSZ6qvPAhVNtJQKHXuoBa8Q6AEIGzAA#v=onepage&q=18th%20century%20spunk-faker&f=false

...the infant at its mother's side too often awoke.....The mother was soon on her feet; the friendly tinder-box was duly sought. Click, click, click; not a spark tells upon the sullen blackness. More rapidly does the flint ply the sympathetic steel. The room is bright with the radiant shower. But the child....shouts till the mother is frantic. At length one lucky spark does its office - the tinder is alight. Now for the match. It will not burn.....Another match, and another, and another. They are all damp. The baby is inexorable; and the misery is only ended when the goodman has gone to the street door, and after long shivering has obtained a light from the watchman.
Charles Knight, Once Upon a Time, 1854.

https://archive.org/details/onceuponatime01kniggoog

The matches were thin splints of soft wood, sharpened at both ends, and tipped with sulphur. The street-dealers were the chief match-sellers. Several matches were spread out, fan-like, into bunches; and according as trade was bad or good, so were we invited to buy three, four, or more bunches for a penny.
Matches and Match-makers, in Chamber's Journal, 1862.

https://books.google.com.au/books?id=EanQAAAAMAAJ&redir_esc=y

(1)             Tinder, touchwood, as a means of raising fire from a spark (Sc. 1721 Ramsay Poems (S.T.S.) I. Gl.), also in Eng.; later, a sliver of wood dipped in a preparation of sulphur and used for the same purpose (Sc. 1782 J. Sinclair Ob. Sc. Dial. 128; s.Sc. 1802 J. Sibbald Chron. Sc. Poetry Gl.). Hist.; in modern usage, since the mid. 19th-c.: a phosphorous friction match, a lucifer (Per., Fif., Lth., Ayr. 1915–26 Wilson; Bwk. 1942 Wettstein; Rxb. 1942 Zai). Gen.Sc. Also fig.Sc. 1755  S. Johnson Dict.:
Sponk, a word in Edinburgh which denotes a match, or anything dipt in sulphur that takes fire.Abd. 1794  J. Anderson Peat Moss 30: 
The natives where such fir abounds are in the practice of splitting it into chips, somewhat thicker and larger than those used in the towns for sponks, and employing these instead of candles for giving light.Sc. 1822  Scott Pirate vii.: 
A gathering peat on the kitchen fire, and a spunk beside it.Dmf. 1822  Scots Mag. (Sept.) 308: 
When ill Rab Duff and me laid brunstane i' the logie, and were ta'en i' the verra act o' clapping a spunk till't. Ayr. 1830 Galt Lawrie Todd VI. v.: The puff of passion to which he had put the spunk was out.Ags. 1853  W. Blair Aberbrothock 15: 
Maister Bell's discoorses are no that ill to mak spunks for bawky pipes.Mry. 1872  W. H. Tester Poems 143: 
Has sworn to tax the little lowes That emanate frae spunks.Abd. 1879  G. MacDonald Sir Gibbie xxvii: 
The san' paper 'at they hed been lichtin' a thoosan' or twa lucifer spunks upo'.Per. 1881  D. Kippen Crieff 199: 
Spunks were narrow pieces of fir roots about six inches long, with brimstone on the points, which ignited at the sparks in the tinder-box.wm.Sc. 1886  Trans. Gael. Soc. Inv. XII. 394: 
The making of these matches, or “spunks” as they were called, gave occupation in the long evenings to the male part of the family, who split up fine pieces of fir, and dipped the ends into melted brimstone or sulphur, and thus produced a rude lucifer match.

(2) A thin slip of wood, a spill used for making spunks as above; a splinter, smithereen, chip, in gen. (Per. 1915 Wilson L. Strathearn 268); fig. something of no value. Adj. spunkie, like a spill.Dmf. 1810  R. Cromek Remains 148: 
The deil sat grim amang the reek, Thrang bundling brunstane matches; Ye'll run me out o' wun spunks.Sc. 1824  Scott Redgauntlet xvii.: 
All broken to pieces; fit for nought but to be made spunks of.Fif. c.1850  W. D. Latto Twa Bulls 26: 
Wi' that he leaped among the trunks, An' knocked the luckless box to spunks.Abd. 1851  W. Anderson Rhymes 72: 
To hear a' his stories they never wad tire, As they sat in a burichie roun' his spunk fire.Mry. 1887  A. G. Wilken Peter Laing 45: 
The bull gaed to the han' barrow an' brak it to spunks.

http://www.dsl.ac.uk/entry/snd/spunk

How To Make Spunks/Sulphur Tipped Matches.

The Joseph Method Of Flint & Steel Fire Lighting By Keith H Burgess

Location of painting showing this flint & steel fire lighting method in the 15th century.

Saint Georges church in Haguenau, Bas-Rhin, France.

More on Punkwood or Touchwood.

Recently someone contacted me and told me that to date they had not managed to make fire with flint and steel using uncharred punk wood. At the same time he quoted a passage from an Indian captivity document claiming that a John Tanner had indeed accomplished this. 
However, having read the passage that I think he is referring to, I think it more likely that John Tanner used gunpowder on the rotten wood in order for it to catch a spark. Here below is the quote in question:

"Owing to our hands being benumbed with the cold, it was long before we could extricate ourselves from our snow shoes, and we were no sooner out of the water than our moccasins and clothes were frozen so stiff that we could not travel. I began also to think that we must die. But I was not like my Indian brother, willing to sit down and wait patiently for death to come. I kept moving about to the best of my power, while he lay in a dry place by the side of the bank where the wind had blown away the snow. I at length found some very dry rotten wood which I used as a substitute for spunk, and was so happy as to raise a fire. We then applied ourselves to thaw and dry our moccasins, and when partly dry we put them on, and went to collect fuel [Page 24] for a larger fire than we had before been able to make".

Now although no mention is made here of using gunpowder, it is obvious to me that this method was known to John Tanner, and that he had used this method before. Note this earlier comment by John Tanner:

"Fortunately the water was not deep about the rock, nor between it and the land, and though a thin ice had formed, I was able to break it, and carry my children on shore. But here we had nearly perished from cold, as my spunk wood was wet, and I had no means of kindling a fire, until I thought to split open my powder horn, when I found in the middle of the mass of powder, a little which the water had not reached. This enabled me to kindle a fire, and was the means of saving all our lives".

Note also the term "spunk" is used and not "punk". This I think is the first time I have heard this term used for tinder rather than sulphur tipped splints which are known as spunks.

Here are a couple of videos I made on the use of gunpowder for making fire:

Different Ways Of Making Fire.

The Spill Plane.

I have read that the purpose of the spill plane was primarily to produce kindling in a home where sticks and twigs were not available for making fire. I have no doubt that wood produced by this plane could be used for such a purpose, but it seems to me that it was infact designed to produce "spills". A spill was used to transfere flame from a fire to a candle, lamp or pipe for smoking. A spill was also used for making spunks by dipping one end of the spill in moulten sulphur. This spunk would then take fire from smouldering tinder in a tinderbox and could be used to light a fire, a candle or a lamp.

 Spills made into spunks which I made by hand.

Two spill planes. Note the hole in the side of the plane just below the cutting blade in the top. This is where the made spills come out.

Spunks.

Making 18th century Spunks Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kEi-wkobZEc

I assume the "crosier" mentioned above came from the design of the Old English steel as below.

Two New Skills Videos By Request.

Plant Tinder Preparation.

A quick word about using cotton or linen cloth as tinder. Using cloth in the 18th century was probably mostly restricted to the homes, and not used in wilderness situations. Cloth was a valuable commodity and was not thrown away lightly. Cloth would probably have been used as cleaning rags before it was finally used as tinder. Tow rag was a very course cloth and probably the first to be used as tinder.


The term tinderbox can be used to describe a box or container itself used to contain tinder, and to prepare tinder. The tinderbox comes in many forms and is made from a variety of materials including iron, brass, silver, and wood. The wooden tinderbox was the type often used in homes, and it had a damper lid which fitted neatly inside the box for smothering the smouldering tinder.

The term tinderbox can also be used to describe one's fireworks, or all the items used such as flint, steel, and tinder. A lock from a flintlock musket for instance was termed a "tinderbox" by Daniel Defoe in his book Robinson Crusoe.

This flint lock on this gun can be used to make fire on or off the gun. In Robinson Crusoe Defoe chose to have Crusoe use just the lock alone. Whether he removed the lock or found it as a spare lock I can't recall.

In the same way this tinderlighter was used in homes to make fire, and this one also has a candle holder so one can light one's self around the house at night. The tinderbox and the tinderlighter often were combined with the use of spunks, a sulphur tipped splint which would catch fire from smouldering tinder.

Spunks.

To prepare tinder material it often had to be charred. Amadou, a tinder material produced from the fungus Fomes Fomentarius, was treated with potassium nitrate and sold on the streets and in apothecary shops.

Tinder material that had to be charred, such as tow rag, was charred directly in the fire and then smothered in the tinderbox. This method I believe was also used in wilderness places using plant materials. Sparks were struck directly into the tinderbox to make fire, the kindling dry grass or teased rope or other being offered to the smouldering tinder in the tinderbox and blown into flame.

In this image above you can see the damper in place in the tinderbox, and the illustration also shows that sparks were in fact struck directly into the tinderbox. Of course in reality the damper would be removed before striking sparks onto the tinder.

Also it is important to note that the steel is struck a dowward blow with the flint, not the other way round. Striking the steel with the flint directs the sparks downward into the tinderbox.

This is my tinderbox which I carry with me inside my greased fire bag which is carried inside my belt pouch so it is always with me.

Note the uncharred tinder material in the tinderbox, this will become charred from using the charred tinder in the box. Also note I am using a musket flint. This one is an original Brown Bess musket flint.