Pardon the necro...

My grandfather's firestarters were a bundle of ten strike-anywheres, tightly bound tighether just behind the head, in the middle, and just before the end, in cotton thread, and the whole dipped in wood varnish, allowed to dry, and redipped. He'd put two or three of them in a tall pill bottle with a square of 800 grit sand paper, and two or three of the said bottles in his tackle box, or in a pouch or loop on his hunting vest. He said the varnish sealed the matchwood from acting as a wick for damp, and the pill
bottle could be used as a bobber when empty.