Doesn’t it suggest he was shaving the combustible part off rather than cutting off the head altogether, and that this is standard practice in the matchbox model

Doesn’t it suggest he was shaving the combustible part off rather than cutting off the head altogether, and that this is standard practice in the matchbox modeling community? It seems like that would yield a minimal change in size, just the natural length of the stick before it was dipped in the head compound bath. For a satisfying visual from How It’s Made, consider https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=3Socf8Q3vRw&t=206 https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=3Socf8Q3vRw&t=206 I do share your wonder about whether there are size norms in the modeling community, though, given the extremely wide range of match sizes I have even in my own house.