Char cloth

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Char cloth

Postby hpmer » Tue Jan 20, 2015 10:18 pm

As part of improving my fire skills, I have given up on matches and lighters to start my fires, at least outdoors. I now use a Swedish Firesteel, and a tinder bundle which includes char cloth.

Char cloth takes a spark very easily and forms an ember that smolders for several minutes which gives one time to blow a tinder bundle into flame. Char cloth is commonly made from 100% cotton cloth (like t-shirts) but I've also made it from paper towels, cotton balls, dried leaves, punky wood, and some animal dung (mostly plant eaters like deer, moose, goats, etc.)

It is often made in fancy metal containers like Altoid tins with a small hole punched in the top, but I think that is a waste of a perfectly good container that is better used for other things, so I just use two metal cans of different diameters that I dig out of the trash. I punch a small hole with a nail in the narrower of the two, fill it with material and then invert it into the larger diameter one, and put it to heat. It will smoke out the hole and when the smoke stops you take it off the heat and let it cool before opening.

I can almost always catch a spark with the cloth on the first try. Dryer lint, another excellent tinder, often takes 5-10 tries, at least for me. A magnifying glass also works well.

Fire science fun. Try it. It's a great skill to know and practice, but unless your rocket stove has a good natural draft even when not burning, this might be a skill to practice outside.
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Re: Char cloth

Postby mannytheseacow » Thu Jan 22, 2015 8:37 am

I was first exposed to char cloth with my fire piston. I use it when traveling or camping. They do work great, and I do the same tin can thing you described. I always have so much junk mail at home and it seems like someone is always leaving a lighter at my house so that is my main firestarter at home. The only problem I have experienced with the fire piston is that people are often confused at security checkpoints. I think they think it's drug paraphernalia? :lol:
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Re: Char cloth

Postby pa_friendly_guy » Thu Jan 22, 2015 4:21 pm

I had never heard of a fire piston or char cloth. I think both are really great ideas. Here is a video about making a fire piston.

http://survivial-training.wonderhowto.c ... k-0138329/


I always carry dryer lint in a small pill bottle when I go hunting as a safety precaution. I figure it would make it easier to start a fire if I get injured or lost in the woods. I also pack matches or a lighter with me. Maybe now I will carry char cloth. When you make the char cloth how much material do you put in the cans when you heat it up? Is it jammed in there, or just placed in loosely? Do you just put the cans into the fire, or is it better to heat it at a much lower temperature? Thanks for the great information.
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Re: Char cloth

Postby pa_friendly_guy » Thu Jan 22, 2015 4:40 pm

I checked out you tube and found a bunch of videos on how to make char cloth, here is one of them, some show putting more cloth in the can.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r7uLVGrAt1M
Never doubt that a small group of dedicated people can change the world, indeed it is the only thing that ever has.
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Re: Char cloth

Postby hpmer » Thu Jan 22, 2015 5:56 pm

I fill the can loosely as there needs to be some voids in and around the material to let the gases out or it won't all turn to carbon. I put the cans either in the fire or on the coals depending on what I've got going. If you put it in the fire you have to watch it more closely as the temps are higher and if you overcook it it becomes brittle. Just take it off when it stops smoking out the vent hole and set it aside to cool. Be sure to let it cool before opening the can or the added oxygen will reignite it.

But don't over think it. It's easy to redo if it goes wrong. Also, I don't bother cutting it up in 2"x 2" squares or whatever as some people advocate. I use long strips that I loosely roll up. It's pretty easy to tear off exactly what you need to work with once it's char. The size you need to work with will vary with how accurate you are with you spark thrower and how dry your tinder is.

Incidently, cotton balls made into char will actually blow into flame, whereas char cloth just forms an ember. The usual idea with this stuff is to form an ember that then lights off something else that gets blown into flame.

Fun to play around with if nothing else. And make you look like a real fire starting pro as you blow a tinder bundle into flame. Looks more impressive than it is as once the char takes a spark, it's really pretty easy assuming a dry enough bird's nest of material to surround it. And you can layer it: char cloth on top of dryer lint on top of dry grasses on top of small twigs ...
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Re: Char cloth

Postby hpmer » Thu Jan 22, 2015 6:45 pm

I should have said the usual idea with this stuff is to take a single spark up to an ember that then ignites larger material. The beauty of this stuff is it takes a spark, even a weak one, better than most things.

Igniting even a very dry tinder bundle with a single spark has proven very elusive for me, but I can almost always get this stuff lit on the very first try.

Also, it works better in windy conditions which is not true of many other methods. So, a good addition to whatever your favorite starter is. Another arrow in the quiver.
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