Char cloth

I just watched a video on making char cloth using aluminum foil. I use heavy duty foil so this will be a good experiment. Q: has anyone ever used cotton that wasn't white to make char cloth? In all the videos I see white cloth being used and above one of the posters eluded to using white so that people could see it was charred properly. Is that the reason white is mainly used?

I also read -

 

Ill share a youtube channel that has some nice tips on making it
TJack Survival
this video exactly is pretty awesome

-Phorisc
Live The Adventure

 

I like the tinder tube too. Works like char cloth and when you are done, you have the char ready for next time. And easy. Char the end by lighting it with a lighter, blow the cherry to your desired size, retract the cloth into the tube and snuff it by blocking the end with your finger. Char cloth ready and waiting. 3/8 to 1/2 inch cotton batting works best. The thinner ones work well too, but you can't beat the cigar sized cherry of the thicker ones. If you did your tinder bundle well, it will go off.

 

how we do it at the friendship blackpowder shoot take the can the oil for your carl dyer mocosans came with take a 16 penny nail poke one hole in the center of lid put cotten inside place next to fire on coal it will smoke when the smoke changes its done keep flint and striker in same can you now have a 1700 trappers bic lighter

 

one more trick with same can need glue pine tar fill can with pine wood down near the roots where the pine tar is thick fill he can fix it upside down on the fire tar will drop down into the can whe i do this i like to then pull it out and take my char cloth can and pour a layer on the botton to keep some make more than you need so you only have to mess with it once you can do it in a larger scale witha rock and a dutch oven fill the oven with fatwood place upside down on the rock seal it to the rock with clay leave a opening the the tar will flow out when you build fire under the rock you can make your char cloth in that ducth oven no need to make a whole that lid is not 100% air tight one interesting note when the zombies come and this one certain zombie keeps stealing your chickens and looking at all that food you stored i mean he did not work to earn those and you realy want to teach this zomibe a lesson why not tar and feather him you all have herd of tar and feather most people and in movies think its the black tar like on roofs nope its pine tar and has a benifit over that black tar say you want the zombie to go quick then put it on nice and hot it will burn like they show in the movies but say you want that zombie to go back to his other zombie friends so they all see what will happen to chicken stealing put it on warm like bath water then feaher then they will watch him suffer for days as he is now going slowly

ever try to get a small amout of it off your hand with no luck went home and even with gas it just was not comming off

dixie gun works still make that same tin it has not changed at all

 

We are starting to carry some tinderboxes in our shop. Surprised me how easy it is to make a mess of the stuff.

 

Here is a rough hodgepodge from several of my posts about F&S on several other forums:

There are hundreds of types of rocks, plus carbide steel, found all over the world that work as the "flint". Dozens of steel objects, plus a few rocks and certain species of bamboo, that work as the "steel". There are hundreds of natural materials from plants and fungi that can be charred, plus at least two dozen that do not need to be charred, and will catch the sparks from F&S yielding an ember. The ancient Egyptians, Vikings, Romans, Inuit, Fur Traders and many other cultures all relied upon F&S in all weather conditions at all times of year all across the globe.

Far from being limited to only cotton cloth, we can make char from hundreds of species of plants and fungi. Char can be made with or without a tin or container of any kind. Even some green woods, green leaves, etc can be charred and will catch sparks from F&S if you are knowledgeable. Amazingly there are at least two dozen natural materials that will catch sparks from F&S and produce an ember in their *raw* and *uncharred* state. We can also use char mixes, which are mixtures of charred and uncharred materials. Punkwood and cattail fluff are two of the better known natural materials that make excellent char and are a great place to start when learning which natural materials work. Of course all chars and char mixes are excellent coal extenders. Thus they help with starting every fire with any ignition method.

Contrary to popular misconception, most tins do not need any holes made in them. Millions of people made fire with F&S for the last 3,000 years without putting a metal container in a fire. Further, we do not even need a container of any kind to make char. For tins that do need holes (very tight fitting lids, screw on lids, waterproof, etc) a 1/16" hole for every pint capacity is generally sufficient. Altoids tins in particular vent too much already and do not need any additional holes. The best location for a hole (if needed) is through both the side of the lid and side of the tin. Align the holes when making char, then keep the holes out of alignment the rest of the time to protect the char. This works with any symmetrically shaped tin with a removable lid. There are several methods for making char without putting a tin in a fire. Indeed, useable char can be quickly and easily made without a container of any kind.

Every plant and fungi can be charred and used with ferro, solar, as a coal extender, etc. Only certain natural materials will catch sparks from F&S when charred. There are at least two dozen natural materials from plants and fungi that will catch sparks from F&S without having been charred.

Green Tulip Poplar twigs and green mullein leaves are among the more unusual chars that have worked for me. Most plant fluffs and fungi work well when charred. Most softwoods (not punky) work with F&S when charred. Remember that cotton is a natural plant fluff. Many forget that as they only see it after it has been processed into balls or cloth. Of course punkwood and cattail fluff are the most commonly available of the natural materials that work very well. White rot punkwood from softwoods works much better than red rot. Fascinating that the fungi responsible for white rot performs essentially the same function as charring. Primo softwood white rot punkwood not only makes for some of the very best char, it can catch sparks from F&S in its uncharred state.

Here are a few of my favorite links about F&S. Everything they are doing, I have been doing in the Upper MidWest region of the USA with local materials for many years.

Paul in Malaysia.
Sustainability and First Fire/Emergency Fire with F&S.
Advanced flint and steel - junglecraft

Keith Burgess in Australia.
"No Charcloth Flint and Steel Fire Lighting"
(edited to add: The video was not working for me as originally posted. If it is not working for you, then cut and paste the video id "5f9CjH7plps" into the YouTube search box or search for the title (in quotes above) and view it that way.)


Susan Labiste in California, USA.
Paleolithic Stone on Stone Fire.
Flint and Marcasite Fire Making

Numerous skilled people performing experiential archaeology on this forum.
PaleoPlanet Forums

Percussion Fire, aka F&S, is an easy, robust and reliable ignition method once you are knowledgeable and skilled with it. For many excellent reasons F&S was the dominant form of ignition in any weather for many people groups all across the world for at least the last 3,000 years.

 

For the "Flint" object in F&S we can use hundreds of types of rocks. Sandstone, granite, onyx, agate, jasper, dolomite, etc as well as many flints, cherts and quartzes. Carbide steel will also work. The key here is hardness. It must be harder than and sharp enough to scrape off tiny bits of the "Steel".

For the "Steel" object in F&S we can use several types of pyrites, steels from 1055-1095, O1, O2, W1, W2 and L6. Improvised strikers such as shovels, chisels, putty knives, razor knives, Olfa blades, screwdrivers, files, fish hooks, rasps, saw blades (hand saw, bow saw, hacksaw, etc. Note: very few SawzAll blades work), axes, knives, etc. Most saw blades are excellent improvised strikers, especially hacksaw blades. The key is not the carbon. Indeed some stainless steels have as much or more carbon than some high carbon steels. Rather it is the hardness. From 57-63 HRC works, with 59-61 HRC being the sweet spot.

I have long noticed that most people make and use char from only one source at a time. Nothing wrong with that. Just believe it is worth mentioning that we can mix chars with each other or with uncharred materials. (These uncharred materials must be good coal extenders.) Char mixes are an ancient Native American practice of mixing uncharred material with charred. I have found that mixing at least one third char with the remainder being good coal extenders yields consistently good results. Plant fluffs and dusts from good coal extenders have a remarkable ability to hold the ember in their center. This makes for a robust and long lived ember, which can be important in adverse conditions or when struggling with less than optimal tinder bundle materials.

There are many methods for producing flame with and without a tinder bundle or tinder at all.

There are only two ways to make char: limiting oxygen while heating (such as "cooking" in a tin or by burying then adding heat) which is called "pyrolysis" or by snuffing (setting it on fire then smothering with or without a container). Of course there are many methods by which we can achieve either of those goals.

 

Good point!

I have no idea why it seems like most use white cotton materials. Perhaps it is the same reason why most people add holes to tins. They heard somewhere that is the way to do it and followed through without understanding the principles and nuances of the task. Most are in such a hurry these days it is a wonder they don't pass themselves coming and going!

As to your first question, in addition to a plethora of natural materials that were not white, I have charred cloth that was of various colors, weaves, thicknesses, etc and caught sparks from F&S with them. Canvas, bath towels, jeans, sweatshirts (pay attention when selecting - most are not cotton these days), t-shirts, bandanas, flour sacks, etc. Anything mostly cotton that was too worn out to wear or was really cheap at a yard sale!

I find it easy to tell if it is charred properly not only by the color but also by its characteristics. If it has white ash, very sooty, crumbles very easily, etc it has been over charred. May still work, though usually not well. If cloth tears with an audible ripping sound, that is a good sign. With any char if it holds together well when you handle it, leaves very little soot on your hands, looks relatively unchanged (except for turning black), etc it is likely to be very good char.

Remember that under charred material can be "cooked" some more, or quite often be used as is. Think of the Tinder Tube where only a tiny amount is charred to catch the spark. The uncharred portion is a good coal extender. Many materials, not just cotton, will work in the same manner. However overcharred material has been consumed and is therefore unusable for catching sparks.

 

Cotton is easier for "flat-landers" to find and understand than telling them to got fetch some special leaves from the forest. It is also something easy to make, and all muzzleloaders are carrying yards of the stuff for patches and cleaning swatches. For selling it, I honestly just pull out a strip of 3/4 cut patches, finish ripping them into patches until the tin is full, and char them. And I use a screw top tin without a hole in it...looks super cool when the burning gases escaping the tin swirl around it it cool colors.

 

Good post Brokor. I've heard that cotton mops are a good source of cotton for charring. I well remember spending all too much time pulling the poly out of the center of supposedly "100% cotton" clothesline (as the package erroneously stated) while experimenting with tinder tubes many years ago. Some cotton rope from Merkwares/EmberLit charred fantastically for me, wonder if that is where it was from.

When "cooking" char in a tin I take it off the heat as soon as the intensity of the smoke begins to diminish. I have cooked char for various lengths of time, including until all of the smoke stopped as some recommend. However most times that char was over cooked and either very stubborn about catching sparks or completely unusable. Some plug the hole or otherwise seal the container while it is cooling. I have not noticed a discernable difference in the quality of char made in that manner. Length of time exposed to heat matters more than plugging the hole.

Some natural materials catch sparks from F&S better than cotton when charred. Not many, yet I've found a few.



It needs to be pointed out that oxygen is NOT necessary, indeed is harmful, when making char. The presence of oxygen ALWAYS degrades the quality of the char. A completely anaerobic environment would be ideal.

Fortunately for us there is quite a wide window with most materials. Which is why leaky Altoids tins (even without extra holes) can still make really good char. As can exposing material to flames, allowing to burn, then smothering. However, neither of these latter methods makes as high quality of char as consistently as an anaerobic environment.

The purpose of the hole in the tin is so that the lid does not blow off. Which would expose the very hot char to air and allow it to burn rather rapidly. Char that has burned is obviously then useless. The lids on most tins do not seal tightly enough for that to be an issue. Simply use caution the first time you use each tin. Then, if necessary, make as small of a hole as will adequately vent the off gases.

Minimal venting forces the off gases to fill the tin, surrounding the material, thus driving out the air in the tin while also minimizing the new air that enters. Thus while we do not need bulky, expensive contraptions that off gas through a one way valve (such as through a tube that is under water), minimizing the amount of oxygen contacting our char maximizes the results.

Happy Trails y'all!!

 

The same process is used in making charcoal for gun powder , only burning/charring soft wood.

 

I use basically the same method as "dragonfly". For the cloth i use strips of denim cut from the legs of old jeans and made into two inch wide rolls loosely secured with wire before filling the paint can with them. I find the denim to be less fragile, after charring, than a lot of other fabrics.

 

A note to remember might be that it is not necessary to have a ton of ready made char, but to have the materials set aside that among other things can be used as char cloth .
That way the use of materials is more practically accounted for .
A T shirt you wear that is completely expendable .
The initial parts you remove are those that are not necessary to it's general function ,absorbing sweat in critical areas ,on the other hand once it get's to that point it's all that's left, it's time to break out the newer shirt any way .
So far as bandage material goes the material one wears is best being the fact that one's body is already accustomed to the bacteria on one's self rather than that of others.
Volunteering an other persons clothing is not the recommended choice.
One's own T shirt is perfect for that .
Making it the most practical expendable media one can carry.
Not deliberately mind you, but a practical option.

 

I mean, you can use certain leaves, and you can just drag crap off of the fire to make char. Charcloth is just the easiest thing for non in the field people to make to start out with.

 

For larger batches and for making Char for Powder, I find old 5 gal Propane tanks work really well! A bonus is the valve can be used to regulate the gasses and withstand the heat of burning! Also makes great vaccume tanks for making larger amounts of char!

 

Here is a "mental video" for you.....

Build a fire and let it burn down a bit to coals.
Place about 8 or 10 squares (size of tin) of old denim into an Altoids tin.
Put altoids tin on fire.
NO, you do NOT have to "poke a hole". The can will vent from the hinge area.
Watch it, and when smoke stops coming out (about 15 min +/-) remove tin from fire and let cool.
DO NOT OPEN IT YET. Let it cool to touch with bare hand.

Then,
Take out char cloth and test it.
Store in your tinder box.

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