Certainly some very valid points there....so just to be a pain I'm going to be pedantic.....
Steve, it's great that your young-un did that but wouldn't it have been just as great to see him use the firesteel to light a natural tinder....birchbark for example or some other natural type, fungus maybe? (Please understand, I'm not distracting from your lad's success...just saying that he could have had the same success with a natural tinder and maybe been even more chuffed with himself).
Khimbar, I am very lucky in that I have a wood burning stove at home (actually I'm not lucky...I paid for it and I installed it coz I wanted it..lol) and as I've disconnected the central heating....
![Naughty :naughty: :naughty:](/community/styles/default/xenforo/smilies_bcuk/naughty.gif)
SWMBO is the one chasing me to light the fire whenever possible! lol
Furface, very fair point but neither me nor Hobo are saying to go straight to friction (well I wasn't anyway)...just that you can use natural tinder (see my reply to Steve above)
Match, if I'm in the middle of knowhere and need a fire the last thing I want to do is start ripping up my clothes to make charcloth!!! Ok, apart from that I haven't got a response to your other points....lol... it is usefull for practicing the ember blowing to a flame thing...
Don't get me wrong guys, I'm well impressed with how charcloth works and think it's a great idea in principle.... I just have issues with it being neither one thing or the other:
1)If it's a back to basics things then use natural tinder too.
2)If it's a get the fire started at all costs thing use a lighter.
Hope that wasn't too pedantic.....I am playing devil's advocate a wee bit but it is more or less my opinion.
I carry a firesteel and use it to light my fires pretty much all the time, I can bow drill a fire but I'm no expert and lets face it, it can be hard work (see...I'm really not an expert)... but I have never used charcloth...
Oh well, that's me....time to duck again... :wave: