A quick guide to making Char Cloth
WARNING
The gases given off in this process are flammable; also, this process produces a lot of smoke and should only be done outside.
The aim of this tutorial is to give you an insight into how to make Char cloth. For this, you will need the following:
- A suitable retort (container) with an airtight lid (an old coffee can is ideal)
- Cotton (pillow cases, T-shirt, light-weight denim).
- Fire or BBQ.
- A twig.
The first thing to do is punch a hole in the lid of the retort; this needs to be slightly smaller than the diameter of the twig (the twig will be pushed into this hole to finish off the burning process). I made my hole the same size and had to use mud to seal the gap around the twig.
Now you need the material you intend to burn. The lighter the weight of the material, the faster it will burn. Pack the material into the retort; the key here is to pack the material tightly together. Air space in the tin isn’t too much of a problem, but air space in the material is. The slower the material burns, the higher the quality of the char. Now put the lid on firmly. You can scale this principle up to make your own charcoal for your BBQ if you have enough space and time.
Now for the fun, the second critical bit: the controlled burn. Heat is the key, flame is not, so you can do it on a BBQ after you have finished cooking – just make sure you have enough fuel to keep the process going.
Arranging the can at a 45-degree angle was ideal, as it kept the hole out of the way of the flame and allowed the smoke to be visible against the fence. As you need to see the smoke the cloth produces. You will need to rotate the retort periodically to ensure all the cloth inside the retort burns. IF AT ANY POINT YOU HEAR A ROARING SOUND, RUN A STICK OR OTHER DISPOSABLE OBJECT IN FRONT OF THE HOLE IN THE LID, AS THE GASES PRODUCED BY THIS PROCESS ARE ON FIRE AND SHOULD NOT BE ALLOWED TO BURN. YOU WANT SMOKE, NOT FLAME.
When all the material has burnt, smoke will no longer be produced, and this is your cue to take the retort off the heat and insert the stick into the hole in the lid. Leave the whole lot to cool somewhere dry. Now open the retort, extract the char cloth, and use it at will.
Congratulations, you have just made your first batch of char cloth.
Many thanks Simon