An Alternative Charcloth Tutorial

[beachlover]

Good idea mate but the cynical part of my nature says that with that idea if you lose one item then you've lost all three!! And I know that with my luck I would do just that

I know it's Sunday and my brain does a bigger day of rest than normal, but following that argument why do we have knife and steel packages, carry our gear in a rucsac or for that matter advocate a possibles pouch?
Surely, the point of such a bit of combined kit would be to have it attached to one's person. Sounds cool to me.

 

[maverick]

I do understand your point of loosing all three items as I am pretty empty headed and lose things all the time but a sheaf could easily be modified to hold the pipe just like you would normally carry your steel therefore you always know where it is.

I still cannot figure out how to hold the steel and pipe together any ideas anyone. I was thinking of placing a bit of stag horn on the top of the steel and shaving it down to fit tightly into the end of the pipe :?:

 

[Stew]

I still cannot figure out how to hold the steel and pipe together any ideas anyone. I was thinking of placing a bit of stag horn on the top of the steel and shaving it down to fit tightly into the end of the pipe :?:

Sounds good to me. Wood may work as well...

 

[dean4442]

How about punching a small hole through the crimped section and threading a largeish split ring (key ring) through the hole. Means you can then fish the pipe out of the fire when you need to, just poke a stick through the ring and lift it out. Also, when not in use, can be clipped or tied to something making it easier to carry. :roll:

Jon.

I surrender guys you can't blame a guy for thinking (can you?)
To hold your steel and pipe together you could use jon's idea.

 

[match]

Finally got round to making some charcloth last weekend at my folks house - decided to take advantage of the real fireplace in their sitting room, and sat and played with an old coffee tin in the fire for about 20 minutes. I noticed a couple of things that might be of use to others...

1) Having tried to make charcloth in the past using various materials, I have discovere that old denim does make a very good charcloth. Rolling it up into lots of tubes is also a good way to make it, as I'm now finding it easier to transport these more durable rolls than more fragile sheets. They also ignite just as easily, and end up glowing all over as a more solid 'coal' (see the pic in the original post!).

2) A good way to tell how ready charcloth is without opening the tin is to watch the smoke - from my experience it seems to be ready when the smoke starts to lessen from the tin, but don't leave it until the smoke has completely stopped, or it might be overdone.

3) As long as you leave it to cool, you can re-seal the tin and put it back in the fire if the cloth isn't quite done. I had to do this as the pieces in the middle of the tin were underdone and didn't catch a spark properly.

Another bit of kit to add to my fire-making equipment! ):

 

[jdlenton]

What an ace idea i'm going to give th 22m pipe method a try tonight will let you know how i get on :You_Rock_

james

 

[Furface]

I only had 10mm pipe to hand, but gave it a go. Can't fit much in, but it worked a treat and made plenty of charcloth for 3 or 4 fires.

Same piece of pipe is already part of my kit. ):

 

[Carcajou Garou]

Excellent demo Alick, thanks for sharing :super:

 

[spamel]

With regards the earth plug, if you were doing this in the comfort of your home, as some have suggested, how about cutting down a bolt that is fractionally too big to fit the pipe. It would only need to be a few threads long. Then, work the shortened bolt into the end of the copper pipe, which being soft will have the thread cut into the pipe. Now you have a means of sealing the end which you can simply unscrew. The charcloth can also be stored within until the time comes to use it.

Furthermore, drill a small hole through the bolt head flats (where a spanner would be placed), from one side to the other, and you can thread a piece of wire through to form a loop in order to retrieve it from the fire, and to fix to a lanyard when it cools down.

I think that this pipe idea is great, as who needs to produce vast quantities of charcloth at one time, apart from that guy selling it on e-bay!!! It is much more handy and easier than carting a nescafe tin around. I cannot wait to try this out in the local forest here in germany!!

 

[JFW]

Great idea Spamel, will try this out at the weekend.

Cheers

JFW

 

[stuart f]

I just gave this method a go and it worked great,i now have a nice piece of charcloth.All the better as i have never made or used charcloth before ):

 

[spamel]

I just got another source of cloth, the missus binned an old set of curtains. This produced very fine charcloth, and I've got an ample supply!!

 

[Culicoidis]

What an excellent step by step guide.

Inspired by the simplicity of the idea, I decided to try it out for myself. Not having any copper pipe around, but enjoying the odd cigar every now and again I used an old cigar tube. It has a screw cap so you don't need the earth plug and it is easy to poke a small hole for the gasses to escape.
Don't use a blow torch on this one as some cigar tubes are thin aluminium.
If you don't smoke, a wise choice, there must be a pub or resteraunt around that sells cigars. Just ask to see if they have any old empty tubes lying around. Don't ask don't get.

Again excellent picture tutorial

 

[Joules]

Drill another 2mm hole in the crimped end of the tube, you can pass some copper wire through and then use that to hook the tube out of the fire... Just made mine and am having a go when the chimanea's up to temp.


Joules

 

[Joules]

Success

thanks guys, had a great time making everything, girlfriend still rolling around laughing at my escapades... BUT, it all worked, and we have a small tin of charcloth...

Joules

 

[Ogri the trog]

I've been thinking....
...never a wholy good thing but there you go.
If you were to solder a copper "stop-end" on one end, and use a "push-fit" stop on the other, you could keep your char-cloth pretty water proof. Assuming that you drilled a 2mm hole through the copper end cap - that would be the only place moisture could penetrate. And keeping water out of a 2mm hole is a whole lot easier than keeping it out of a 15mm hole!

Stop-ends and push-fit parts are available from any plumbers merchant or DIY store.

ATB

Ogri the trog

 

[Biddlesby]

I tried this technique earlier today, and crimped it with a nail to make the hole. My fire embers were enough for four perfect batches. Thanks for the idea.

 

[Joules]

I've been thinking....
...never a wholy good thing but there you go.
If you were to solder a copper "stop-end" on one end, and use a "push-fit" stop on the other, you could keep your char-cloth pretty water proof. Assuming that you drilled a 2mm hole through the copper end cap - that would be the only place moisture could penetrate. And keeping water out of a 2mm hole is a whole lot easier than keeping it out of a 15mm hole!

Stop-ends and push-fit parts are available from any plumbers merchant or DIY store.

ATB

Ogri the trog

At these temps the solder will just melt, crimping is by far the best way, if you do use a cap, just push fit as corrosion during the fire could make it lock up...

You can't beat, just plugging the end with soil.

Joules

 

[Povarian]

A bit late in finding this thread, but thought I'd give it a go - Two rolls of denim char-cloth at first two attempts. Took on board suggestions re the nail in the crimp (Hoodoo) and ring for fishing out of fire/hooking it on (Jon)

Leatherman supertool shown for scale

...and the hole in the end (used an oval nail and then flattened it a bit more.

So, had char-cloth and flint and steel - got a spark to catch first strike. It normally takes me quite a while longer.

Now one thing strikes me, since each time I've tried it, the heat dries out the earth plug, making it prone to fall out. So I won't be able to pick the cooked item up by the ring with a stick, else plug and char will fall out the bottom probably into the fire - I'll have to drag it from the fire with the stick to where it can cool down.

Great concept and very clear instructions from alick - thanks.