Char Cloth Substitute

[Lukas]

hello, I was wondering about char cloth substitutes for flint and steel. Anyone know anything common enough and good? I was also thinking about taking dry natural fibres from common plants like nettles and charring them in the same way as one does with a cloth. However I do not at the moment have means of doing it. Anyone interested in experimenting and telling us how it works?

Thanks

 

[mountainm]

Part burnt cotton wool. Light it, blow it out. The charred edge will take a light from flint and steel.

 

[Toddy]

Charred nettle only works well if it's spun and woven into cloth first.
Otherwise it just crumbles.

Fomes, and many other bracket fungi work well

cheers,
Toddy

 

[Lukas]

I thought it might crumble, but what if you made enough powder to be able to catch a spark on it? Lets say you have a tinder bundle and you have two layers, one forming the nest and then the powder inside it, make a spark fall into the powder, blow it to ember and then light the outter layer with it.

 

[Toddy]

You'd be better with the fomes.
Rich manages to make fire with crumbled dri-ish leaves and a hand drill
I think what you're asking is too much work and energy expended for too little return.
Even very resinous crumbs and and very new birch bark papery peelings would be more effective.

Give it a go though, you can make charcloth or charred fibres inside a wrap of tinfoil put onto the ring of the cooker (mind the smoke detector) or just take it outside and turn a blowtorch on it.

cheers,
Toddy

 

[Limaed]

Charred hardwood punk works very well (punk is rotten wood), cook it up in the same way as char cloth. Its quite bulky and fragile but is easy to collect and common.

 

[Jimmy Bojangles]

My fave' are the conks (I think that's what people call them) that grow on dead ash. Don't know about the rest of the country, but they're quite common round here. Just look at the windfall branches around the trunks of ash trees and you'll find them. Actually don't know if they're there all year round, as this is the first year I've looked for them. Don't k ow much do I? Lol I do know, once dry they take a spark really well, definitely the best and easiest NATURAL tinder I've found.

 

[2trapper]

I saw here in Italy some experts using daldinia concentrica (fungi). I use also a big hemp rope or hemp cloth (like this one) and it works very well

 

[Jimmy Bojangles]

Oh forgot, another good tinder is teabags. If you're cheap like me you can use them then dry them out and empty out the tea. Take a spark into instant flame.

Cheers

Mat

 

[andyBruce]

Any fluffy seed heads make good tinder as long as it is teased apart to increase the surface area. If you want these to work even better, char the seed heads in the same way that you would make char cloth and the results are great!

good seed heads.... (there are loads more but this is a starting point!)
Thistle
Dandelion
Rosebay Willowherb
London Plain (tree, sorry about my spelling!)
Goat Willow (I think, could be a different willow but I think its goat) has catkins that produce a sticky fluffy seed head.

if anybody has any others please add to the list!

Andy

 

[mrostov]

The fabric lint that people clean out from a clothes dryer filter and then throw away is one of the best tinders you can carry out in the field and in your possibles kit. Just land a spark in some of it and it lights up fast.

One trick to quickly make some easily lit tinder is to grab some dry grass, twist it into a small bundle, and then lightly pound one end of it against a rock or a log, pounding with a rock, a stick, or the back of your hatchet head, until the end is very frayed and fibrous.

 

[Siberianfury]

i always use crampballs

 

[Samon]

I use grated egg box, it ignites from a flint rod and steel spark very quikly and is very easy to prepare and make.

Just use a paper egg box and grate on the spikey zester side of a grater then fluff it up when you want to throw some sparks on it. Works everytime and doesn't stink.

 

[hog]

I use cramp ball fungus and just strike direct onto it, works wonderfully, and thats with a flint and steel not a ferro rod.

 

[munchuk]

ill try that tea bag

 

[Bigfoot]

Grated egg box? Blimey, you never stop learning, right enough

 

[lannyman8]

bull rush heads work really well, the dead last seasons ones are best....

shreded toilet paper always works, just try anything that will be light and fluff up...

happy hunting..

 

[9InchNinja]

I've been using cotton wool balls. Even better if covered in vaseline, but they work fine as they are too. Also got a whole carrier bag of lint collected from the tumble dryer, that takes a spark well enough

 

[DavidBFPO]

hello, I was wondering about char cloth substitutes for flint and steel. Anyone know anything common enough and good? I was also thinking about taking dry natural fibres from common plants like nettles and charring them in the same way as one does with a cloth. However I do not at the moment have means of doing it. Anyone interested in experimenting and telling us how it works?

Thanks

hello,
I save out of date sealed bandages & field dressings for such purpose.
Regards
David