Charcloth, making some.

[wanderinstar]

Have read a few threads on this subject and I have a few questions.
Firstly, you put tin ,with lid on, over heat. Does it smoke first and then issue flame. Presume you put stick in hole when flame starts. Do you leave it on heat after that, if so for how long, or do you remove it from heat. Want to have a go at making some tonight.
Ian.

 

[C_Claycomb]

I don't know the proper way, but I got chared cloth at the end.

I had a travel sweet tin with a litte hole in the top about half full of cotton polo-shirt, this worked better than the thin denim I tried. I heated until the smoke started to thin, stuck the plug in and removed from the heat.

 

[British Red]

Deleted (images expired)

 

[wanderinstar]

Cheers Red,
I have done all that. Put a bit of charcoal in barbie and heated it over that. Not a lot of smoke at all and certainly no flame.Its been on for about 15-20 mins. Have taken it off heat and will wait for it to cool. Have used a piece of windowcleaners skrim which I believe in a sort of linen, certainly thicker than a pillowcase.
Ian.

 

[British Red]

Ian,

15-20 minutes should be ample! If it doesn't work out, try a different cloth and a direct heat source. Old cotton t shirts or jeans or tea towels work well. On a gas stove or in the embers of a fire, I get smoke in a straight plume like that in about 1 minute, but the tin gets hot fast! Once you get the trick of it, one in 10 burns still goes odd for reasons I cant fathom

Let us know how it worked out for you mate

Red

 

[KIMBOKO]

One of my Scouts wanted to light a fire from flint and steel last night but was having difficulty with the damp tinder. So I suggested that he use a lot of char cloth in his tinder bundle. I gave him all my charcloth from my tin, then refilled the tin with fresh cotton cloth and placed the tin in the fire. I promptly forgot about the tin for 45 mins and when I went back to the tin it was red hot and glowing. I raked the tin out and saw burning charcloth through the little hole in the top. I poked a stick in the hole waited a few minutes for the tin to cool down, removed the stick and when totally cool I had made some charcloth. As long as there is no air getting into the tin there shouldn't be a problem with leaving the tin in heat for quite a long time. The charcloth won't burn if there isn't any air. The centre of a fire has very little air as the burning wood is using it all (reducing fire).
If you use a stove or an oven or don't put the tin in the centre of a fire there is more available oxygen and the charcloth could burn if you leave it too long.

P.S. The Scout did manage to make a fire.

 

[nickg]

I find that an old cotton shirt works best of all, the thin material takes a spark first time every time. I regularly give demos during reenactment shows through summer and go through a lot of charcloth. I use an old travel sweet tin with a very small hole in the top (I think i used a panel pin to punch it. Put it on the fire till the smoke dies down to a wisp and take it off and forget about it for an hour - perfect every time

 

[wanderinstar]

Well Red,
It did work,sort off. Think I put too much in tin. The bottom was charred but the top wasn't. Took it out of tin and turned it round and put it on a Gaz stove. Got a lot more smoke from this heat source.
Tried a bit off cloth from first burn,worked well.
Ian.

 

[British Red]

Well done Ian, glad it worked mate - try a looser pack next time, but you've got it working which is the main thing!

Red

 

[Joeri]

yeah!
Made some charcloth yesterday evening! Thank for the photo's red. One of the things I was wondering about was what kind of tin to use. And your tin of empty shoe polish or something like was just the thing I was looking for. So I emtied a small lightweight shoepolish tin and it worked very well!
I was wondering though. the charcloth seems to glow very fast. would a thicker piece of cloth make it go slower or does it always go quick?

Also I had never really blown an ember into fire. I have made quite some fires over the time, but never out of an ember. In my second try with a bundle of dry grass and my newly made charcloth I succeeded.

How nice when things work out!

 

[Kepis]

I posted a similar tutorial a while back, have a look at http://www.bushcraftuk.com/community/showthread.php?t=10049&highlight=charcloth

 

[Wayland]

I find that an old cotton shirt works best of all, the thin material takes a spark first time every time. I regularly give demos during reenactment shows through summer and go through a lot of charcloth. I use an old travel sweet tin with a very small hole in the top (I think i used a panel pin to punch it. Put it on the fire till the smoke dies down to a wisp and take it off and forget about it for an hour - perfect every time

Tut tut Nick.... you should be using linen in the 15th century.

 

[Biddlesby]

A good way of making it in a tube, here: http://www.bushcraftuk.com/content/articles.php?action=show&showarticle=59

And another tutorial:
http://www.bushcraftuk.com/content/articles.php?action=show&showarticle=45

 

[British Red]

Joeri,

Well done mate! Its a bit of a blancing act with thickness - effectively you are making charcoal, so a thick bit will burn longer, but may be harder to light to begin with. I ofetn ignite a thin piece that I transfer to a "wad" (ember extender) or a piece of fomes etc. before blowing into life. The real trick is getting the glow - if you need to transfer it to a larger piece to ket your secondary tinder going, do!

Red

 

[British Red]

Biddlesbey / Maver....the difference between those tutorials and mine is er....quality....mine lacks it, they have it ! I wish I'd known they were there - would ahve saved me uploading photos via dial up (sigh). Still if it got Wnaderinstar and Joeri going it was worth it . Actually its good seeing other peoples methods - liked the copper idea a lot!

Red

 

[wingstoo]

Joeri,

Well done mate! Its a bit of a blancing act with thickness - effectively you are making charcoal, so a thick bit will burn longer, but may be harder to light to begin with. I ofetn ignite a thin piece that I transfer to a "wad" (ember extender) or a piece of fomes etc. before blowing into life. The real trick is getting the glow - if you need to transfer it to a larger piece to ket your secondary tinder going, do!

Red

But don't let me near it...Red will tell you...I put the ember out! Doh

LS

 

[British Red]

Aaah yes - don't know what it is that LS breathes out (possibly pure nicotine and CO2) but it somthers embers in an instant - his fir kit consists of, flint, steel, charcloth and someone else to puff

 

[Aliwren]

Great tutorial British Red, Just what I was looking for, thanks :You_Rock_ !!

 

[Toddy]

I have a small mountain of linen scraps just now (ghilliie shirts ) if anyone wants to try some linen for charcloth I'll happily fold some up into a letter envelopesworth and post it to them.
atb,
Toddy

 

[Bisamratte]

Interesting thread this.

When I got my flint and steel it came with some charcloth and instructions how to make it. The instructions say to place cotton cloth in a sealed tin with a small hole in the lid and put it on the fire, you soon see a flame over the hole and when it goes out you need to plug the hole. The flame is produced from the excess gasses in the cloth and when this has burnt off it leaves perfectly carbonised charcloth. I have done it this way with some thick denim and it catches a spark better than the charcloth that I started with, plus it doesnt disintigrate as thinner charcloth does.

I have previously read that when making charcloth a flame means that there is too much cloth burning -but it seems to work for me

Another way is to set fire to a piece of cloth and stamp it out when it has burnt a bit.

Andy