Tadpoles Char-cloth tutorial

[Tadpole]

The other day someone on this board asked for ideas for what to do over the Easter break, one of the things I suggested was to do a tutorial on something that they were particularly skilled at. That got me thinking, what was the one skill I was particularly happy I had learnt, and was quite good at?
Here is the result
Tadpoles Char-cloth tutorial
Pictures by H (my daughter)

Pre-ramble
The whole point of char-cloth is that it is, or should be, easy to light, even with the slightest of sparks, until I hit on this method I found my experiences with the char cloth, very unsatisfactory. For the most part I found that unless you hit a lucky spark, one that hit the frayed edge, The char-cloth it was very unlikely to light. I’ve used denim, tea-towel, and tee-shirts galore. In fact lots of thing and all were unsuccessful, in that it involved a lot of striking of the flint/ferro rod, to get any result.

Being a bit tight with the old-cash and having ran out of char-cloth, the only thing I had spare was a used dish-cloth. After putting it through a wash in the dishwasher (hell it was on and I for one was not willing to risk the wrath of SHMBO by putting it in with my whites. I’ve never looked back. This method is (in my opinion) the most successful. (A single un-noticed stray spark landing in the tin I keep my cloth in, with in a few moments the whole lot was gone.)


First you need fire; my daughter here is demonstrating the ease is which it will take a spark. Four minutes after this picture was taken the fire was lit and the kettle was on

Two sparks from the same stroke strike the cloth and both start to smoulder

Blowing on the cloth for a few second and most of it was glowing red

The Hobo at full go with enough wood to boil the kettle (1.5lt water) the whole family was pottering in the garden, (thirsty work this pottering)

My hobo without the windshield (not made one yet)

For my char cloth retort I use a “travel sweet” tin purchased from Aldi, they are on offer at the moment at 75p and are full of sweets. It’s up to you what you do with them

I prefer to burn off the paint, before I use the tin. This tin is one that I have used before, the hole in the top is slightly larger than I’d normally use, I try and start with a smallish hole, as with use it will get bigger. I start the hole with the tip of my knife and push a sharpened twig into the hole to enlarge it. This hole is there to allow the gas to escape, and prevents a build up of pressure which would ‘pop’ the lid right of the tin, with amusing results,

For this batch of char-cloth I used new dish-cloths (I don’t know what happened to the last lot ) again Aldi comes in handy as they sell a packet of 8 cloths for 76p.

I cut my dish cloths to fit the tin. From one pack of dish cloths you can make 32 round double thickness disks of char-cloth, and one tin full of ‘off cuts’ (great for using with a flint and steel) it doesn’t matter how you do it so long as the lid of the tin shuts and stays shut.

Here I'm pointing out the very important hole.

Here for effect I’ve added a bit more wood (mainly to level the bed of the fire so the next two pictures could be taken

It is hard to see, but after about five minutes the cloth in the tin starts to cook/char and any gas forced out of the hole starts to burn

This picture shows the effect of the gasing off, I do not do anything more to eith the fire or the tin until the flames have stopped completely.

Just as the very last wisp of flame dies, taken just before I block the hole

As soon as the flames go out I block the hole in the tin with a piece of wood, and let the whole lot “bake” on the fire for quarter of an hour. The whole process from putting the tin in the fire takes about 40 minutes. After leaving the tin to cool I remove it from the fire, and open it to see if all the cloth has all charred, if not I return it to the fire for a bit longer.

In this picture you can just about see just how much the cloth shrinks as it is cooked. The tin was packed tightly, yet there is now half an inch gap all around the charred cloth.
I think thatthe reason that charcloth made from dish cloth works so well, is the weave of the cloth is loose; there are lots of gaps in the cloth for the spark to catch and hold.
Sorry about the quality of the last picture I was forced to change camera as the one I was using was full. For some reason this camera insisted on flashing every time and not focusing

Hope this is of some use to someone

 

[bushwacker bob]

Well done tutorial and pictures Mr Tadpole.

 

[Broke]

great! this is something i'll have to try. i was actually successful my first time in making char cloth with one of my wife's cotton makeup applicators. it caught a spark extremely easily!

Tadpole, has your cloth ever burned to a crisp by putting the hole in the top of your can?

 

[Greg]

I'll be giving this a go at the w/end at the West Wales moot! Thanks for the lesson.

 

[bambodoggy]

Nice tutorial Tadpole, really well written and photographed. Many thanks for sharing.

Cheers,

Bam.

 

[spamel]

Brilliant tutorial, and very easy to follow the step by step guide. I also use a piece of copper pipe, crimped at one end with a small hole. I pack the pipe with cloth, ram the open end of the pipe into some dry mud, and then bung the whole thing on the fire. Much the same effect except you don't get as much as you do with the tin. Still, if somebody doesn't have a tin but has some pipe, they now have an alternative method.

Don't use plastic pipe, it tends not to work very well!!

 

[Tadpole]

Tadpole, has your cloth ever burned to a crisp by putting the hole in the top of your can?

After the cloth has finished ‘gassing off’ blocking the hole keeps most of the air, removing one side of 'the fire triangle' (oxygen, fuel, heat) and so burning to destruction doesn’t happen. I've never had the cloth so crispy that it is not usable. If the cloth is too 'cooked' it still works but it’s too crumbly to keep in anything less than a tin, in a normal tinder pouch it ends up mostly as dust.

 

[Toadflax]

Thanks for the tutorial - made my first charcloth last night in an old boot polish tin, from an old (100% cotton) pillowcase.

And this charcloth is amazing - one spark from my Swedish firesteel and it's glowing red. So it's going to be a good prop while I train up on bowdrill firestarting.

Only thing is that, being pillowcase material, it's a bit thin - I suspect that the cotton dishcloths that Tadpole used would produce more heat. Then again, I can use two or three of my charcloth circles if one doesn't do the job.


Geoff

The tin with it's vent hole...

...and once I rub the soot off the outside, it forms an ideal container to keep the charcloth from getting smashed up in a tinder box. Note the glowing piece at the RHS of the picture.

 

[Silverback]

That cloth looks excellent to me - perfectly charred with no visible light patches. An old tea towel makes excellent charcloth and holds together well after charring

 

[Toadflax]

As I said before, I think this charcloth is amazing stuff.

I just managed to light a piece of the charcloth using a flint and an old file. Hopefully all you expert firelighters can still remember the sense of achievement when you first did this.

I had tried the method of holding the cloth on the top of the flint and striking the flint with the file, but most of the sparks seemed to go downwards, not over the top of the flint, so I put the charcloth on the ground, held it down with the end of the file and struck the file with the flint - and it worked! Spark flew downwards, landed on charcloth and charcloth started glowing, so I stuck it in a bundle of dry grass, blew on it a few times and got flame.

So bowdrill lighting looks achievable now (I have managed it once). What I think I'll do is put a piece of charcloth on a piece of bark and set the drill so that the ember lands directly on the charcloth...

...anyway, that's probably for another day.


Geoff

 

[oops56]

Well everybody has they way of making char cloth. I use kerosene wick also makes a good tender tube.On this stove just 1/2 oz. alcohol is the right time to make it.Now on the char cloth i put mine on top of flint over hang a bit light fist time my 2 cents

 

[Broke]

number one: I just wanted to pop in and say hello to all my fellow Crafters of Bushes! It's been a few months since I've put in my 2 cents (pence?) here!

number two: THANKS FOR THE TUTORIAL! I followed your instructions to the letter and made some pretty nice charcloth! it works!!! I finally had enough time on my hands to do it.


By the way, I would like to thank you Brits for Altoids--the tins make some Curiously Stong charcloth! :You_Rock_

 

[john scrivy]

does tumble drier fluff count as char cloth just a thought (modern char cloth) does take a spark no probs

 

[gorilla]

excellent tutorial - i have my little sweet tin, and my dishcloths - tomorrow is officially designated 'char-cloth making day', although that doesn't exactly roll off the tongue!

 

[Dave Budd]

That's a great turorial and very simialr to how I make it. Though i can't be bothered with all that cutting out of circles, I just loosely roll/fold the cloth to fit the tin I've not tried dishcloths as I have a large roll of stockingette (the sorta stuff you cover with plaster of paris when modeling). I think they both work well coz they have such open weave. I normally only need the one spark form one of my flint and steels to get it going! (I don't use the rods for some reason)

When out and about (shows mostly) i have a little sweety tin too, though smaller than yours But at home, I use the tin that fine whiskey comes in (I have to have an excuse to buy the whiskey ) That way I make charcloth from about 1x3 feet of cloth!