Traditional flint and steel problems

[Phaestos]

Hey guys,

Well, I've been trying for the last few days to get a lasting ember in my charcloth with my flint and steel. I can get pretty good sparks, and the majority of them are landing smack on the cloth, but none last. They blink out immediately. I'm using the cloth supplied with the set, but they are in fairly small bits. Would the size of the cloth matter? Also, I've thrown a number of mighty blasts at pieces of the same cloth with my firesteel rod, but only a few embers are appearing, and they last only fractionally longer. Can the quality of the cloth be called into question? Its jet black and fragile as id imagine it to be if properly charred. Maybe I'm the issue. I'm not one to blame my tools, so is there some trick that I'm missing?

I'll keep trying, but help would be appreciated,

Cheers

 

[ateallthepies]

I would say it's an issue with the cloth? I have found char cloth to be almost impossible to not catch a tiny spark and go on to burn well? I char my own using old cotton polo neck T shirts with a fairly loose weave, the ones from Primark!

If your landing sparks on the cloth and it's not taking then it's the cloth. This is my first ever youtube vid on the subject to show how easy it should be, usually it now only takes a single strike to catch...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xEGLHGXQqF4


Steve.

 

[Phaestos]

Seeing your video, and others like it, id say it was the cloth too! Ive got some jeans ready to go in a tin, I just need a fire now!

 

[ateallthepies]

I usually pop my charring tin on a alcohol stove or I have just used a blow torch in the past!

Steve

 

[maddave]

I usually pop my charring tin on a alcohol stove or I have just used a blow torch in the past!

Steve

Yup

Get in the garden with your monkeyboy stove and char your own mate......

[video=youtube;VW_m7tKTMK8]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VW_m7tKTMK8[/video]

 

[Gray]

Matt, I've got a biscuit tin full of char cloth if you want some

 

[Ogri the trog]

Charcloth can vary hugely depending on the donor material that it was made from and how it was treated before charring! The age of the garment for example and how often or how many times it was washed, any fabric softeners or water treatments present in the machine or household where it was washed - and also the hardness of the water in the area; all have an effect on the resulting charcloth.

ATB

Ogri the trog

 

[slowworm]

Is the char cloth a little damp? I find stuff I've had laying about can get a little damp and be less keen to take a spark. Could you try drying out a piece before trying again?

 

[swright81076]

I've had great success with a tinder tube rather than charcloth.
I bought a cheap cotton mop head from Wilkinsons, used one of the strands and a piece of metal tube from a telescopic aerial.
Char the end of the cotton rope with a flame then pull inside the tube to extinguish. This charred end will take a spark as good as the best charcloth. It can be used many many times.

The photo shows a piece of cotton rope rather than a bit of mop. The mop is far better.

touched by nature

 

[John Fenna]

If the charcloth has been made with old clothing/towels then soap residue can be a fire retardant - I found that a batch I made over the winter was hard to get going.
I made it from some old towels from my Mother in Laws place after she died (my inheritance!) and then found that she used massive amounts of soap powder in her washes and the wretched stuff is full of soap residue and I have had to bin the lot!

 

[Ogri the trog]

You can help to get rid of chemical accumulations of soap, softener and dyes by leaving a garment outdoors for a few weeks to get rained on and sun bleached - but it is often easier to ditch it and try another batch! ATB Ogri the trog

 

[Stringmaker]

From your description it does sound like the cloth is the problem.

Even different pieces from the same batch can be better than others but a good cloth will hold any spark that lands on it and will smoulder away with no effort from you.

Just one additional point on technique and apologies if you were doing it already.

Don't try and drop sparks onto the cloth; just wrap the piece around the edge of the flint and then strike. The action will fray the cloth and provide nice fine fibres to catch your sparks where you need them whilst they are hotter.

 

[tombear]

If you want to try flax linen insted of cotton when making char I've plenty of scraps I've saved. It works better than anything I tried and stays remarkably stable / strong after its been charred. I keep a few bits of it treated with KNO3 in the bottom of my tinder box for when you want to do a Hollywood job!

ATB

Tom

 

[Wayland]

Charcloth can vary hugely depending on the donor material that it was made from and how it was treated before charring! The age of the garment for example and how often or how many times it was washed, any fabric softeners or water treatments present in the machine or household where it was washed - and also the hardness of the water in the area; all have an effect on the resulting charcloth.

ATB

Ogri the trog

If you want to try flax linen insted of cotton when making char I've plenty of scraps I've saved. It works better than anything I tried and stays remarkably stable / strong after its been charred. I keep a few bits of it treated with KNO3 in the bottom of my tinder box for when you want to do a Hollywood job!

ATB

Tom

Bearing in mind that I use charcloth almost every day in my work I need it to be absolutely spot on.

I've tried everthing going but the best, by far, is pure linen.

It catches reliably, burns steadily and when blown creates more heat than any other tinder I have tried.

Things that will interfere with it's performance include all the above but in particular if there is any synthetic content in the weave.

Often cloth described as "linen" is often something called "linen union" which is a blended fibre, sometimes with cotton but other times with synthetics.

The end result sounds very like what you describe sometimes but other times it seems to burn well but does not raise enough heat to ignite the secondary tinder.

 

[tombear]

Does any one have a link to a burn test table as as Wayland says they mix a awful lot of rubbish in Linen and cotton.

ATB

Tom

 

[SimonM]

As Wayland was one of the people who showed / taught me this technique, I too use linen when teaching the Scouts.

I get off cuts from our local fabric shop...minimal cost but very effective char cloth.

Simon

 

[Phaestos]

As usual, a wealth of information! Well, I've got a tin full of jeans ready to lob on a fire, or on a stove when I get a break from my university work, and I'll get my hands on some cheap linen. Will charcloth from jeans be fine in the meantime?

 

[Stringmaker]

As long as it is charred black then you should find that cotton jeans will work really well.

All sorts of fine natural tinders work much better when charred too if you're feeling keen.

 

[tombear]

In the orient they use charred silk fibres but all I got when I tried cooking some was a solid lump that would not take a spark. I suspect the "100% pure silk" knickers I was recycling wasn't! Has any one had any joy with silk?

atb

Tom

 

[Ed Edwards]

If you're getting a shower of sparks it should light straight up. The best stuff I've found to char is Lashing Tape:

I cut one inch squares and char them in my tin:

Once charred I tend to break them down into quarters and that's plenty to get a fire going; with some jute or equivalent.

The Lashing Tape is as thick as Denim, but far more dense so it holds an ember for ages. I also use any coals I can find from previous fires as a preferred fire lighting material.

I tend to use a Fresnel Lens when the sun's out, or on a dull day a piece of flint and whatever decent metal's about.

Hope this helps!

Ed