Best Char?

[nit wit]

Marc:
100% cotton is easy to get, but to be correct use punk.Since you are in the northeast find a dead rock maple/sugar maple, look for the tan rotted wood and you can make some fine char with it.
Nit Wit

 

[Marc Adamchek]

Monk's Cloth! Many Thanks to TJK & Mongo40. This is the material I knew I had read about but had completely forgotten the name of it. Whew! Thanks again!

To the punk brigade, yes, I have charred a few of the punky innards of a large branch that had fallen from our 70 year old birch tree. I carry some of it in one of my fire kits, along with thin peelings off the bark for rapid flame generation.

I currently have 3, maybe 4 fire kits I've put together (except the one Daniel Winkler did for me)and carry different fixins' in each of them.

Does anyone else do this? Ya know, just for the helluvit to make things interesting and learn heap big magic.

 

[coloradoclyde]

I have at least a dozen fire kits. last summer I started at least 1 fire every day for 3 months with a flint and steel trying different things.

 

[Rod Lassey]

Same here---I've got several different kits, one I carry on my belt, another emergency kit in my shot bag sealed with wax, a bag of tinder and extra flint and steel buried in my packs, etc. I can't have too many, I guess, and I've made one up for my wife---now that I think about it, my two oldest boys should each have one, too, and learn to use it.

I'm always trying different material---in addition to the ordinary charred cloth, I char punky wood, tree mushrooms, I've used birch fungus, and milkweed pod pith to catch sparks. Dry grass, bits of birch bark, sagebrush bark, juniper bark shavings, cattail down, etc. all work good for the nest.

Rod

 

[Billnpatti]

100% cotton drill has worked quite well for me. Not too flimsy but not too heavy, either. It seems that the heavier the char, the harder it is to light but if you use material that is too light, it becomes too flimsy to handle and turns into black dust in your can.

 

[Mad Irish Jack]

My cloth of choice is 100% cotton thermal long underwear. I purchase it from a Salvation Army and thrift and resale stores. I look for the damaged stuff as it is less costly. I rewash it in hot water without detergants. The older styles have almost a bubble wrap look to them. Those little pockets catch almost any spark; thus, the sparks don't bounce off like on some flat materials.

 

[MOwoodsman]

Why char? :grin:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3YlioTqwA1A&feature=youtu.be

 

[smoothshooter]

Teri (?) cloth towels or wash cloths are the best thing I have found. The extra thick weave catches a spark well and seems to burn a little hotter than thinner material.

 

[Claude Mathis]

Why char? :grin:

Because everyone has cloth, but not gourds. :wink:

 

[MOwoodsman]

milkweed ovum works just as well.

 

[Snakebite]

CHAR! I seem to recall T-shirts are out, even if they are 100% cotton, is that right?

Guess I'm behind the times again, didn't know you couldn't use cotton t-shirts. Didn't know the flint/steel and fire could tell the difference. All I know is that I've been making char with old t-shirts for a very long time.

 

[coloradoclyde]

when I make char-cloth I use a t-shirt. same goes for cleaning patches. heck I even use dirty cleaning patches for char. I also like to use punkwood from a boxelder tree. Punkwood is my favorite. good dry punkwood from a boxelder will take a spark and burn with or without being charred,although charred is better. a good piece of charred punkwood will set twigs on fire, no birdsnest required. I carry punkwood, fatwood and charcloth in my fire kits, I like to have options when making a fire. :v

 

[Muskeg Stomper]

I have found the absolute best material for making char cloth is old burlap bags. It doesn't flake apart the way cotton cloth does if slightly overcooked. It does a great job of catching sparks and it hold them really well until you blow on it in the middle of your birds nest.

 

[Brokennock]

Can't replenish clothe in the woods. Dried cattail tops work great, as does punk wood, and tinder fungus. And, they are reusable if you use them right. They hold that coal longer than clothe too.

 

[Canute Rex]

There's tinder fungus and false tinder fungus. The real stuff looks like, well, a turd stuck to a birch tree. That will catch a spark if it is dried. Back in the day they apparently ground it into a powder and used it that way.

The false stuff is a hoof shaped mushroom that also tends towards dead birch. I just charred some false tinder fungus after slicing it into 1/8" thick sections. It catches and keeps a spark well.

 

[thehorn]

Put me down too as being in favor of tee shirt char. All I know is I have plenty of them and they are easy to process into char. Never had a problem with them catching a spark either.

 

[sloe bear]

you have to be careful ,a lot of the flannel made for kids PJs has fireproofing agent on it , and take it from me that bird wont fly. I have found that military cleaning patchs work great

 

[running horse]

I believe it's called cotton piping not sure how hc it is but it is about $.25 a foot or do at Joann is just cotton fibers bound in something like a type with cotton thread just coil it up in your box char and pull off a piece as you need it

 

[williamsdav]

Two cents more here: The heavier "mattress ticking" makes a very hot char that does not go up too fast. It's won me a contest.

That said, I'm now looking for the monks cloth that I have not tried.

 

[Stophel]

I've only used char cloth before and wonder what might work WITHOUT charring. Will tinder fungus or punky wood or cattails catch a spark as-is, without being charred first?

I have read that traditionally, tinder fungus would be soaked in saltpeter to make "Amadou". Anyone here try that? Also thinking "out loud" wondering if nitrated cigarette papers would catch a spark...