char cloth

[LANEY REECE]

How do yall carry your char cloth from breaking all up when out camping or hunting or just out and about?

 

[TDM]

I keep char cloth in a separate container, usually along with a little punk wood char. I bought small metal tins that work well.

 

[BillyC]

Not PC but I use an old Altoids tin. LOL

 

[SwampBilly]

I know it isn't char cloth but I thought I would throw this in for anyone that likes to start fire with a farro rod.

Get you some cotton balls and saturate them with Vaseline. Take a plastic straw and burn it shut at one end and cut you a piece about an inch and a half. Now stuff it full of your greasy cotton balls. And burn the other end shut.

Now keep these in your pack and when you need a fire starter take your knife and cut one open and flare out the greasy cotton and voila!
Now strike a spark to it and you are good to go.

 

[pacanis]

Small metal tin.
And the material you use makes a big difference as to the cloth's... fragility. I guess that's a word, lol.

 

[deerstalkert]

always carried mine in a Cope can. gave up on chew and now just use the silver can cover a friend gave me years ago.
still smells of cope and i get caught by the boss sniffing it once in a while.

 

[LANEY REECE]

Not PC but I use an old Altoids tin. LOL

Same as i but the char still gets broken up

 

[LANEY REECE]

always carried mine in a Cope can. gave up on chew and now just use the silver can cover a friend gave me years ago.
still smells of cope and i get caught by the boss sniffing it once in a while.

I started dipping skoal and coppen. when it was 35cents a can and still doing it now. 500.oo monthly at store.

 

[LANEY REECE]

Not PC but I use an old Altoids tin. LOL

where do you keep your steal .

 

[pacanis]

Or you could switch to charred punk wood.

 

[user 31232]

I started dipping skoal and coppen. when it was 35cents a can and still doing it now. 500.oo monthly at store.

 

[waksupi]

Not PC but I use an old Altoids tin. LOL

Ah ha! Altoids are a brand of mints, sold primarily in distinctive metal tins. The brand was created by the London-based Smith & Company in the 1780s, and became part of the Callard & Bowser company in the 19th century. Their advertising slogan is "The Original Celebrated Curiously Strong Mints", referring to the high concentration of peppermint oil used in the original flavour lozenge. The mints were originally conceived as a lozenge intended to relieve intestinal discomfort.

I've personally used a Cash tinderbox for decades, and have no problem with char breaking up. I also have an antique pocket ashtray that works very well.

 

[Scott_C]

Use old denim jeans to make char, and cut a piece of leather to fit your container with char beneath. It will protect the char even if you carry steel in same container.

 

[Notchy Bob]

I keep char cloth in a tin, with nothing else in there. Char cloth is very fragile, and if you pack it in a container with anything hard or heavy (e.g. flint and/or steel) it will be pulverized.

It is worth noting that a lot of the “tinder boxes” folks carry now were were actually intended to be tobacco boxes. The elliptical tin containers with the burning glass in the lid are examples, and to their credit, Cash Manufacturing calls theirs a tobacco box. Some retailers and many consumers insist that they are tinder boxes, though. One other historical point is that these tobacco boxes and tinder boxes in the fur trade era and colonial times were usually made of iron. I’ve seen photos of old brass snuff boxes, but iron was more common for tobacco and tinder boxes. Cash Mfg. discontinued their tinned iron tobacco boxes for a while, but I believe they are back in production now.

If you carry your flint and steel loose in a tobacco box with a burning glass in the lid, they may knock the lid loose, or even scratch the glass.

I think it’s a good idea to carry your char in a tin with a tight-fitting lid, and carry your flint and steel separately, wrapped in a rag tied up with jute twine. They won’t pulverize your char this way, and they won’t jingle or rattle. In a pinch, you can use the rag to make more char, and unravel the jute twine for tinder.

Best regards,

Notchy Bob

 

[BillyC]

where do you keep your steal .

With the char cloth. Altoid tins come in many sizes

 

[ord sgt]

I carry my char cloth in a Ted Cash brass container.

 

[tenngun]

I’m with @Notchy Bob. I keep my char in a box just for it. My fire kits have a tobacco tin with char, the flint or pyrites and steels are separate
As is my bag of fluff.
My kits have a candle and my smoking kit in it too
Tinder, is defined, starting in the eighteenth century as charred linen cloth. Yes punk and fire mushroom is also known to be used, but cloth is not incorrect or an anachronism.
Char cloth is ready to fall apart, so I like treating it like priceless eggs.
It may be the priceless thing that saves your life.

 

[appalichian hunter]

Small round metal container, as said along with striker, piece of flint, shredded dried birch bark a bit of punk wood. the tin is about 3 in. diam. and perhaps 2 in. tall with a tight-fitting lid. Never had a problem with the char falling apart. Have also used the altoids tins for various items, throw the tin in a fire it will burn off the paint, then take a small ball peen hammer on a anvil and tap out the embossing on the lid, they turn out really nice that way. Also, in the haversack is a separate bag of various fire-starting items along with a candle stub or two.

 

[BillyC]

I use an old Seresto collar tin to make the char cloth, then divvy it up between fire kits for the kids. They have fero rods in their kits and a flint and steel in a separate tin

 

[pacanis]

The advantage of using an elliptical container with a magnifying glass in the lid to contain your fire kit is... the magnifying glass can be used to start a fire if something happens to your steel or char.
Char cloth goes between the glass and the contents. Up on top. It will protect the glass.