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Char Material

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musketman

Passed On
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What is your favorite char material for fire starting?

I am using old blue jeans denim (charred) and I'm not really that happy with it...
 
MM,diaper or T-shirt material,either one will work,as long as it's 100% cotton.I'm sure anything 100% linen will work OK too,I just haven't tried it.Wayne.
 
MM,diaper or T-shirt material,either one will work,as long as it's 100% cotton.I'm sure anything 100% linen will work OK too,I just haven't tried it.Wayne.

Wayne is correct 100% cotton T-shirt or underwear work best for me. I think denim may be to tight a weave to catch a spark easily. :m2c: :results:

YMH&OS, :redthumb:
Chuck
 
Hello All

Anything that is 100% Cotton or Linen works. If Im PC I use heavy linen charred. If I'm not I use 100% cotton bath towel the little loops catch spark real well. If you want real PC try charred punk wood (Oak or Maple) also depending on were you live the Horse Hoof Fungus on the Birch Trees sliced and charred work good and then theres always the Tinder Fungus like Jas Townsend sells needs no charring at all. :results:

"Cotton right out of the field" :huh:

Does this work? I aint never tried that!!
I have thought about cotton balls, 100% cotton ones of course, but have never tried it to much other stuff to use.

I will have to try it now.

Take care

Smiley :peace:
 
I just use the same pillow ticking from wally-world that I use for shooting patches. It works very well. I tried the burning glass on the tobacco box the other day. It set the char on fire so fast it burned my finger.
Old Charlie
 
I have always found that lenin catches a spark better than cotton. Don't know why?

Charred punk wood glows longer than either fabric and was probably the actual material used for char in the old days.

Some folk are constantly debating the use of buckskin over cloth after a year on the trail. If you were out of cloth clothes you were probably out of cloth for patching and sure wern't going to waste any patch material on charcloth!

That would leave only natural materials. Punk wood, fungus, milkweed fluff, cedar bark shavings.

Didn't we do a string on some kind of fungus a few months ago? I remember there was a long string on firebuilding that ran for nearly a month!!
 
"Cotton right out of the field" :huh:

Does this work? I aint never tried that!!
I have thought about cotton balls, 100% cotton ones of course, but have never tried it to much other stuff to use.

I will have to try it now.

Take care

Smiley :peace:

Yep!!.... I had a feller give me a "gunny sack" full of field cotton complete with "some debris",.... charred thet stuff up, and she works "GREAT"!! :applause: ::

YMHS
rollingb
 
This is supposed to be a closely guarded secret butttttttttttttttt. Go to a fabric store and ask for "MONKS CLOTH" It is a course, loosey woven cotton fabris. It must be used for crafts, doesn't look sutable for garments. Just about all the top winners I know of use it.shhhhhhhhhhhhhhh don't tell any one else :nono: :redthumb:
 
:m2c:
I like to use old cotton terry cloth towels. The little threads stick up and catch the sparks. It's probably not PC but I can't imagine any kind of cotton cloth actually is. It was too precious.
Bill
 
Old demin jeans or mostly tinder fungus. The fungus catches well burns very hot and slow, even a little hard to extinguish.
 
I've been using old blue jeans. Some of it worked well, some didn't. I think how well it was cooked may be the variable.

Have to give the old towels a try. I've noticed that the denim catches in the fringe around the edge a lot. I've gone to ripping the denim into several long strips to increase the amount of edge.

Seems like I remember seeing something about using the fibers from milkweed as char material. Don't have that stuff in the desert, so I guess I will have to remain in ignorance on that one.
 
The quickest way i seen done was with chared cheesecolth and macrame twine. the guy started it in 3 sec. his buddy who had never done it started a fire in 6 sec. I done mine in 17 sec. I had cotton tee char and flax tow .He had a peice 2x2 boar-dilly
 
I mostly stick to a bow drill. When I have to use that more modern stuff (flint/steel) I like to use blue jean material. Its harder to catch a spark, but it seems to burn slower and hotter. I have more consistancy with making a fire. I dont to the speed thing, just want a fire to stay warm.
 
In Maine we use punkwood from a rock maple(same as curley maple)for a traditional char. Cook it real well and you will have some good stuff.
Nit Wit :thumbsup:
 
I carry a short length of old unbleached fluffy rope. Don't know what it's made from, maybe hemp, but it takes very little to get it going. I start it with either a magnifying glass or one of those fire starter things that you scrape a piece of hard high carbon steel. I mounted my fire starter in a piece of deer antler and the scraper is a piece of 3" piece hacksaw blade glued into a deer antler tip. Looks authentic enough to wow my in-line BP rifle hunting partners. Usually one pull of the fire starter under the steel will Get R Going.
 
. [/quote]

100% cotton underwear work best for me.

[/quote]
So, what you are saying is that charring them turns them from brown stripped to solid black :crackup: :crackup: Just jokin'
I've been using 100% cotton string, wrap it around a piece of cardboard a bunch of time and cut it off so you have a bunch of short strings, then char it....works pretty good.
 
Howdy,
I cut my own cleaning patches out of 100% Cotton Flannel and this works real good. I also use clean old diapers, when you can find them, from the days before pampers. Thought I better put the clean part in there. They are loose woven and work really great as char. We found some at a yard sale being sold as rags.
 
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