Making charcloth...

[S.Kenton]

I purchased an altoids tin the other day in which i poked a small hole in the top of. So I already have some 100% cotton cloth patches in which I loaded the altoids tin with.. anyhow I put it in my fireplace and watched when it stopped smoking.. I pulled it out to inspect. When I opened the lid, my charcloth started turning red.. like it had caught a spark. What causes this? Also.. What did I do wrong? I'm hoping someone else has had this issue.. otherwise I'm calling Coast to Coast.. :grin:

 

[Woods Dweller]

Make sure the smoking stops and is not just spurting, As soon as it stops smoking take it out of the fire. Allow the tin to cool down before opening.

 

[Loyalist Dave]

Hee Hee :haha: Yep! I've been there and done that too..., and the response is right, allow whatever tin that you are using to cool before opening. I use a tea-tin from Twinning's. OH and be sure you don't pack the cotton or linen too tight as that will slow down the cooking time, and you might end up with some bits only browned, not charred.

LD

 

[necchi]

I learned it a bit different, that what ever tin I use for charring the cloth,,
(Old tobacco cans are really good for the job)
When I poke a hole in it with a nail, I keep the nail near by, When I pull the tin from the fire I plug the hole with the nail.
No Oxygen, No Burning, :wink:

 

[Woods Dweller]

When I pull the tin from the fire I plug the hole with the nail.
No Oxygen, No Burning,

:thumbsup: That it.

 

[Birdman]

1) WITH AN aLTOIDS TIN YA DON'T NEED TO POKE A HOLE IN IT, THE LID IS LOOSE ENOUGH (oops) to let air in and out, after the smoke stops coming out around the top let it set a minute or so longer, THEN let it cool until ya can open it bare handed, all the cloth SHOULD be coal black, no brown or shades of gray. If ya find that, close it up n put back into the fire for a bit, what happened is you opened it to soon n the char started burning again with the inrush of oxygen, it needs to cool long enough to be TOTALLY OUT before ya open it. Also don't stuff it to full, leave a little room so it all chars evenly. theres a bit of a learning curve the first couple times but no biggie, stick with it n you'll get it no problem

 

[redneck]

you need and air tight can and lid. hole in center. lit the gas coming out . when it goes out
let it cool. air got in.

 

[S.Kenton]

Thanks Guys! I tried again and was successful this time..

 

[CrackStock]

There are different Altoids can out there. The rectangular hinged type allowed a lot of air inside, but the old round can with a separate friction cap is a lot tighter. We used to drill a hole in those where the top and bottom overlap. That way allowed up to have a hole when having these alined up or not by simply moving to any other position.

CS

 

[Stophel]

Can other substances be charred and used besides cloth? Like grass, or cedar bark, or leaves, etc.?

 

[Black Hand]

Yes.

Inner bark of many trees, if fibrous, should be suitable.

Punky wood

Various Bracket/tree fungi

 

[Rod Lassey]

Yes----I tend to use charred wood much of the time. Cottonwood and elm seem to work best for me, they should be dry and punky almost to the point of falling apart. I'll light an end of a small piece on fire, get it glowing good, and drop it into my tinderbox and shut the lid. This deprives it of oxygen, allowing it to char and go out. I've had varying results with charring tree fungus, as well. And of course, there's the birch fungus which doesn't require charring at all to catch a spark (and doesn't grow where I live).

Rod

 

[Black Hand]

I've got a batch of charred rotten cedar wood that is still going strong after 10 years.

A trail-partner uses charred Cottonwood inner-bark.

 

[necchi]

Dryed, charred milk weed pod husks.
There's a little part inside the pod that'll catch a spark with out charring.
The inside pith of a Mullin stalk.

 

[Marc Adamchek]

And now I'm going to ask a question that's already been asked a million times: Can you just use rotten punk wood that's not charred?\

Reason I ask is that I read an Indian Capture tale over the weekend where the guy mentions the Indians using "rotten wood", no mention of charring. And he also mentions using rotten "spunky" wood without a mention of charring it.\

Anybody?

 

[Robert Egler]

I have tried various species of dried punkwood and I've never been able to get it to catch a spark. Once it is lit some other way it works like charcloth. I have heard that some people use it without charring, I just can't seem to do so. :idunno:

 

[Rod Lassey]

I've never been able to catch a spark in uncharred wood, either. Some woods work better than others when charred, perhaps depending on the species of wood and where it grows there might be some that would work uncharred?

I have caught a spark in the milkweed inner pod thing, but that's all I've found for my part of the country that will do that.

Rod

 

[Black Hand]

I've never been able to catch a spark in uncharred wood, either. Some woods work better than others when charred, perhaps depending on the species of wood and where it grows there might be some that would work uncharred?

I saw it done once with a piece of punky fir picked up off the ground.

 

[oldsoul]

Rather than use cloth, I prefer to char 100% cotton lamp wick. Its available at my local hardware, and is much thicker than normal cloth. A peice 3/4 x 3/4 will hold a spark for a good long while.

 

[Bear Rider]

It's not a good idea to try making char cloth on your stove top. It can be done, but you get to listen to the smoke detector until you finally figure out how to shut it down, then you get to listen to the wife complain for several days (or weeks) afterwards until the smell finally fades away. :yakyak: :surrender:

So I have been told. :haha: