Today I was thinking about some of the times I've charred material that would take a spark with flint and steel unintentionally, without using a tin. A recent time that this happened was when my son and I were out and I accidentally lit a cotton bandana on fire while using it for a hot pad. The burnt area I put out would take a spark but the smoldering material would go out when it reached the un-charred cotton.
I decided to try charring material with a flame to see if I could make char cloth without using a tin. I dug out that singed bandana and tried it but the material was too thin. When I tried to "cook" it with a flame it would fall apart when handled. Next I used a single piece of denim without luck. It was more durable but I don't think I charred the thick material enough.
I was about to quit when I thought of that pile of used cleaning patches I mentioned in a previous post in this thread. Instead of using a single layer of material like I did with the denim I tried three patches.
I couldn't get out to the woods today to do this with a camp fire so I settled for using a lighter. I moved the lighter back and forth across the surface of the patches. I would work both sides and kept rotating the patches so I would char all of them.
When they would get too hot and ignite I would smother them for a few seconds with a bandana. Then I went back to "cooking" them.
They weren't completely blackened but I felt like they were charred enough to work.
Not the greatest pic but the patches took a spark quickly.
The patches smoldered and performed just like any other char cloth.
I put it down when it was too hot to hold comfortably. The patches continued to smolder until there was only a tiny fragment remaining. This performed like any other batch of char cloth.
I've practiced woodsmanship skills (usually called bushcraft in recent years) all my life. One thing I've learned and believe in is using your current fire to prep for your next fire. Since I always have patches on me when I'm out with a muzzleloader this could come in handy (if I ran out of char cloth, it was ruined, lost, etc.). As long as I have a striker or a carbon steel knife I'll have another option for starting fires.