working on my fire kit

[Sean Gadhar]

Hay I hope these help. Sorry the film making is even More Primitive then the fire making :redface:

[youtube]?v=cu5POVhR5_A[/youtube]


[youtube]Qq053EDRTfo[/youtube]

 

[George]

Thanks, Sean. That looks like good charcloth. I fiddled with a tinder tube years ago, but have little experience with it. Seems to work very well.

Spence

 

[thecapgunkid]

Spence...

If you are using the tin shown in the picture, one of the reasons you are having trouble is because that sort of Altoid Tin won't give you a good seal. You might even notice little bitty black beads in the mix or on the lid that shows the cotton has not been thoroughly purged or some moisture crept in and balled up impurities.

Recall that good char is on the verge of catching fire but can't because of lack of air. Try a shoe polish tin that you have cleaned out and washed with alcohol. Punch a hole in the lid. The seal is going to allow no air to get in there while the cloth chars.

If you are using an un-woven piece of cloth ( it sounded like just this side of cotton balls) then it will be fragile every time. A woven cotton, even as loose as cheesecloth, will hold together and catch a spark even in rainy weather.

Cloth not cooked right or even lightly humidified won't work well.

The brown cloth in your pics looks like little more than cloth. I dunno but you've tried it, and you certainly sound experienced with flint and steel, so the above is how I learned about thirty years ago. Your dilemmas sounded like mine back then.

I went from a cotton shirt to the cheesecloth years ago and unused char from 1998 will still work. IN fact, periodically when outdoors I will light my pipe with it because complete char is tasteless and keeps an even heat on the tobacco

Having to blow so long is also an indicator that you don't yet have a good mix. That's not the kind of thing you want to do if stuck in the woods.

The nest is cool.

 

[George]

Yeah, baking char in that Altoids tin was just a spur of the moment thing. I usually do it in a larger tin with a good seal and only a pinhole in the top. Old people are sometimes lazy. :grin:

The material is good for char, it is woven and tough, and when I get the bake right it works very well, has been my standard for a lot of years. I use traditional flint and steel, or the lock of whichever gun I happen to be carrying or a burning glass when conditions are right, and it performs very well with either method.

The brown cloth was just an experiment, baked in the toaster oven on a cookie sheet, not enclosed. I was just curious to see if I could make char that way, so that I could directly see the degree of carbonization. I think it will work, I just stopped short of the best final product on that first trial.

The oldest reference to making charcloth I've found, from 1588, describes setting linen cloth on fire and smothering the flame before it is completely consumed. I expect the result isn't far different from that partially burned cloth from the Altoids tin.

When I said, "It burned completely through, but even with me blowing on it constantly it took almost 2 minutes to do it.", I meant that the charcloth retained an ember for a long time even though I was blowing on it, so it would give more time to catch the tinder. As Martha says, that's a good thing.

Spence

 

[thecapgunkid]

Y'konw...you'd be the guy to ask here...

I'm told that there was enough technology to wax common brown wrapping paper in the 18th century, and I have seen plenty of shoe patterns made from the brown paper.

Any reference to this? Wrapping up char in wax paper and keeping it all dry was resilient enough to serve us well on a snow shoe trek we once took near Lake George in the dead of winter.

Thanks

Greg

 

[George]

Haven't run across anything about waxed paper, sorry.

Spence

 

[JD Peppergrinder]

I have always had luck using flannel that has a really fuzzy side. I use a small popcorn tin to char the flannel in.

 

[jaybird14]

I use my altoid tin and pillow ticking that I use for patches.
:stir:

 

[Mad Irish Jack]

I use a 1 pint new/unused paint can you can get at Lowe's, Home Depot or most hardware stores for a couple bucks. :thumbsup: I like a double head nail to make and plug the gas hole, easier to remove, I'm lazy. These cans seal well.:wink: For char I like 100% cotton thermal wear I get at the thrift store (cost is minimal).:idunno: I wash out the sizing and fabric softener with just hot water. I like the material that has the small indented squares in it. These recess areas catch and hold a spark. :grin: I char cloth and punk in this can, but not together. I keep the char and charred punk in a shoe polish tins. To use the charred punk, I open the tin, throw sparks in, pick the punk piece with the best spark catch, remove it and replace the lid. The other sparks extinguish. :wink: My char is perfect for lighting a candle wick. My fastest wick lighting time was 12.7 seconds; I was second place.

 

[coloradoclyde]

Christmas tins (like cookies or other edibles come in ) and other holiday tins that hold everything from mints to gift cards.....
People throw them out, garage sales and thrift stores are full of them. They come in all different sizes and shapes. Burn the paint off hammer out any embossing on the lid and your in business... unless the can has an extremely tight lid like a paint can or screw on lid, punching a hole isn't necessary. I usually get several of them for xmas every year....

 

[Brian Heap]

I keep a small tin with my flint and steel, plus a small piece of rope, cotton balls, and dryer lint. The dryer lint has a nice price, lights easily to. The wife doesn't mind me collecting lint from her dryer, add some pitchey pine pieces and your good to go.

 

[irishtoo]

i bought a new quart paint can with a small hole punched in the top. char cloth is made from used 100% cotton cleaning patches washed out and cooked. they work fine and they arent just tossed out. irishtoo

 

[coloradoclyde]

I actually keep my flint and steel in my tin....along with char, cordage and sometimes a candle stub

 

[pab1]

Not HC but old blue jeans are one of my favorite materials to make char cloth from. Its not as fragile as a lot of materials when charred. On several batches the material in the center did not char as much as the outer edges. When I first tested denim char, as the "ember" expanded to the less charred material in the center, the char cloth itself burst into flame without tinder. Denim is the only material I have experienced this with.

 

[pab1]

Have you tried charred punkwood Spence.
It's my favorite.

^^ this but I've also charred saddle fungus [which takes a spark FAST] but one of the best materials I've ever had take a spark EVER was common cotton oil lamp wick:
http://www.amazon.com/Guiding-Light-Oil-Lantern-Stitch/dp/B008LXUHZG

That chars well and isn't as delicate as other chars.

I use lamp wicks for tinder tubes. They work great!

 

[Flintlock]

I was just thinking about my fire kit today. While grouse hunting or just general hiking around, I got in the habit of picking up abandoned bird nests and dropping them in my game bag.

 

[smoothshooter]

If you will use a tin with a press - on lid, you can drill your vent hole on the side thru both the can body and the side of the lid. Use the lid oriented in this position with the holes lined up when making char.

You can use the same can for storing and carrying your char without worrying about moisture coming in thru the vent hole by simply putting the lid back on the can with the two holes out of alignment, making a decent seal.

 

[coloradoclyde]

99% of the time ...there is no reason to punch a hole in the lid....most lids don't fit tight enough to build pressure...

Now if you have a screw on lid or a pound on paint can....A hole may be advised..

But slip on lids like Altoids and gift tins require no such hole.
I literally have more than 20 kits....and none of them have holes....

 

[Cruzatte]

In the past, I sewed several linen shirts for myself. Now when washed, linen shrinks like crazy. So I always bought plenty of material just to be sure I could make my shirt tails and sleeves long enough to suit me. This means I would have scraps of material left that were too big to throw away, and too small to do anything much with when I had finished sewing my shirt. So into the char tin they went. I still find bags of scrap linen that I stashed away for just such uses. Linen is tough stuff, and doesn't shred easily even when charred.

 

[yotebuster]

so I know some use a new cotton mop head and say it works well in a paint can to make theirs. anyone try this??