I just made my first batches. I didn't really know exactly how when I started but had the general idea.
I used some old jeans, cut them up and stuffed into a little Altoid's gum tin. I also did a larger batch in an old tea tin.
After about 30 minutes of horrible smelling smoke I took the tins off the fire (charcoal).
After it cooled I checked the tin; the cloth was totally black and weighed a fration of its original weight. I tried my Sparklite on it. The first tiny spark caught the edge of the cloth and it started glowing into a large ember right away.
This was a really cool experiment. I suggest you try it.

I want to try that Billy.Did you enclose the cloth in the tins while cooking? I mean, with the lid on? Did you leave any air vents or just close them up?

The tea tin has a separate lid that I put a pin hole in. The mini Altoid tin has a hinge and I did not make a hole.
In the altoid's tin I rolled up a 2" x 10" piece of denim and closed the lid.
The tea tin I simply dropped six 2x4 swatches into the tin loosely.
Both came out fine. In fact the rolled altoid version leaves you with a nice roll of char in a nice sized tin. This will probably be my field tin for the char as well. That way I can both carry the char and make more in the tin when it is gone. Don't throw out them old jeans.
Now to get some flint and steel and Pyrite and try it like the Mountain Men of old.

Does charred cloth become dirty and basically turn your hands completely black when manipulated?

yes, it is very sooty.

edit; it leaves a black soot on my finger when I rub it between my finger and thumb.

I make char cloth in an old KIWI boot polish can with a small hole in the top, that I thread a small wood screw into, to seal it after the carbon is done.
The can itself is sooty after it comes out of the fire. I use it to store the bulk of my char stash, and keep my fire starter tin and char bag in my leather Black Powder Possibles bag.
I pluck out char cloth from the KIWI can with the sides of my little leather char bag, and tie it shut with a leather thong to keep it secure.
My fire starter tin has old flintlock flints and a steel to make the spark. I can also use the lock on the rifle to start a fire, as well.

Another excellent substitute for char cloth is punky wood from a tree stump. It will mold together to form little embers that will stay lit all night if you cover them with wet grass or greased leather. Just lay a hand full of grass on the embers and blow to start a roaring fire the next morning.
The embers make a dandy little handwarmer without building a fire, if you've got night watch at the rondy camp.

I use old t-shirts and old jeans for my char cloth. I have never had a problem with dirty hands from using it. I have a link here to an earlier post as to how I make char cloth. I have never had problems with doing it this way.

John

brings back the memory of explaining to my dad that i burnt the bacon. i use a golden syrup can with a hole punched into the top, though you should clean the hole after each 'burn' otherwise the lid might pop off. i store it in a small vaseline tin(my coaches from the 50's) cause thats what i found at the time. little hard to get enough flame to light a fire though(old T shirt if that makes a diffrence) but enough if you are careful

though i am intrested in this pucky wood thing, there is a nice tree stump in my garden. is this the soft white wood? read i have a new PSK with a lot of space in it.

When I was a kid, my dad was quite involved in Black Powder Rendezvous. Basically pretending you were a fir trapper in period costumes and competing against your buddies in all kinds of events. One of the events was starting a fire with traditional flint and steel.

Char Cloth was the standard Tinder. One thing we ran into consistantly was the cloth getting wet or damp. Because it is so dry, it sucked any moisture into it that it could. Rain, condensation, damp air... you name it. And being in the NW that's a constant battle. Wet cloth is obviously useless, and even slightly damp is just about as bad. Dry Char cloth works easily and extremely well. Do everything in your power to keep it dry. Especially if you plan to store it for any period of time.

We tried as hard as we could to dress and carry only kit that was available in the period. Eventually I started to store my Char Cloth in ziplock bags in my fire tin. It was just too tough keeping you fire kit dry running up the creek in the "Trapper's Run" or on a 4 day misty Winter Rendezvous. You may never have a problem, but keep it in the back of your mind.

Good luck... and keep your Char dry!

m

Yes, Char cloth is a bit dated and it is hard to keep dry.
For me it was s good experiment to make it and see how well it catches a spark. Just another "trick" in the bag.

Thant must have been fun to go to those rendezvous.

I took you up on your suggestion - tried three batches:

• First try. I cut up the white cotton pockets into 1/4" x 2" strips and cooked them in sealed aluminum foil on the gas BBQ on low heat for an hour. Then I realized that you needed to poke a hole in it to let the smoke escape - the foil package was too air tight. Some of the cotton strips were kinda stuck to the foil and were extremely crisp and crumbled on sight. The other strips were just brittle and crumbled when worked a lot. They left my fingers blackened. I set fire to a piece with my lighter and instant flame! It almost burned too fast.
• Second try. I suspect the strips were overdone and crispy so the I cut up new strips 1" x 2-3" this time of the pant leg which are a little heavier thread. I put them in another foil package and this time punctured a hole to let the smoke escape. I cooked the strips at high heat for 15 min. and then tested them. The charred strips were soft to the touch but not brittle. When lit they glowed but no open flame.
• Third try. Another batch of 1" x 2-3" strips, this time I cooked them for 22 min. at medium heat with a hole in the aluminum foil. When tested again the strips were still soft to the touch but not brittle and didn't smudge too much black on my fingers. This time they lit with an open flame but didn't burn hard and fast like the first batch. It was a slower flame that I think is more appropriate to fire starting. I deemed the third time as a success and cooked my second batch for another 5 minutes at high heat to bring it to the same consistency as the third.

I now have a large volume of char cloth tinder (originally about 1/2 of one leg of black denim, now about 3-4 Altoid cans worth of tinder).

I now have multiple sources of tinder: the char cloth, 1 film can of petroleum jelly soaked cotton balls, 1 film can of 0000 steel wool, a film can of dryer lint, several Coughlans waxed tinder tabs, a few Spark-lite tabs (surprisingly not as good as Coughlans tabs) and compressed sawdust/wax bits. The next source of tinder to gather is punk wood (half rotted wood from an open tree log should do). I understand that punk wood can also be charred like cloth to make it even drier and easier to start. Jute rope/string is also supposed to be a good tinder.

I also have multiple flames starters too: magnesium block/flint (I hate this thing), 'Light My Fire' FireSteel Firestarter (great!), Coughlans flint and striker, flint striker on a plastic match safe, strike anywhere matches dipped in wax and striker strip, Coughlans' matches, safety matches, book matches, Bic lighters, windproof lighter (my overall favourite), Spark-lite and batteries for use with the steel wool. I've never tried a compression blastmatch or Nato lifeboat matches because they aren't available locally.

I do want to learn how to use the "primitive" bow drill and plough methods of fire starting just for the fun of it. <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

That was a pretty good review. I still haven;t made any yet but now have even more ways to try when I do.

Char cloth should not give a flame; only a glowing ember. It's pupose is to catch a tiny spark and deliver an ember that stays lit.
Sounds like batch #2 is closest. My char is soft but will "crack" apart when folded or pulled apart. Batch 3 sounds underdone.

I found my char cloth is more durable when I make it using the leg seam section of a pair of jeans rather than square patches. The multiple stitched layers hold together much better during the striking action. The regular squares would often get broken apart before catching a good spark.

-Blast

I have used the punk wood char, and it works very well. I sort of slice off thin laths of it, probably around an eighth of an inch, put it in a small tin with a lid (which also transports it), and either put it in the oven, on the grill, or in or under the coals of a fire. It's guesswork as to when it's done, and it won't all be done evenly, but it makes a good tinder: takes the spark off a steel well, keeps it going, and is awfully hard to extinguish if it's good char. Another tinder is the hoof-type "tinder fungus" off alders and birches; that also can be charred to improve it. There are all sort of good plant tinders: milkweed, thistle, goldenrod, cottonwood down (sycamore down goes up too quick), cottonwood inner bark, and the inner bark of the junipers and other things we call cedar here, and of course the bark of some birches, are all good in their season.

last time I had my dutch oven out I made a batch of charcloth over the coals. I had a good time and learned a new skill. This stuff will catch a flame really quick.