Stepping out of the armchair warrior mode, I tried to expand my fire making skills this weekend. I made some char cloth out of some old [cotton] denim jeans - I was expecting it to be quite fragile, but it actually held together quite well.

The problem was I couldn't get it to light. I tried the spark from a Sparklite, a Bic lighter, a Zippo, ferocerium (sp?) sparker, from a soft nail and chert/flint - nothing. I finally lit a 1" square with the Bic and was successful lighting a tinder bundle with just the char cloth ember (the experiment wasn't a total loss).

I had large sparks landing directly on the char cloth from most of the sources; I'm not sure why it didn't take. I even tried shredding/fluffing the char cloth to take the sparks.

Any suggestions? Is denim just to thick to use?

Tim

Hmmmm, did you char it enough?
I use denim most of the time. I've tried t-shirts, but denim is tougher. Not sure how you charred it. I put 2"x2" squares of old denim cut from worn jeans in a small metal can with a tight fitting lid (with a small hole in the lid). Throw the thing on the fire and watch it. When it starts putting out a lot of smoke, remove it from the fire, plug the hole so no air can get inside and let it cool.
So far, it hasn't failed me.

I use the gas stove and aluminum foil, never tried with jeans though, will try sometime tomorrow!