Making Char Cloth

Making Char Cloth

Char cloth is super easy to make.  It's just material that has been charred.  It lights on fire super easy.  A single spark can get it going.  It's very lightweight and great to put in a backpack or bug out bag. 

You need some sort of tin.  An Altoids tin works great.  You need to make a hole in it.  

I used a screwdriver and hammer to make a hole in the top, or you can use a nail, etc.  Cut small pieces of cotton material to put in the tin.  Bandanas work well or an old T-shirt.  

It's the middle of winter here and very cold, so I decided to use an alcohol burner outside that I had made to see if that would work well to make the char cloth.  

(See my post on alcohol and buddy burners.) (click here)

Put the tin over a fire.  Smoke will come out of the hole.  When the smoke stops, it's done.  

It took me a few minutes on the porch to start the alcohol burner because of the cold but then took it outside and it worked great.  I had a large can with the top and bottom off, from another project, so I put that around it to protect it from the wind and cold. 

I'm actually surprised how awesome this worked.  It didn't seem to burn that long.  I was shoveling snow and peeked at it one time, and fire was coming from the hole in the tin so thought maybe it got too hot; but after it cooled and I flipped the top open, it had perfectly made char cloth inside. 

Ta da! Char cloth!

**You can also make "char rope" (using 100% cotton rope only, like that on a mop).  It's less fragile than char cloth. 

See my post on fire starters too.  I add to it now and then. (click here)

Thanks for checking out my blog.  

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