USING Charcloth?

K

Khalnath

Joined
Jun 12, 2005
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Well, I made up a batch of charcloth, and it catches sparks no problem. I did manage to light some shredded kleenex with it... but I could just light that with the firesteel anyway. So, like, what do you like to light with the charcloth to get an actual flame?
 
Shredded bark under small twigs under larger twigs. If the wind is blowing, a bit of dried grass stuffed inside can shield the coal and actually the wind will help ignite that.
 
Try wrapping your tinder bundle (say,...dry grass) around the charcloth. Keep the bundle tight and breath on it (don't be shy - you won't blow it out) and it'll reward you with flame. Then just tuck it into the pile you've already gotten ready.
At least that's how I do it. YMMV.
 
Charcloth is so good because it, like true tender fungus, can catch and hold a cold spark, like you will get with a flint rock and steel. Using an old style fire kit, flint and steel, without charcloth, tender fungus, or charred wood punk you can forget lighting a fire.

Charcloth is really not necessary with modern ferrocerium rods that throw a very hot spark capable of igniting tender on it's own. It is still a good thing to carry a small amount in a waterproof container, just another tool in the bag of tricks. Chris
 
I use what ever is available at the time, dry grass, dead leaves, shredded bark,fine wood shavings etc. As runningboar said, charcloth is the best option for true flint and steel firestarting, also on a sunny day it only takes a couple seconds to light with a lens.
 
Khalnath said:
So, like, what do you like to light with the charcloth to get an actual flame?
Click to expand...

It's good for natural tinders where you may have difficulty catching with a spark alone (assuming you don't have a match or lighter). It is also a good way to practice lighting tinder bundles as it acts like a coal you would get from a friction fire.
 
This is a good question, if you light some charcloth, what do then use to conjur up an actual flame.

Look at tinder in two groups, those that can catch a spark, but not necessarily develop flame (charcloth) and those tinders that can catch spark and eventually , with encouragement, can go directly to a flame, such as the kleenex mentioned, as well as a traditional tinder bundle.

I'll give the canned answer, "it depends where you are".

Doc up in Canada may use fine birch bark shavings or dried grasses. Runningboar in North Carolina may use fat wood shavings.

I'll stick my neck out a little and say that tinder is a regional type of thing.
In general, there are types of tinder that span most of North America, such as dried grasses. You could scrap the edge of your knife along your pants or shirt and get some "fuzz" from your garment. You could find some dry bark, and scrap the inside of it for some natural "fuzz".

I guess my answer is not a great answer, because what I would use may not be available in another part of the world.

The important thing, for each of us, is the question itself, what would WE use, in our corner of the world?

But, back to the specific question, I would use a traditional tinder bundle made of dried grasses, and fine scrapings from the inside of dried bark. It would resemble a bird's nest, and would be made in such a way that I could place the charcloth inside, so it was touching some of the "fines" so they could also catch the sprak, and then be cultivated into a flame, usually by blowing on it.

Once you have blown it up into a flame, hopefully you had the foresight to have a little kindling teepee already built. :)
 
That's a good point. I live in a part of Canada with tons of birch... but good luck finding DRY grass. I live in Vancouver, it rains here all the damned time. Even long dead yellow grass won't burn. ;)

And yeah, I know charcloth isn't necessary. I've played with vaseline cotton balls and know how easy they are. I'm just trying to expand my skills as much as possible. :)
 
I have had great results using shredded cedar bark, making a birds nest with your tinder before hand is key. Besides cedar any natural type tinder will do. If your looking for someting simple and easy. Cheap sisal rope worls as well. You can buy this almost anywhere. Just cut a length of it off and shred it and again make a birds nest with it, placing the charred cloth in the middle of the birds nest. GL
 
Khalnath said:
That's a good point. I live in a part of Canada with tons of birch... but good luck finding DRY grass. I live in Vancouver, it rains here all the damned time. Even long dead yellow grass won't burn. ;)

And yeah, I know charcloth isn't necessary. I've played with vaseline cotton balls and know how easy they are. I'm just trying to expand my skills as much as possible. :)
Click to expand...

Hey Khalnath, don't know much about BC but you do have Cedar? Juniper? These should work well. Also, if I'm not mistaken, our (Eastern Canuck's) Cedar (Thuja occidentalis) is somehow a member of the Cypress family and I think you have Cypress there? Could be mistaken, though. Been wrong, before. I remember in 1957..................:rolleyes:

Doc

Correct me if I'm wrong - never know when I might go out and check out Pitdog's Bigfoot.
 
madborderman07 said:
I have had great results using shredded cedar bark, making a birds nest with your tinder before hand is key. Besides cedar any natural type tinder will do. If your looking for someting simple and easy. Cheap sisal rope worls as well. You can buy this almost anywhere. Just cut a length of it off and shred it and again make a birds nest with it, placing the charred cloth in the middle of the birds nest. GL
Click to expand...

Hey mad...man, guess we kind of posted together. I've never used Sisal, but Jute works exceptionally well.

Doc
 
We have Western Red Cedar in the really really wet parts (down in gulleys and such). I gather birch is good for tinder, and we have LOTS of that, but I'm not quite sure how I'm supposed to harvest the bark for it.

Cypress is occasionally found here, but only in certain spots and not very healthy. We're at the far north end of it's range.
 
Khalnath said:
We have Western Red Cedar in the really really wet parts (down in gulleys and such). I gather birch is good for tinder, and we have LOTS of that, but I'm not quite sure how I'm supposed to harvest the bark for it.
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I'm not quite sure what you're asking, so let me try this. Very fine, wispy pieces of Birch bark (usually Betula papyrifera - Paper Birch, at least that's what I've had experience with) can be used to make a 'nest' in which to place the coal from a friction fire set. It has to be prepared very fine and light, though, to be effective.

I've never tried to light Birch bark with a ferro rod, although I would think that the bark would also have to be pretty thin and wispy, perhaps somebody with the experience can jump in here.

Birch bark, even removed from wood UNDER WATER, will readily catch fire from a flame (lighter, etc.) and is pretty volatile. (I guess I should mention that once, just once, I took a piece from underwater that would not light - perhaps the volatile qualities had leached out with time :confused:) With a reasonable size bit of Birch bark, once lighted, it should dry out thinly split pieces of damp wood. Technically, I guess, Birch bark, besides being tinder, is also an effective fire accelerant.

It can also be used to make a torch. A foot and a half long, rolled up Birch bark torch will burn for about 20 minutes in still air. See the torch here.

I was afraid to repost that picture. I might get some kind of award (an unwanted one) for posting the same picture, a record number of times in the same day. :(

Anyway, does this answer your question? If not, say so.

Doc
 
Khalnath said:
Well, I mean, do you have to find dead wood, or is it enough if it's peeling off the tree?
Click to expand...

You shouldn't normally strip bark off of a live tree, but a little bit of bark is always coming away from the trunk on Birch and you should be able to get enough without endangering the tree. Of course, in a survival situation, you get it any way you can. It can also be taken from dead trees, even laying on the ground.

What I suggest is get out there and experiment. Forums are good for ideas, but until you actually do it yourself, it's easy to forget. If you have any other questions, feel free.

Doc
 
Yeah, I hear you. The unfortunate thing is that it's a real pain for me to get out there, due to living in the city and having little free time. (And not having a car.) I'm trying to arrange a day trip with some friends after finals... and this is exactly why.

Partly I want to make the most of my limited time in the bush by doing as much book learning as I can beforehand.
 
Yeah, I'm aware. I'd actually like to try a real flint and steel at some point, but I figured I'd get the hang of ferrocium first. ;)
 
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