Perfect Char Cloth

[Keith]

Hi Keith, I think most of us have our own interpretation of what bushcraft really is, My personal interpretation is that when ever possible to leave no trace, also a blending of the old and the new. I use a fero rod simply because it quick and fairly easy, some people use it in conjunction with char cloth for that reason. I can make char cloth and have used it in the past but these days I prefer cotton wool balls soaked in petroleum jelly which I carry I a plastic fish food container so am I wrong to use what is now acceptable practice in bushcraft circles. I agree its good to still practice and to teach the old ways but also to be prepared to accept the new

Joe

Fair enough Joe, myself I am old fashioned about this stuff, old school. Obviously bushcraft has changed over the years from what it used to be.
Keith.

 

[Keith]

My view Keith is that Bushcraft is what you want it to be and importantly what you are comfortable with dependant on your skill set.

I know that you believe that we should be looking to the long term and using late colonial era methods but for others that is a step back in time that is not necessary or prudent.

38

No mate, this is not about survival. This is a bushcraft forum & I believe in using traditional bushcraft methods. That does not mean to say that I think everyone should make fire with a fire-bow, but personally I draw the line at using 20th century methods in bushcraft. Somehow, to me, using a ferocerium rod just goes against all that "bush crafts" used to be & in my mind what "bush crafts" is all about. But each to their own.
Keith.

 

[38thfoot]

As I said before what works for one doesn't make it correct for others. I'm not a living historian so I feel free to pick and choose what I use and what methodology I employ. Someone showed me how to make char cloth with a tin with a hole in the lid so that's how I (and others on here apparently) choose to make it. I then light it with a fero rod because that's the best piece of equipment for the task in MY OPINION, it doesn't make other wrong or me right, it's just the way i choose to do it.

Incidentally I've also seen accounts of people using a lidded. Ox with an air hole to
Make char cloth, there almost certainly wasn't a single way of doing it and people would make do with what they had.

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[Keith]

And most Colonials had a tinder tin/ box and in that was flint and steel and tinders of natural material and I would bet a pound to a pinch of poo there was char cloth and what is char cloth 100% cotton and what is 100% cotton a natural material

To people who lived in the cities, tinder was charred cloth. Anything else was seen as a substitute for "tinder". However, Amadou was sold in the streets for use as tinder, Amadou was also sold at apothecary stores.
When city people travelled in the wilderness, they obviously carried charred cloth in their tinderboxes, but those that lived in the wilderness did not have access to tow rag for tinder, so they used plant & fungi tinders just like the natives did. Travelling in England, no where was/is far from anywhere else, so those that did not stay at an inn for the night almost certainly used charred cloth for making fires. However, this in England was probably not classed as bushcraft, it was just plain living.
Keith.

A fungi tinder salesman selling Amadou on the streets in France.

 

[Keith]

As I said before what works for one doesn't make it correct for others. I'm not a living historian so I feel free to pick and choose what I use and what methodology I employ. Someone showed me how to make char cloth with a tin with a hole in the lid so that's how I (and others on here apparently) choose to make it. I then light it with a fero rod because that's the best piece of equipment for the task in MY OPINION, it doesn't make other wrong or me right, it's just the way i choose to do it.

Incidentally I've also seen accounts of people using a lidded. Ox with an air hole to
Make char cloth, there almost certainly wasn't a single way of doing it and people would make do with what they had.

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38

Can you supply 18th century primary documentation for whatever this "Ox" was & how it was used? Sounds interesting.
Keith.

 

[38thfoot]

It was a very large tame cow that could breath fire. They travelled from village to village making char cloth in exchange for hay and turnips. Their horns were the earliest form of fero rod and they definitely had a hole in them but it was a rave man that plugged it with a stick.

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[Stephen]

So yeah decided to make some charcloth at home today (second time making it), stupid arse me didn't expect it to be so smokey prior to making it so thought hey ho lets just stick it on the cooker safe to say i smoked out my kitchen which was ultimately funny granted, good thing i live alone Lesson learnt make it outdoors from now on !!

 

[Joecole]

So yeah decided to make some charcloth at home today (second time making it), stupid arse me didn't expect it to be so smokey prior to making it so thought hey ho lets just stick it on the cooker safe to say i smoked out my kitchen which was ultimately funny granted, good thing i live alone Lesson learnt make it outdoors from now on !!

happens Stephen

 

[Bushcraft Rob]

Ooooooh i could soooo go to town on this lol Pilgrim fathers ? (From Plymouth) Tinderbox ? there were several ? who taught what to what ? in the land that they owned (my opinion) all the things there shown came from England back a long time ago

 

[Keith]

Ooooooh i could soooo go to town on this lol Pilgrim fathers ? (From Plymouth) Tinderbox ? there were several ? who taught what to what ? in the land that they owned (my opinion) all the things there shown came from England back a long time ago

Exactly my point Bob.
Keith.

 

[G1ZmO]

@Stephen I'd say that the charcloth you made last week worked pretty well. Maybe we left it in the fire too long though?

 

[urbanghost]

the first time I made char cloth I tried it with a tin with no hole in the lid. As soon as the gasses built up the lid shot up in the air and it instantly caught fire and was reduced to ashes. Now I always put a pin hole in the lid to vent off the gas and it comes out perfect every time.

 

[Bushcraft Rob]

the first time I made char cloth I tried it with a tin with no hole in the lid. As soon as the gasses built up the lid shot up in the air and it instantly caught fire and was reduced to ashes. Now I always put a pin hole in the lid to vent off the gas and it comes out perfect every time.

After gasses have vented (no more smoke coming from hole) plug hole with a sharpened stick this will starve the char cloth of oxygen putting out any ember in there, remove after a few mins hay ho perfect char cloth (y)