Northern Ireland Outdoors Forum - Hiking, camping and more
Outdoor Activities => Northern Ireland Camping and Bushcraft => Topic started by: Celt_Ginger on September 20, 2009
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I made a big batch of char cloth today for the event that the NIBA are attending next week. Here's some pictures.
I was using a mixture of Linen (old pair of linen trousers) and Cotton (old pair of jeans) cloth. Cut into strips aprox 6cm x 40cm and rolled up.
(http://i232.photobucket.com/albums/ee291/garyminiss/SANY1148.jpg)
The rolls are then put into a tin with a good tight fitting lid with a small hole in the top.
(http://i232.photobucket.com/albums/ee291/garyminiss/SANY1150.jpg)
I put this into a BBQ as the charcoal is a good hot and fairly smokeless way of "cooking" the cloth.
(http://i232.photobucket.com/albums/ee291/garyminiss/SANY1155.jpg)
Put some of the coals on top of the tin, but be careful not to cover the hole in the lid.
(http://i232.photobucket.com/albums/ee291/garyminiss/SANY1157.jpg)
After a minute or so, smoke will start to billow out of the hole in the lid. The BBQ is good for this as there isn't much other smoke from it to confuse with the smoke coming out of the tin. Also there are no flames to ignite the gases also escaping from the tin. If flames do start coming out of the tin, you must extinguish them quickly or the cloth will be ruined.
(http://i232.photobucket.com/albums/ee291/garyminiss/SANY1160.jpg)
When smoke stops coming out of the hole in the lid, take a green twig.
(http://i232.photobucket.com/albums/ee291/garyminiss/SANY1163.jpg)
and push it firmly into the hole in the lid to stop the charring process by cutting of the oxygen supply. Remove the tin from the heat at this point.
(http://i232.photobucket.com/albums/ee291/garyminiss/SANY1164.jpg)
Once the tin has completely cooled, remove the twig (don't do this before the tin has completely cooled as you risk re-igniting the cloth inside and ruining the lot) and take off the lid. You should have some good blackened char cloth inside.
(http://i232.photobucket.com/albums/ee291/garyminiss/SANY1165.jpg)
(http://i232.photobucket.com/albums/ee291/garyminiss/SANY1177.jpg)
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whats the point to it?
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It is used to catch a spark. It is commonly used in flint and steel fire lighting, where a piece of very hard carbon steel is struck against a piece of flint. This creates a shower of sparks and if one lands on the char cloth, it ignites the cloth. This cloth is not effected by the wind, in fact it will actually encourage it to glow even more. It can then be added to a tinder bundle and blown to flame. It burns very hot and lasts for a long time.
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This has also been on my list of things to try for ages. Still haven't gotten around to it yet. Although I didn't think you could make it from jeans?
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This has also been on my list of things to try for ages. Still haven't gotten around to it yet. Although I didn't think you could make it from jeans?
As long as they are not stretch jeans. Any Lycra etc in them and they won't take a spark. The cheap jeans out of Tesco work just fine.
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sounds like the kida thing you could put into your survival kit, seems very handy. i've never seen it mentioned on the likes of ray mears or anything.
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Cracking tutorial Gary think I will give this a go over next few weeks, seen Davy use the fungus tinder which was excellant. Looking forward to seeing this on 26th.
Will you guys be doing the bow drill?
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We will be doing a couple of different fire making techniques, including the bowdrill Neil. If you are about you can have a try if you want.
Paul
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Amazing Celt_Ginger
Thanks for sharing that.
Regards Dave
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Hope your giving them out on the 26th ;)