MAKING YOUR OWN CHARCLOTH TINDER FOR SURVIVAL FIRE-STARTING

[gordi]

MAKING YOUR OWN CHARCLOTH TINDER:

There are a few basic requirements that we will all need for Survival, if (and when) the SHTF.
Water, Food and Shelter are the obvious ones, but have you thought about how you're going to make fire?

The ability to create Fire was one of the greatest advances in human history, and it can quite literally save your life if you have the know-how to create your own.

Matches and Lighters are all very well in the short term... but I imagine that they would run out fairly quickly in a long-term survival situation.

So, I always use a Fire-Steel and striker to create the spark for my camp-fires.
They are very cheap to buy, extremely portable and last a very long time even in tough conditions.

The trouble is... they only produce the spark, and that spark needs to be brought to life via a very dry/combustible material called "tinder" which will allow the spark to survive and grow into a glowing ember, which in turn can be used to ignite your fire.
Natural tinders aren't always guaranteed to be available, especially in damp or wet conditions.
So, it would be very beneficial to have a reliable method of producing our own tinder, to complement the fire-steel fire starting method.

The short video below explains one simple way to make your own "CharCloth" tinder out of nothing more than old scraps of cotton material, (such as a cleaning rag or old cotton T-Shirt) and a Travel Sweet Tin!

(My apologies for the poor sound quality on this one)



Kindest regards,
BigG

[Daitengu]

Willie Pete makes great firestarter too .... an napalm start fire an crispy critter uninvited guests at same time ..... think have bbq tonight ..... getting hungry now .... gotta go roast something over a fire ......

[Grace]

MAKING YOUR OWN CHARCLOTH TINDER:

There are a few basic requirements that we will all need for Survival, if (and when) the SHTF.
Water, Food and Shelter are the obvious ones, but have you thought about how you're going to make fire?

The ability to create Fire was one of the greatest advances in human history, and it can quite literally save your life if you have the know-how to create your own.

Matches and Lighters are all very well in the short term... but I imagine that they would run out fairly quickly in a long-term survival situation.

So, I always use a Fire-Steel and striker to create the spark for my camp-fires.
They are very cheap to buy, extremely portable and last a very long time even in tough conditions.

The trouble is... they only produce the spark, and that spark needs to be brought to life via a very dry/combustible material called "tinder" which will allow the spark to survive and grow into a glowing ember, which in turn can be used to ignite your fire.
Natural tinders aren't always guaranteed to be available, especially in damp or wet conditions.
So, it would be very beneficial to have a reliable method of producing our own tinder, to complement the fire-steel fire starting method.

The short video below explains one simple way to make your own "CharCloth" tinder out of nothing more than old scraps of cotton material, (such as a cleaning rag or old cotton T-Shirt) and a Travel Sweet Tin!

(My apologies for the poor sound quality on this one)



Kindest regards,
BigG

So.. why burn your cloth first..? It seems to make little sense, as the cloth itself is a combustible material, and does seem quite dry as a whole, which apparently catches fire rather handily without need for pre-burning the cloth.. 

So.. why go through the trouble of burning the cloth prior to needing to burn it to start a fire.. 

Dumb question day..

[gordi]

So.. why burn your cloth first..? It seems to make little sense, as the cloth itself is a combustible material, and does seem quite dry as a whole, which apparently catches fire rather handily without need for pre-burning the cloth.. 

So.. why go through the trouble of burning the cloth prior to needing to burn it to start a fire.. 

Dumb question day..

Hi Grace! ***waves***

The cloth isn't actually burned, it's charred.
Charring removes all the moisture and leaves a VERY combustible material which will take a tiny spark (from your Fire Steel) and create a GLOWING EMBER with which you can then easily start a fire.

I can assure you that Cotton Cloth won't hold an ember (or catch on fire directly from a stray spark) very easily at all, without charring first.

The idea of this type of tinder isn't that it will "catch fire", it's that it will catch a Spark and create an Ember which will be hot enough (and last long enough) to make a fire from it.

Even dry paper won't catch a spark and create as good an ember as charcloth.

kindest regards,
G

Oh, I forgot to say that it is VERY LITTLE trouble to do! (Rip or cut the cloth into small squares and pop it in a tin!)
It takes seconds to prepare and 3-4 minutes to char, but remember - it COULD save your life one day.

[guohua]

Thank You. 

Excellent information to know, Rogues.
The day is coming soon I think, when you may just need this.

The first thing they're going to do after we don't turn in our guns will be to turn off the power to all Registered Gun owners and use Imminent Domain to Confiscate your Home and Belonging.
Be Prepared!

[Grace]

So.. why burn your cloth first..? It seems to make little sense, as the cloth itself is a combustible material, and does seem quite dry as a whole, which apparently catches fire rather handily without need for pre-burning the cloth.. 

So.. why go through the trouble of burning the cloth prior to needing to burn it to start a fire.. 

Dumb question day..

Hi Grace! ***waves***

The cloth isn't actually burned, it's charred.
Charring removes all the moisture and leaves a VERY combustible material which will take a tiny spark (from your Fire Steel) and create a GLOWING EMBER with which you can then easily start a fire.

I can assure you that Cotton Cloth won't hold an ember (or catch on fire directly from a stray spark) very easily at all, without charring first.

The idea of this type of tinder isn't that it will "catch fire", it's that it will catch a Spark and create an Ember which will be hot enough (and last long enough) to make a fire from it.

Even dry paper won't catch a spark and create as good an ember as charcloth.

kindest regards,
G

Oh, I forgot to say that it is VERY LITTLE trouble to do! (Rip or cut the cloth into small squares and pop it in a tin!)
It takes seconds to prepare and 3-4 minutes to char, but remember - it COULD save your life one day.

That does seem to make some sense.. I'll give it a try in the next couple of weeks and see how it goes.. 

Thank you for such a wonderful response!

[gordi]

Well, I'm a very chuffed poppa bear today!

My boy Callum just started his very first camp-fire from scratch without matches/lighter or any artificial assistance (other than his trusty fire-steel and char-cloth as mentioned above!) ***applause***

It took him a few attempts, but he stuck at it and you should have seen his face BEAMING when he succeeded!
He then repeated it a few times, getting quicker each time!! Brilliant.

I finished off the session by letting have a go at starting the char-cloth by using my old magnifying glass to focus the weak Autumnal sunshine... and he did it 1st attempt!!

It's like a "right of passage"!! He's growing up so fast just now and I couldn't be happier for him!


G