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Skills - Making Char Cloth
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Char cloth is one of the essential tinders that a lot of the old time mountain men carried with them as an emergency fire starter to go with their firesteel or flint and steel, essentially it is charcoal, and not only an incredible tinder but so very simple to make. Start with an old worn out t shirt, one made from 100% cotton, the natural fibres work best although you could use the manmade fabrics they tend to burn or melt...you want the fabric to char...there is a big difference. The key is to control the rate of burn in order to make charcloth (charcoal). You want the fuel to smolder but not burn, you accomplish this by adding extreme heat and eliminating the oxygen that causes combustion. Sounds very complicated doesn't it....its not.
Here's the materials.....
- Some 100% cotton
- Some aluminum foil
- Scissors
- Heat Source
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Thats it..... So very easy....cut the t shirt into small squares, roughly 2"x2", or 2" x 3" or whatever size you think will work for you...this is a science, but its not rocket science....place the squares of cotton onto a piece of aluminum foil leaving a margin of about 2 inches around the edge of the foil.
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Now place a second piece of foil on top of the first and fold each edge back 3 to 4 times to form an airtight seal...remember, oxygen will cause the cotton to burn, you want a tight seal!
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Now we get technical.....use a bamboo barbeque skewer or toothpick and poke a single small hole in the center of ONE side of the packet...this will allow the expanding superheated gasses to escape. Now fire up your barbeque and place the packet onto your cold grill, lower the cover and reduce to a medium heat for about 10 minutes...this isn't a delicate steak you are cooking...feel free to open the bbq and look as often as you want...you will know when you are finished when the packet has expanded like a balloon and the smoke escaping from the vent is nearly clear...roughly 10 minutes or so.
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Remove from heat and let cool....the finished product will have turned a nice deep black and you have your charcloth ready to go....I store mine in old 35mm film canisters..I can get about 8 peices to a canister.
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The best thing is you now have a fully warmed up grill ready to cook your favourite meal on! Double duty served!
Kirk Reardon (CanuckCamper)
The Campfire Online
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