Making fire isn’t an easy job sometimes, especially if you aren’t too practiced in making fire or if the weather is an obstacle. But luckily it’s super easy to get a fire started using a simple DIY material called char cloth. Char cloth will work fine to make a fire with a little air and a small spark. The finished product is a highly effective material to make a flame in nearly any situation.
In this post, we will discuss what a char cloth is, how it is used and why it is important in a survival situation. You can make char cloth out of a cotton shirt or any cotton material. It’s super easy to make char cloth with cotton balls as well. Below, we will teach you how to make DIY char cloth on your own and how to pack it.
What is Char Cloth?
Char cloth, also called char paper, is a small strip of fabric that can be used as tinder or a heat source for making fires. Char cloth is usually the main component, the organic material or cloth inside a tinderbox. It is made of natural fiber such as vegetable, linen, bark shavings, cotton t shirt, jute, seed heads, dry grass, a tinder bundle… basically any slow burning material with a low ignition temperature. That dry tinder has been converted to carbon form through a process called “thermal decomposition” or also known as pyrolysis. Basically, these organic materials are decomposed at high temperatures in the absence of oxygen. This breaks the chemical composition down into a simpler form of carbon which can be more easily ignited than the original material.
How is Char Cloth Used?
Making char cloth has been around for centuries. Making char cloth is still widely done by many, especially in harsh weather conditions where making a fire with a camp stove or open fire becomes more challenging. This black, carbonized strip has a low ignition temperature and is usually paired with flint and steel since all it needs is a little bit of spark to ignite. But don’t forget your flint and steel kit! Once it catches spark, you will notice how it burns slowly like charcoal, but a thinner material. you could place it in the center of the same tin and make a mini camp stove. Or get a separate tinder nest, composed of dried, thin materials or anything that can easily fuel a small fire and has lots of surface area to let in hot air. Arrange the kindling materials so they make direct contact with the smoldering char cloth while allowing room for air. Now that everything’s in place, you can blow on the char cloth to intensify the ember. If everything goes right, the ember will work its way to the kindling materials and you will be able to light up your tinder nest in no time.
Why Char Cloth is Important in Survival
When you are in survival mode, fire is undeniably one of the basic fundamentals in order to survive. You can stay warm, cook, and ward off wildlife with a simple fire. It’s conceivable that you will eventually run out of your fire-starting tools, or you might end up losing your ferro rod. but if you know how to make a fire using the same way as primitive methods, you do not have to worry.
Now, char cloth here is exceptionally light in weight, compact in size and easy to make. It is an excellent addition to your fire-starting options since it’s incredibly valuable when trying to light a fire in poor weather. Char cloth can easily catch a spark and is highly effective in igniting tinder. Therefore, it’s a wise idea to have plenty of char cloth in your bug out bag.
You also might not be able to find char cloth available for sale, so it’s a very good idea to know how to make your own.
How to Make a DIY Char Cloth
The super cheap supplies below are really all you need to get started. The rest of the things you need to make Char Cloth can be found around your home, or worst case a hardware or convenience store.
Making DIY char cloth on your own is easy and economical, you just have to be careful during the entire process. Typically, it only takes 20 to 30 minutes to complete a batch. But the total amount of the processing time may vary depending on the fire source, the metal tin, and the quantity and thickness of the fabrics used.
Here’s how to do it:
Materials
- Small airtight metal tin
- Cotton, linen, or jute fabric
- Scissors
- Fire source
- Gloves
- Small nail, electric drill or puncher
Instructions
First off, cut the fabric (t shirt is fine) with a sharp edge or other tool into several small square pieces at about 2 to 3 inches per side.
Puncture a small hole (or a few, you don’t want to let in too much oxygen) on top of the metal tin by either using the nail, electric drill or puncher. You can use anything you are most comfortable with when creating a small hole.
Place the 3 to 5 squared fabrics inside the metal tin.
Place the metal tin over any kind of fire source that only supplies a sufficient amount of low heat. You can use a camping stove for this part, it speeds things up pretty nicely.
In about 2 minutes, you will be able to see smoke coming out of the small holes.
Keep the same process going until the slow steady stream of smoke is no longer coming out or dramatically reduced.
After about 20 to 30 minutes, the smoke will stop and the cotton char cloth is finished. The char cloth should be completely black when it stops smoking. You might see a few coals, let those extinguish.
After the batch of char cloth is finished, store it in a ziplock bag or any watertight container to keep it away from moisture. Additionally, char cloth is somewhat fragile, so make sure to handle it with care.
Parting Thoughts About Char Cloth
Char cloth is extremely easy to make and is one of the cheapest survival hacks out there. It is one of the best materials for starting a fire, especially in bad weather, and can be packed very easily. Char cloth is worth learning to make, and it deserves a place in your bug out bag or INCH bag.
