Making Charcloth

[budda]

http://www.rogueturtle.com/articles/charcloth.php

http://scouttroop23.org/fire/flintsteel.htm

http://www.varsityrendezvous.com/howto_fire2.html

http://mungobah.blogspot.com/2008/05/tu ... h-for.html

[Canuckcamper]

This stuff was a godsend this year...with every trip accompanied by rain and usually fairly high wind I quickly used up my stash of char cloth and had to make another batch. 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 addinf 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



And of course a heat source.



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.




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!



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.




Remove from heat and let cool....the finished product will have turned a nice deep black and you have your chrcloth ready to go....I store mine in old 35mm film canisters..I can get about 8 pieces to a canister.




The best thing is you now have a fully warmed up grill ready to cook your favourite meal on! Double duty served!



Kirk

[Bushcraft Bill]

I tried to make some at the retreat this last trip and over cooked 3 batches oh well will get it right eventualy...

[RangerJoe]

nice, I've only ever used a tin with a hole punched in it, tinfoil seems like a good idea

[Canuckcamper]

Ya gotta watch the gas escaping from your vent Bill, as soon as it goes from smoke to nearly clear you remove the packet from the heat, its done, sorry I lost the pics as my imagecave account went inactive!

Kirk

[Bushcraft Bill]

ya guess it was to easy as the first time I done it worked great I seem to over cook it every time after that...