How to make your own char cloth

Making your own char cloth can be fun and rewarding. It can also be messy and easy to get wrong if you don't know what you are doing. In short, what you are doing is gasifying the cloth, or burning out everything but its carbon structure. This left over carbon structure is what makes char cloth and when it takes a spark, it keeps going until used or smothered. There is no blowing it out.

1. The first thing to do is to get a tin, or a can. An Altoids can is perfect.
2. Then place two holes, with either a drill or thumbtack, on the top of lid, one hole roughly in the center of each half of the top of the lid.
3. Place your cloth or any item you are going to char in the tin and close the lid.
4. Get a fire going.
5. Have a way to get your tin out of the fire before you put it in.
6. Place the tin in the fire.
7. When the temperature gets right you'll see flames coming out the two holes.
8. As soon as both holes stop flaming, take out the tin and let it cool. How long this takes depends on the heat of your fire and the amount of material you are charring.
9. Open the tin and enjoy!

Step 8 is important because if you remove it too early you won't get a full burn and you'll see 'uncharred' areas. If you wait too late, you'll over cook the material, making it brittle and messy with black soot. Overcooked will still take a spark quite well, but the cloth is brittle and if it crumbles may kill the ember. Having it just right makes for a full black charred cloth, that is pliable and durable. This lets you wrap it around tinder and do much more than if it were too brittle. You'll also find a messy tarry left over by product commonly known at pitch. This is the other form of waste from the gasification reaction and simply needs to be cleaned. Or you can take the easy route and order some from me 🙂