PDA

View Full Version : Making Char Cloth



crashdive123
12-03-2011, 05:59 PM
A friend, and member here (TJWilhelm - only a few posts) was seriously injured when he was hit by a truck (he was in his front yard) on October 20th. He is still in the hospital/rehab center, and probably will be until after the new year. I put together this quick video on making char cloth using cotton rounds (his idea). Hopefully it will find him in good spirits and on the road to recovery.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RAz8vnRyYPo

Rick
12-03-2011, 06:57 PM
First, DANG! I sure hope you are doing better. That's terrible. Hang in there, man. I'm sending up some prayers and good karma your way.

Second, that's a pretty cool vid. I'll have to find some of those. I think it's a great idea!

gryffynklm
12-03-2011, 07:19 PM
Rick +1

TJ prayers sent.

southard
12-04-2011, 01:16 AM
I hope the truck ended up in worse condition. Speedy recovery brother.

jake abraham
12-04-2011, 01:10 PM
Rick plus 2 prayers sent

natertot
01-03-2012, 12:51 PM
Any update on your friends condition?

TresMon
01-03-2012, 01:03 PM
Yeah prayers sent indeed! Keep us posted!

crashdive123
01-03-2012, 03:03 PM
Here's some updated information on him from about three weeks ago.


I just heard from one of the surgeons that screwed and plated me back together that I have to wait another 6 weeks before I can do any weight bearing physical therapy. My muscles have badly atrophied over the past 7 weeks -- I've lost 40 pounds. Looks like this is going to be a long-haul recovery.

Aside from all the wonderful folks who have sent prayers and supportive messages, I have a number of things to be grateful for:

[ ] - I'm only blind in one eye...I still have a good one left.
[ ] - In spite of some initially severe bleeding and swelling in the brain, there was NO permanent brain damage,
[ ] - A great team of plastic surgeons rebuilt my smashed face so well that the LaFort-3 facial fractures are all repaired and I look like ME, again.
[ ] - NO internal organ damage.
[ ] - NO spinal cord damage.
[ ] - Even though the old scrotum swelled up bigger than a softball, it looks like the "boys" survived...manhood is still alive and well.
[ ] - Blue Cross/Blue Shield is a HUGE blessing.

Initially, it looked like I wasn't going to survive. They couldn't even start surgical repairs for 4 days because I was too unstable. In fact, I have a total 5-day amnesia. I don't remember getting smashed against the front of the truck, rolled and crushed under the truck as it ran over me at full speed, nor any of my time in the Loyola ICU. That's probably another blessing.

Fortunately, bones and flesh heal and self-repair! I just wish it happened faster!!!

RandyRhoads
01-03-2012, 03:37 PM
Ouch a LeFort III. Good luck prayers are with ya..... Sounds like you are extremely lucky and (besides the eye, sorry) will not have major long term disabilities.

hunter63
01-03-2012, 05:41 PM
Wow, thanks for the up date, Crash....
Prayers sent......

Rick
01-03-2012, 05:53 PM
Thanks for the update. Do you know what transpired, Crash? Why he was hit in the first place? I sure hope it was some horrible mechanical failure and not something stupid like a drunk driver. I guess if you're on the receiving end it really doesn't matter but still.....

crashdive123
01-03-2012, 05:59 PM
He lives in a fairly rural community. He was outside and heard a truck racing up and down the road. He was in his front yard in an attempt to get a license plate number to report it to the local PD. The driver swerved onto TJ's property and ran him over. He was driving a full sized Dodge pick-up. The driver never slowed down. An arrest was made. In addition to the injuries listed in the quote, he suffered a broken pelvis and shoulder along with several dislocations.

Rick
01-03-2012, 06:02 PM
I think he's going to own the owner, his truck, his home, his......Right now the owner of that truck needs to be his beer wench and foot stool.

tjwilhelm
03-13-2012, 07:13 PM
Thanks, Crashdive, for the video and the support!

Update...I'm home, still in recovery mode; but, doing well. I still need surgery to replace/repair my right shoulder joint and my left knee. Once those are fixed, and after physical therapy is done, I should be back to near normal...other than being blind in the right eye and having lost my sense of smell -- both the result of the facial/skull fractures. Fortunately I still have one good eye, no internal organ damage, no brain damage, and no spinal cord damage...it's a GREAT day in east-central Illinois!!!

randyt
03-13-2012, 07:28 PM
godbless ya!!!

hunter63
03-13-2012, 07:31 PM
Thats good to hear....hand in there.....

Rick
03-13-2012, 08:00 PM
I'm glad to hear your recovery is progressing. You've been on that road for a long while.

crashdive123
03-13-2012, 08:49 PM
Glad your recovery is progressing. Thanks for the update TJ.

natertot
03-13-2012, 11:26 PM
Welcome back! Keep hanging in there!

Knight Hospitaller
12-26-2012, 02:59 PM
Hopefully your buddy has gotten better since you posted this. I'm new here and I saw this thread thought my question would be relevant to this article. I'm trying to make my own char"cloth" but instead of using cloth I'm using natural materials, in my case moss because I can find tons of it around Denmark and due to cost, this is because I do medieval reenactment and believe that they would normally use charred moss, instead of cloth.

When I tried charring the moss today it failed miserably. The moss just crumbled and I realized I had burnt it too much. I think it might have something to do with my firetin, uploading pictures with this post. I believe that the hole is too large and the lid, which slides on, isn't tight enough to be useful. I hope you guys can help a beginning firestarter like myself.

Thanks in advance for all your help.

Hospitaller


8662

8663

8664

crashdive123
12-26-2012, 03:23 PM
The hole does look too large to me. Try it with a much smaller hole. You may have to experiment with how tightly you pack the container as well.

Soggybottomboy
01-16-2013, 10:31 AM
This was genius.