How I make Char Cloth - the easy way.

[alaskabushman]

Actually, it's the steel that produces the spark not the rock...but you all knew that.

[hunter63]

Actually, it's the steel that produces the spark not the rock...but you all knew that.

LOL....yeah, "I Stand Corrected"...
Actually two pieces of pyrite will spark by striking them against each other......an I suspect this was a very early "find" many eons ago.....before steel.

[alaskabushman]

LOL....yeah, "I Stand Corrected"...
Actually two pieces of pyrite will spark by striking them against each other......an I suspect this was a very early "find" many eons ago.....before steel.

I was just giving ya a hard time.
I have managed the same thing with two pieces of quartz, but was unsuccessful at getting it to catch charcloth, maybe I should try again.

[hunter63]

I haven't done it either....just the spark part.
Around here pyrite isn't found normally, so I haven't pursued this either.....
Have seen a vid......but that really doesn't prove anything.

[Rick]

Actually, two rocks will spark with no steel. Try chert on chert or granite on granite. Unfortunately, it's just piezoelectric and you'll probably never capture it. However, you can spark tourmaline, quartz and pyrite along with flint and chert. I've read that jasper and agate work but have never tried it. I suppose if you were in a survival situation and had some carbon steel of some type tapping on a few rocks might be in order.

[ninjasurvivor]

First of all, fire making is a much ado about nothing situation. It's either super easy or incredibly difficult, depending on circumstances. If you are approaching it with the proper kit, then obviously you should have no problem. Things like making fire with rocks with a hardness of 7 or greater, or using fire pistons, and bowdrills....that's getting into the esoteric methods of fire making that are not really applicable in most circumstances.

Everybody has all these fire kits (myself included), but it's like how many ways can you reinvent the wheel? My personal opinion is that the leather pouch, birch bark, flint and steel, char cloth stuff is a throw back to the old school romantic notions of fire craft. Again, if that floats your boat, that's fine. I just don't see any point under any circumstance of running around with char cloth. Aside from creating it after you've already made your first fire, in that highly improbable survival scenario mentioned earlier.

[hunter63]

Tic toc, tic toc

[Rick]

Guests can not see images in the messages. Please register in the forum.

[alaskabushman]

Survival has a lot to do with being prepared. Being prepared means having the proper knowledge and skill required to keep yourself and others alive. Most of us on here like to have multiple skillsets, its just a smart thing to have in the wild. Being thrust into a survival situation rarely (I submit never) happens slowly, your canoe flips, your plane crashes or your vehicle goes up in flames. We all like being prepared for whatever may come but there are times we may not have our beloved survival kit. Do I know how to start a fire with charcloth? Sure. Do I do it every time I start a fire? No way, but I'll tell you this, I want to know how anyway! If I flip my kayak 20 miles from nowhere and my firesteel winds up in 60 feet of water I want to know what my other options are. I love firesteel and lighters and propane torches and flamethrowers, they are great; but sometimes, these things are not available. Maybe someday they wont be available anywhere, whether it be global nuke wars, super virus, or good ol' fashioned wrath of God. Might be nice to have cooked food during those times. Firesteels wear out, butane gets used up and matches can get wet. No matter how much "more" effective something else is, its somehow comforting to know how to start a fire with a piece of charred cotton, chunk of metal and a rock.
Thats all I have to say.

[ninjasurvivor]

Survival has a lot to do with being prepared. Being prepared means having the proper knowledge and skill required to keep yourself and others alive. Most of us on here like to have multiple skillsets, its just a smart thing to have in the wild. Being thrust into a survival situation rarely (I submit never) happens slowly, your canoe flips, your plane crashes or your vehicle goes up in flames. We all like being prepared for whatever may come but there are times we may not have our beloved survival kit. Do I know how to start a fire with charcloth? Sure. Do I do it every time I start a fire? No way, but I'll tell you this, I want to know how anyway! If I flip my kayak 20 miles from nowhere and my firesteel winds up in 60 feet of water I want to know what my other options are. I love firesteel and lighters and propane torches and flamethrowers, they are great; but sometimes, these things are not available. Maybe someday they wont be available anywhere, whether it be global nuke wars, super virus, or good ol' fashioned wrath of God. Might be nice to have cooked food during those times. Firesteels wear out, butane gets used up and matches can get wet. No matter how much "more" effective something else is, its somehow comforting to know how to start a fire with a piece of charred cotton, chunk of metal and a rock.
Thats all I have to say.

Well said sir.

[ElevenBravo]

Thanks for all the tips folks, I need to give char cloth a try!!
EB

[phreshayr]

..............Things like making fire with rocks with a hardness of 7 or greater, or using fire pistons, and bowdrills....that's getting into the esoteric methods of fire making that are not really applicable in most circumstances.

It is not rare at all here in Alaska for people to find themselves alone and lost in the wilderness with basically what they are wearing at the time. See Ray Mears video on Alaska for a true life situation exactly like this. It is a tremendous comfort to me to know that I can light a fire using "esoteric" methods even if Im "naked and afraid" lol.

I do agree to an extent on the char cloth. Char cloth is another skill that is great to learn and fun besides. But how neccesary to "survival" is it? If you have to remember to carry your charcloth with you so that you are capable of lighting a primitive fire in a survival situation, you can just as easily remember to carry your BIC lighter. One really hasn't learned **SURVIVAL** fire lighting techniques until one can light a fire totally from things gathered about him.

I'm experienced and comfortable lighting fires by flint and steel (literally Quartz in my area) using my carbon steel knife (no char cloth used) I have also lit fires with sparks generated from rock on rock (no char cloth used) as well as many many different varieties of friction fire such as Eskimo strap drill (using multiple found natural cordage), bow drill and hand drill. I'm confident I can light a fire using at least one of these "esoteric" methods if the need arises. How do I normally light my utility fires you may ask? With a BIC lighter. Hee hee.

Char cloth is another bushcraft skill that is great to know and just plain fun to use but not very practical for "survival" when there are better options IMHO

[ElevenBravo]

I dont think we have rock around here to make a spark, but its worth playing with on a play day. Otherwise I will be sparking my char cloth with a ferro striker.
EB

[alaskabushman]

Char cloth is another bushcraft skill that is great to know and just plain fun to use but not very practical for "survival" when there are better options IMHO

I agree. I see traditional flint and steel as more a "primitive living" skill than a strictly survivalist one. I think it's good to know how to do it, but if I'm lost or in a hyperthermic state I really just want the quickest easiest method of fire building possible.

I actually went out yesterday and built a primitive fire with flint, steel and charcloth, while it might not be the ideal survival way of making fire it's definitely satisfying when you take the time to make it work.

[hunter63]

In the rendezvous world...Mountain man re-enactment and earlier, you don see ferro rods use in the open.... only flint steel and char cloth....even have primitive fire starting contests ....most would use a match (called Lucifer's)....or a BIC........under cover.

Never owned a ferro rod till about 5 years ago....and to this day have started many, many, more fires with flint, steel, char cloth, than ferro rods.

Even lite my smokes (not any more now) with a steel snuff can, full of char cloth, flint, and a small steel....strike a spark get a coal, light your smoke, the close the can and snuff it out.

Showed a bartender how to use F&S for lighting his smokes and had given him a kit while on a "road trip" at rendezvous one year.......Stopped back all dressed up in buckskins the following year and the bartender wife, kicked us out of the saloon........hollering some thing about her stupid husband starting the drapes on fire the year before....showing off his kit we gave him.......

So I just find it hard to believe that any one would just flat discount this method....as it does have the, can be found in the bush, more so than say... a ferro rod.

Anyway, loading my primitive gear today for a outing.....will being bringing my Kit, but probably won't use it much as I quit smoking....

[1stimestar]

It is not rare at all here in Alaska for people to find themselves alone and lost in the wilderness with basically what they are wearing at the time. See Ray Mears video on Alaska for a true life situation exactly like this. It is a tremendous comfort to me to know that I can light a fire using "esoteric" methods even if Im "naked and afraid" lol.

I do agree to an extent on the char cloth. Char cloth is another skill that is great to learn and fun besides. But how neccesary to "survival" is it? If you have to remember to carry your charcloth with you so that you are capable of lighting a primitive fire in a survival situation, you can just as easily remember to carry your BIC lighter. One really hasn't learned **SURVIVAL** fire lighting techniques until one can light a fire totally from things gathered about him.

I'm experienced and comfortable lighting fires by flint and steel (literally Quartz in my area) using my carbon steel knife (no char cloth used) I have also lit fires with sparks generated from rock on rock (no char cloth used) as well as many many different varieties of friction fire such as Eskimo strap drill (using multiple found natural cordage), bow drill and hand drill. I'm confident I can light a fire using at least one of these "esoteric" methods if the need arises. How do I normally light my utility fires you may ask? With a BIC lighter. Hee hee.

Char cloth is another bushcraft skill that is great to know and just plain fun to use but not very practical for "survival" when there are better options IMHO

Yep, this is from our paper just a couple of days ago.

Alaska National Guard rescues Kobuk River rafter


Posted: Tuesday, July 22, 2014 8:28 am
Associated Press |
ANCHORAGE, Alaska - The Alaska Air National Guard has rescued a hiker who had been rafting down the Kobuk River when his raft overturned in the Gates of the Arctic National Park.
Capt. John Romspert with the Alaska Rescue Coordination Center says the man contacted the National Park Service with a personal locator beacon able to transmit text messages. The beacon also sent out a signal transmitting his location.


Romspert says the rafter had all his gear, but decided he didn't have the right equipment to continue down the river.
The Park Service didn't have a helicopter, so it contacted the rescue coordination center. The Air Guard sent out crews in a helicopter and a HC-130 King aircraft.
Rescuers picked up the hiker and flew him to Bettles. He was in good condition.

He actually had his gear but very easily could have lost it all. Even WITH all his gear, he still had to be rescued.

[Rick]

That's a big piece of water in a very remote location. You have to give the guy credit for knowing when to call it a day. You know he had to agonize over that decision made worse by the fact he left the raft and gear behind. No small decision in his part.

[Lamewolf]

I use an Altoids tin to make char with but have never made a hole in mine - the lid isn't air tight so the smoke escapes very easily. Once its cool, I just wipe the tin off and toss it in my pack.

[Serious Fun]

If you're using a hinged tin, like an Altoids tin, you don't even need to poke a hole. That's only necessary with a tight fit like a shoe polish tin or a paint can. Otherwise there's plenty of spots for off-gasses to escape.

[hunter63]

If you're using a hinged tin, like an Altoids tin, you don't even need to poke a hole. That's only necessary with a tight fit like a shoe polish tin or a paint can. Otherwise there's plenty of spots for off-gasses to escape.

Hunter63 saying Hey and Welcome.
There is an intro section at

http://www.wilderness-survival.net/f...-Introductions