#lt wright

I own a few knives. Our family had a business for 6 years selling knives with a focus on US Made items and handcrafted brands. These are either purchased out of our old stock, or were otherwise collected by me/given to me as gifts.

Smoldering char cloth ready for a tinder bundle

Char cloth is created by combusting a swatch of cotton fabric and charring it without burning it. Whether you are bushcrafting, camping, hiking, or are at home, having a tin of char cloth handy will enable you to save time and get your fires started easily so that you can move on to other activities.

Step 1: Gather Supplies The basic items that you will need to make your char cloth include:

Cloth (100% cotton)

Metal tin with lid

Fire

Knife

Gloves

Basic supplies needed for making char cloth: Knife, Metal Tin, 100% Cotton Fabric

Step 2: Build a Fire

Sparking an ember on birch bark with fat wood shavings

Starting a fire with birch bark with fat wood shavings

Step 3: Prepare the Fabric

Cut fabric into squares that will fit inside the metal tin

Put the fabric inside of the tin

Cutting fabric to make char cloth

Cut fabric into squares that will fit inside tin

Fabric ready to be converted into char cloth

Step 4: Prepare the Tin

Close/place the lid on the tin

Poke a small hole in the top of the tin

Place the tin on your fire source

Place fabric squares inside metal tin

Close lid on tin and poke a hole in the top with a knife

Place char cloth tins on fire source

Step 5: Make Char Cloth!

Smoke will bellow out of the hole in the tin, indicating the fabric is in the charring process.

Leave the tin on your fire source until there is no longer any smoke coming out of the hole in the tin.

Once smoke inside the tin has ceased, carefully remove the tin from your heat source and let cool before handling.

Smoke bellowing out of the hole in the char cloth tin, indicates the fabric is in the charring process

Char cloth tins

Step 6: Start a fire with your char cloth! Start off using one piece of char cloth and spark a frayed edge of the cloth with a ferro rod or flint & steel. It may take a second for the cloth to ignite but once an ember is ignited, it will slowly spread through the char cloth and smolder so that you can easily transfer it to your tinder bundle and then to your kindling.

Spark the char cloth with a ferro rod or flint & steel

Char cloth ignition

Smoldering char cloth ready for a tinder bundle

Char cloth is not only great to have for bushcrafting, it is also really handy for hiking, backpacking, camping, and any other activity that may require you to start a fire.

Feel free to comment below and join me on my bushcrafting adventures by subscribing to this website, and following me on YouTube, Twitter, Instagram, and Tumblr.

“See” you out there! ~ Zane

Preparing Firewood

Firewood

  Log Cabin Fire

Featherstick

Bellows

Making Fire on a snowy day in the PNW

Feel free to comment below and join me on my bushcrafting adventures by subscribing to this website, and following me on YouTube, Twitter, Instagram, and Tumblr.

“See” you out there! ~ Zane