View Full Version : Too lazy to make charcloth?
Well then have a look at this ebay auction:
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=7133355012
Well, its certainly enterprising! :o):
I'll be watching it to see if there are any buyers...
Paganwolf
16-02-2005, 13:06
People will buy it you can bet on it :roll: !!!!! unreal eh :shock:good find perhaps we should have a silly deal thread, that ones top of the pops IMO :rolmao:
Perhaps you could sell, 'pre charred' charcloth, and then charcloth 'charred'.
:o):
Squidders
16-02-2005, 13:23
we should go in and undercut them!
bambodoggy
16-02-2005, 13:29
No doubt I'll get shouted at for this.....but.... I've never seen the point in char-cloth.....
I mean....if you've gone to all that trouble to make the darn stuff and then carry it in a waterproof container and kept it dry.... why on earth would you not have bought yourself a box of matches as well....?? ?? ?? :?:
I can see from a re-enactors point it would be used but that's about it....
Right....better run for cover now.... :tapedshut
You seen what else the seller has sold in the past?
POTASSIUM PERMANGANATE
AMMONIUM NITRATE
POTASSIUM NITRATE
ACTIVATED CHARCOAL
SODIUM NITRATE
I dont know a lot about chemistry but with that stuff you wouldnt need charcloth!
bambodoggy
16-02-2005, 13:37
Typicle Ebay....you can sell enough chemicals to blow up a small town but not an air rifle....in case you go mad and shoot people!!!! :?: Nice :biggthump
Oops, disregard my last, it was a seller to her I was looking at. Need to read things twice before making a pillock of myself!
Squidders
16-02-2005, 13:38
I'm not with Phil :sulkoff:
But its practicality does confuse me a little, there's plenty about that is just as easy to light and matches and lighters. Charcloth just seems to be stuck in the middle blushing in between friction fire lighting and firesteel/matches.
bambodoggy
16-02-2005, 13:44
I'm not with Phil :sulkoff:
Go on.....admit it....you're with me 100% on this! lol :Crazy_071
arctic hobo
16-02-2005, 14:14
I'm not with Phil :sulkoff:
I am :wink: I mean, bushcraft to me includes fire by friction because when say you woke up in the middle of Siberia with nothing but what you stood up in then you'd have to use this or a similar method; but it's not about using old/outdated/inefficient/useless (gone too far now haven't I) methods... as he says, if you're going to bring things with you then bring matches or a lighter :?:
I'm sure to be shouted at but it's just my point of view :wave:
Flint and steel + charcloth is a reliable way of making fire ( try putting a piece of charcloth out after you have lit it), you also need to learn what tinder to use, how to buff it up, and how to blow an ember to fire from the tinder bundle, so its a bit more skillfull than matches or lighter and more to the point it's a lot more Fun.
Kids love sparking too, my lad learnt at Ashdown how to blow a flame from a bundle after sparking his charcloth on flint and steel and added another first to his weekend list, I don't think we would have got such a silly grin if he had used matches or a lighter.
Isn't this missing half the point of charcloth, which to my mind is the making of it.
It's an excuse to have a fire and when SWMBO asks why you're having one you can actually supply a reason for once.
Ashdown was my first opportunity to try the steel, flint and charcloth routine. Beginners luck perhaps, but the stuff ignited on the 2nd or 3rd strike! I have purchased matches that defy ignition for longer.
I may have to invest in a steel and flint next...
A lot of the time we bushcrafters make charcloth and carry it around with us because we'd prefer to use alternatives to matches/lighters - it somehow seems more fitting to achieve fire by a more traditional technique to me! :?:
However, charcloth is exceptionally useful even if you have matches, as it is effectively windproof, and the heat from a match that might go out very quickly is usually enough to get it glowing. Bear in mind also that once you have a fire going you can make charcloth very easily with little or no materials - simply take scraps of material from clothing etc, surround with some leaves to keep it clean and bury it in the ground next to the fire, then move the fire over it - the heat should pass through the soil and create charcloth - the ground acting like the tin we usually use.
IMHO going straight to friction fire can be very demoralising for someone just learning, so charcloth can be a great way to keep their entheusiasm, while they learn to transfer an ember to a tinder bundle.
The fact it is so easy to make (especially with the copper pipe mentioned in another thread) is another bonus which can really build confidence.
Either way, buying ready ready made char is hmmmmm...... :rolmao:
bambodoggy
16-02-2005, 18:06
Certainly some very valid points there....so just to be a pain I'm going to be pedantic.....
Steve, it's great that your young-un did that but wouldn't it have been just as great to see him use the firesteel to light a natural tinder....birchbark for example or some other natural type, fungus maybe? (Please understand, I'm not distracting from your lad's success...just saying that he could have had the same success with a natural tinder and maybe been even more chuffed with himself).
Khimbar, I am very lucky in that I have a wood burning stove at home (actually I'm not lucky...I paid for it and I installed it coz I wanted it..lol) and as I've disconnected the central heating.... :naughty: SWMBO is the one chasing me to light the fire whenever possible! lol :wink:
Furface, very fair point but neither me nor Hobo are saying to go straight to friction (well I wasn't anyway)...just that you can use natural tinder (see my reply to Steve above)
Match, if I'm in the middle of knowhere and need a fire the last thing I want to do is start ripping up my clothes to make charcloth!!! Ok, apart from that I haven't got a response to your other points....lol... it is usefull for practicing the ember blowing to a flame thing... :wink:
Don't get me wrong guys, I'm well impressed with how charcloth works and think it's a great idea in principle.... I just have issues with it being neither one thing or the other:
1)If it's a back to basics things then use natural tinder too.
2)If it's a get the fire started at all costs thing use a lighter.
Hope that wasn't too pedantic.....I am playing devil's advocate a wee bit but it is more or less my opinion.
I carry a firesteel and use it to light my fires pretty much all the time, I can bow drill a fire but I'm no expert and lets face it, it can be hard work (see...I'm really not an expert)... but I have never used charcloth...
Oh well, that's me....time to duck again... :wave:
I use it becasue it last so much longer then a match. The wind just makes it glow hotter and it works better in rain too.
Often it's just a case off
BECASUE WE CAN
Charcloth to me is one of those traditional things that most people have forgotten about, like the fire piston. I'm afraid historically speaking that the match did them both in.
I sealed a piece of charcloth in plastic and taped it inside my binocular case. It lights easily with an unscrewed lens. I left it there more for demonstration purposes than any real survival need. It is kind of cool to start a fire with your binoculars though. Mac
Bambodoggy, I agree that using the firesteel and natural tinders gathered from the area is important, in fact he did that as well, using birch bark scrapings and also shedding bark, the fact is he , like many kids and adults is a pyromanic and the more methods he has in his skill base the more able he will be. Apparently and I have no idea where he got this from, if he continues to learn and learns well he is going to grow up and be an instructor for a bear ??????????? :wink: or so he reckons he was told.
At the end of the day, its just fun, having more than one method of firelighting is just skill building, I always carry a lighter, firesteel, matches,flint and steel, and yet often I will make myself a bow drill, go figure :shock: :rolmao:
Personally I prefer charcloth, flint and steel, it has a nice 'feel' to it.
And I still can't get the rotten firebow to work...
Just for a laugh I've just bought some off e-bay to see if his stuff is any good.
And before anyone calls me a muppet, I'm just doing some market research Ok?
Oh, alright then, I admit, SWMBO won't let me do it in the house, the neighbours hang their washing outside and complain about the smoke and I'm a lazy swine. Ok! Happy now? :lol:
bambodoggy
17-02-2005, 10:35
Bambodoggy, I agree that using the firesteel and natural tinders gathered from the area is important, in fact he did that as well, using birch bark scrapings and also shedding bark, the fact is he , like many kids and adults is a pyromanic and the more methods he has in his skill base the more able he will be. Apparently and I have no idea where he got this from, if he continues to learn and learns well he is going to grow up and be an instructor for a bear ??????????? :wink: or so he reckons he was told.
At the end of the day, its just fun, having more than one method of firelighting is just skill building, I always carry a lighter, firesteel, matches,flint and steel, and yet often I will make myself a bow drill, go figure :shock: :rolmao:
Can't agrue with any of that Mate.... :biggthump Don't suppose he wants to train me at the next meet does he! :-P
I'm the same in that I have a firesteel, often matches and, as I smoke, always a lighter......and last Sunday up at my local woods....I made a bow drill set....because I could :o):
If it's just that you like the idea of charcloth or you like the "old ways" then that's cool.... we all do that and I am mellowing to charcloth if it works as well as you guys say in high wind but I still don't think it's my cup-a-tea yet.
Obviously this is a Bushcraft forum and I think imo charcloth is fine for bushcrafting (if that's what you like) but I don't think it has almost any value in a survival situation due to the fact that if it's been prepared before hand then you could have prepared a little block of magic-tinder or whatever it's called.... anyway, I'm saying the same thing again so I'll shut up :tapedshut
Phil,
Firstly, yes, charcloth is that good and is my chosen form of arson, I mean getting a brew on outdoors. :rolmao:
As for emergency situations you can argue it both ways for everything.
I carry a zippo but the fuel can (and does) run out as its a bit old and the fuel evaporates. And as its a very special issue one, I'm not too keen on sending it back to be fixed in case it finds a new home...
Matches, unless they're lifeboat 'only lasts 2 seconds' matches, can get soggy and so won't work. Even if they're in a film pot which can get broken or compressed so the lid pops off.
And trying to strike a light with cold hands can be difficult...
Chukka lighters and refillables - see zippo lighter comments.
It can often be easier to get charcloth to catch than other natural or manmade tinders and its certainly a LOT easier than trying to use a bow drill.
But, its good to know, and more importantly be able to use, all the different methods in case you do actaully need them in an survival situation. And may none of us ever be there.
Whether you carry a chukka, wetfire, clematis bark, charcloth or bowset is purely a matter of personal preference and skill (unless you're on a course of course) and no one method should be considered as 'the right one' as personal choice and the situation at hand dictate whichever you can use at the time, is the right one.
Right, enough of Charcloth.
Fire Pistons !!!!!!!
Over to you J.P. :cold2: :sulk:
bambodoggy
17-02-2005, 11:37
Jak...I agree with you, I just don't (didn't...) like charcloth :o):
Fire Pistons....mmmmmmm.....new toy to play with.....tell me more... :shock:
Phil, best you sew your hands in your pockets mate! :shock:
Phil, have a word with JP he's got a really nice Buffalo horn one that I saw at last years Wilderness Gathering, maybe he will bring it along to the next meet and let you have a play, never used one myself but I understand charcloth works quite well in one :lol:
bambodoggy
17-02-2005, 11:53
Phil, best you sew your hands in your pockets mate! :shock:
:rolmao: for the first time in my life I actually seem to have a little spare cash at the end of each month...yippy! Still, have to enjoy it while I can as I'm leaving work at some point this year and starting up my own business....of which I know nearly nothing about so it should be fun (nothing like jumping in at the deep end to sink or swim :roll: ).....and no doubt the spare cash will dry up then...... on the other hand, this tme next year I might be a millionaire!!!!! (If I am I'll buy us our own woods to all play in..lol)
JP....can I have a go on your fire piston please..... oh and can one of the very nice people I've been annoying about charcloth bring some along for me please.... :oops:
I understood that pistons were a swine to work with?
And having to use a pricker to remove the ember seems like a great way to end up with a useless piece of kit if you lose the tool.
Whilst I'm not denying that that work, they've been around for donkeys ears, I think I'll stick to my F&S.