Char cloth tutorial

[Celtic Dragon]

Right as I suggested it in the suggestions area, and being unemployed at the mo, I have written a tutorial on making char cloth.

Everyone is free to download it and make constructive comments and Tony feel free to put it on the main site.

Now I've set the precident c'mon peeps have a go.

Simon

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/verminh...20Tutorial.pdf

Now converted to pdf format due to popular demand!!!!

[giancarlo]

Sounds great :)

Only 1 thing, It might be better if you export it as HTML and upload it?
I'm never keen on downloading word docs, may contain a macro virus etc.
(even though i'm pretty tooled up on the anti-virus front)

Cheers :)
Carlo

[Celtic Dragon]

I checked my system this morning and I was clean, however you could save as a file and scan it for viruses if you wanted.

Simon

[ESpy]

Oi! That's my duvet cover!

:-D

Works for me. I use a Callard & Bowser sweet tin as the retort, worn out jeans for the charcloth and I do burn the vented gases. One of these days I might duct them round underneath the tin to help the burn... Silly & excessive, but entirely in character.

I've got to second the warning of not doing it indoors, too.

On using Word for this: I'm another one who is pretty anti- it. Could I humbly suggest perhaps using Fineprint or similar to convert it to pdf? That way, it'll be a lot more difficult for anyone to remove your name from the text too...

[Tony]

Well done Simon. I'll PM you about putting it on the main site.

[clcuckow]

Good one Simon.

If you want to do any more tutorials and you have the disc space you might want to try OpenOffice 1.1. Its a free Office Suite that is just as good as MS Office in my opinion and it can export to PDF perfectly and does not but any adverts in the footers. It is available for Windows, Linux(x86/PPC), Solaris (SPARC/x86) and MacOS X(X11) from www.openoffice.org. Its free so if you don't like it, it not cost you anything.

If you have not got the bandwidth and would like to try it pm me your address I will download it at work and post it to you.

On the Char cloth I have had some good results by rapping the cloth tightly in tin foil, any view as tin foil is a lot easier to shove in your pack than a tin and as the fumes burn it increases the heat.

Christopher

[Celtic Dragon]

From my last batch I have 3 pots of the stuff like the pot in the last pic. I am looking for a smokers oil pouch to put some in before taking it to the field. Those pots are neither water or airtight but do for storage in a dry area.

Simon

[Andrew Middleton]

This is pretty much how I produced mine also and the resulting charcloth is so easy to use. Even my nine-year-old son can get a fire going with it in under a minute.

I used old jeans, and made an enormous amount of charcloth in one evening. However, the smoke given off is pretty acrid and I had a cracking headache the next day, so be warned: Nothing to do with the wine I was drinking while waiting for the cloth to cool!

[Jeff Wagner]

I have large scale requirements for charcloth since it is provided with every fire piston sent out. As an added tip for those having a fire place or wood burning stove, you can pop your retort in the stove and the offensive smoke goes right up the chimney along with the woodsmoke. This also does a good good of burning off any tar accumulation on the outside of the can.

[Celtic Dragon]

Tony, I have sent you the tut via mail. The mail addy will display as verminhunter so don't delete it.

Simon

[tenbears10]

This tutorial looks great, thanks. The problem I am having is getting a suitable retort I have coffee tins from work but they have plastic lids (not much good in a fire). Can anyone suggest anything else or what can I make a lid for the tins out of? :-?

Bill

[Jeff Wagner]

Small scale, the Altoids tins work well. I use an old Christmas cookie can. I have also seen empty, bare metal paint cans for sale.

[Celtic Dragon]

Go and buy yourself a can of coffee from tescos, their own brand is only about 6 quid for the 500g tin, if you want it now, empty contents into seperate containers or wait till you finish the coffee then go for it. Small scale here are some ideas for cans

Treacle
shoe polish
furniture polish



HTH
Simon

[Gary]

Empty bean tin with silver foil sealing the lid works very well and is what i use.

I also use my stove as well as a fire both with equal auccess just remember to make a small smoke hole and to block it once the smoke stops.

[Jeff Wagner]

Using this same method of preparation you can also make an excellent spark catching tinder from punk ( rotten spongy wood ). It only needs to be lightly toasted as opposed to charred to carbon. Once a spark has caught it is transferred to a larger piece of un-toasted punk and you're off and running....err, blowing rather. :-)

[Gary]

Dried smouldering punk is also a good way to carry an ember. Beech seems to be handy for this as the rotting wood can be teased off in slabs.

[clcuckow]

I can confirm after a slip that two hour old marks and sparks moleskin trousers with a ripped knee make a very good slow burning char cloth ;-) now all I need is for the bruising to go down!

[Stew]

Oi!
Works for me. I use a Callard & Bowser sweet tin as the retort, worn out jeans for the charcloth and I do burn the vented gases. One of these days I might duct them round underneath the tin to help the burn... Silly & excessive, but entirely in character.

I've done this before with results that we didn't expect. I got what I can only call a positive feedback! I bolted a small copper pipe to the tin lid and the gases were vented from the lid down the side of the tin so they fed straight into the fire. The cloth then got hotter and started releasing more gas. This then made the fire burn hotter, making an even greater amount of gas be vented out. Eventually the lid popped off and had to quickly rescue the whole lot rom burning!

Stew.

Well it was a learning experience!

This tutorial looks great, thanks. The problem I am having is getting a suitable retort I have coffee tins from work but they have plastic lids (not much good in a fire). Can anyone suggest anything else or what can I make a lid for the tins out of?

When I didn't have a big tin around I've just got 2 old tin cans and split one about an inch down one side. I put the cloth in then just pushed the tins together. The ridges on the side help keep it ogether and there's enough space to let gas escape.

[TAHAWK]

Lovely thread! The idea of "packing" the cloth is a revelation.

For retort cans, there are "safety" can openers that cut the bead of the can in half from the side (instead of cutting out the lid inside the bead), leaving the top as a lid that fits pretty well indeed. (Also good for keeping canned food [pet or otherwise] fresher and leaves NO sharp edges.)