Friday, February 17, 2012

Making Fire With Flint and Steel Part 3 – Making Char Cloth

In this last part of the video I wanted to take a few minutes and show you how to make some char cloth. It is a fairly easy process.

Most plant material can be charred in a similar manner, or simply by igniting them on the fire and them putting them out.

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There are other natural tinders which can be used to start a fire using this method. Here are some of them. I have very little experience with most of these, but have seen them used:

Chaga-also known as true tinder fungus, Inonotus obliquus, can be used without any special preparation other than drying. It can be found growing on trees, birch in particular.

Amadou-derived from a fungus sometimes also referred to as tinder fungus or bracket fungus, Fomes fomentarius. The tinder requires preparation before use, and is derived from one particular area of the fungus.

Reed grass pith-can also be used as tinder without extensive preparation,

Cattail seed heads-the dried heads can catch a spark without much preparation.

Punk wood-this is simply rotting wood which has reached the stage where the fibers are falling apart and turning into dust. If the material is dried well enough, it can catch a spark.

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