“What is charcloth?” One might ask. Charcloth is simple. It is a piece of cloth that is charred for the purpose of fire starting. Charcloth makes a great fire starter and generally only takes one strike of flint and steel to ignite. Charcloth is very combustible and is great to place in tinder bundles. Charcloth is very easy and cheap to make.
You’ll Need:
• A piece of cloth
• An empty Altoid’s mint box
• A fire
• A knife or drill
Steps:
1. Take your empty Altoid’s mint box and poke a hole in the middle of the lid using a knife or a drill.
2. Take a sheet of cloth (preferably made of cotton) and place it in the mint box. Be sure that the cloth fits in the box completely and make sure the lid can close completely.
3. Start a fire and let the woods become hot coals.
4. Once the fire is nothing but hot coals, place your mint box onto the coals. Be sure the lid is closed.
5. Let the box sit for a few minutes, the hole in the box should begin to steam. That means the cloth is charring.
6. Look into the hole and see if the cloth is black, if it is, it is done.
Open the lid and take out the cloth. The cloth should be entirely charred. I would recommend making several charcloths for your survival kit or bug-out-bag.
Used with permission by The Outdoorsman’s Art Media (Blake Alma Outdoors)
Blake Alma is an award-winning writer, radio host, and published author. He is also the founder/editor at The Art of an Outdoorsman and editor-in-chief at Survivalist Daily. He currently hosts and produces The Outdoorsman’s Art Radio Show. Blake loves and pursues the outdoors and its Creator with all that he has. Some of Blake’s favorite outdoor activities include survival, trapping, hunting, fishing, and camping.
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