Disaster - First time trying to make charcloth.

[Ian Munch]

My brother and I went out for a wander to a wonderful place in the woods I found yesterday. The area was perfect for a little fire so I thought I'd take along some old denim and try to turn it into charcloth.

Punched a tiny hole in the lid of an old tin and stuffed the tin with the denim and placed it on the side of the fire...


Couldn't remember how long to keep it on the fire for so we decided that it must surely be ready once the vapour stops coming out of the hole .

After about 15-20 minutes there was a pop; the lid flew off of the tin and the contents caught fire...


Wooops!

After it cooled down I tipped it out to see if anything was worth keeping...
(The pile on the left is the amount of charred denim that crumbled into dust as soon as I picked it up, the measly right pile is the stuff I think I can use!)


Ah well, we live and learn! We had a good laugh about it on the way home

[Rasputin]

Ah well, we live and learn!

And thats what makes us better bushcrafters, the man who never made a mistake.. never made anything. Good luck next time, Ken ps if it popped off the hole was too small or you had too much heat

[Adam Savage]

It may have been the can deforming with the heat, and as soon as oxygen rushes in it ignites into a fire ball
Other than that, the only suggestion would be maybe try less denim/cotton inside. It doesn't want to be too tight, but doesn't look like you had too much in anyway.

[Valantine]

Looks like you actually succeeded making char cloth, shame the lid popped off. You were right to wait till it stops fuming, try a slightly larger hole.

[luresalive]

It's happened to me before.. what has actually happened is some of the fumes condense into a 'tar' inside the container, this tar has blocked the hole causing an increase in internal pressure which then blows the lid off, it's easily done , just bad luck, do it again and you'll get it right.

[Ian Munch]

Hey guys, thanks for your suggestions! There was definitely 'tar' spitting out of the top later in the burn and I assume the tar was spitting because it was too hot? The size of the hole had caused no problems till then so maybe it's a combination of everything you guys say?

For learning's sake, I might experiment with keeping the hole the same size but resting the tin on a cooler part of the fire or does the tar push it's way out of the hole regardless?

[Ian Munch]

Oh and yes Valantine! We did make some charcloth, it seems exactly like I was expecting it to be, if a little more crisp lol. I'm going to cut up the denim into neat squares next time as well so it fits in my tinder box more efficiently.

[midas]

I always block hole when smoke has finished coming out n remove tin from heat source.That cuts off its oxigen supply n stops it burning to ash!!!!

[jbrown14]

Some people say, "Practice makes perfect," but I've been taught that "perfect practice makes perfect."

You learn from the times that everything doesn't go exactly to plan, and do it better next time...then you learn from that time as well.

I'd be willing to bet that if you made your vent hole a bit larger, the can wouldn't be allowed to build up as much pressure and pop the top. It's going to take a bit of experimenting. I've only made char cloth in an old mint tin myself. I figured the joint around the edge and the little hinges at the back were porous enough so I didn't drill any holes. Just waited til everything stopped venting and gave it another minute or two then popped it off to cool. Worked very well.

Good luck!

Josh

[midas]

Ive successfully used heavy tin foil dishes,folded n cloth sealed inside by crimping edges with pliers.make small hole.place on fire or stove,when smoke has finished coming out /burning,lift off,nipping up hole,with pliers.leave to cool.