Charcloth???

Question

How do I successfully make charcloth??? Do denim jeans make a good charcloth material??? And how would I go about making/finding tow???

Answer 1

Denim is a little heavy but will do if it's all you got. Cotton T-shirt is about as heavy as I'd go. And there's always an old tshirt to be had. Cut it up into about one or two inch squares. Cut lots.
You'll need a clean can - average soup or vegetable can works. Stack your squares in the can. Not loose and not packed. Cover the can *tightly* with heavy duty aluminum foil. Poke a small hole in the foil, a small nail will do the trick.
Fire up the charcoal grill and make some steaks. Medium rare is good, with some cracked pepper.
Remove the steaks. While the steaks are resting, move the coals to make a space in the middle for your can. Put your can on the grate and surround with the coals. Add more briquets to be sure you have enough to last.
Eat your steak and watch the smoke from the hole in the foil.
When there almost no smoke at all, the char cloth is done. Remove the can and let cool.
The char cloth should be all black and still flexible. If it isn't, try again. Your coals, can, fabric, etc. all can change your process. But the materials are cheap. So keep trying.

Answer 2

you get a thin fabric like linen (natural) cotton works good, put in in a tin with holes poked in it with a lot of ground up charcoal and leave it in a hot area for a couple of weeks. putting it in a tin in the fire works too, but don't poke holes if you do it that way. I have never accually done that first method, bu it's supposed to work.

If you use the fire method (which I would recommend) Denim should work fine, it's cotton.

Answer 3

My friend, I know a way to find out. If you go to 360, just click my picture for the profile, and get my 360 page. There's a man in my friends list called Jim G. He has a blog and his survival advice tells about firestarters and charcloth. I remember reading it. Just be respectful, this man knows more than you think.