Char cloth.
Char cloth was the first true ready made tinder for fire starting. It's also so stupidly simple to make that this post involved exactly 1 photo.
Any 100% cotton item will work for char cloth. For this, I used scrap canvas that I had left over from other projects. To make char cloth, you need the following:
- Shoe polish or Altoids tin
- Heat source
- 100% cotton
Step 1: With whatever tin you're using poke a SMALL hole in the lid. As explained on various sites, the hole should be big enough to poke the lead of a sharpened pencil though but not big enough to poke any part of the wood though.
Step 2: place the cotton flat into the tin and close the lid. Make sure there are no folds or crumples in the cotton.
Step 3: Place on heat source and allow to smoke or flame until all smoke/flame are gone. Remove from heat and allow to cool.
View attachment 78100
Here's the entire char cloth making kit. I'm a huge fan of the SnoPeak stove as it's small, lightweight yet puts out alot of heat. On top is a shoe polish tin with a small hole poked in the top and filled with canvas. Total cook time (outside as this will produce alot of smoke) is under 10 minutes. Once cooled for a few minutes, you'll be left with char cloth (small black squares).
The char cloth readily will take a spark and these 1.5"x1.5" clothes will hold an ember for about 2 minutes.