That moment when the char first starts to burn the bird's nest, and the following few seconds when everything begins to ignite; the change in the sound of the air going through it, the small but inspiring plume of smoke that rolls out, the first little burst of flame...it's absolutely priceless. Lighting a fire with traditional methods is a truly special experience, thank you for sharing the knowledge with all of those that may not have known it
great video, I was taught this as an alternative to char clothe by my grandpa an uncle, as a youngster back in the 50s, yeah I'm an old dog, but still love the woods an outdoors. keep making these informative videos, there are younger generations out there thrusting for knowledge like this.
I use this method when I'm trying to be authentic to what was actually done in the past. Even small scraps of fabric were valuable and very little was left when the fabric was wore out to the point that they would make char cloth. I develop the coal in the tin and add small pieces of punk wood to the tin as I take lit ones out. It gives me a variety of char levels in the tin (it is possible to over char materials) and most of the time I don't have to make new char because the punk wood develops the char from the coal in the tin when I close the lid to smother it out.
??? There have been vids about charring found natural materials on RU-vid for a decade. Quite easy to watch, then do. I first learned to use F&S in the 1980s before there was an internet. My learning has been accelerated by using forums and vids in addition to books and experimentation. As a friend of mine often quips, "There's a lot of information out there. Most of it bad."
duxdawg okay, I was simply referring to the information he adds to these outdoor skills that show his experience. Yes, a million videos about charring natural material, but he added several elements I hadn’t heard yet, much like in the rest of his videos
Salve! Excelente dica sobre como carbonizar um material natural! Esse método faz o procedimento de usar a pedra e o aço ainda mais mateiro! Parabéns e grande abraço!
Great video Dan! I have made charred punk wood before, but have not taken the time to sue it. I am glad you explained the difference between char cloth and natural char. Now I can give it a try.- Jeremy
Good informative video! Thought I was doing something wrong when it (Punk-Wood) was proving more difficult than Char-cloth. Now it makes sense. Thanks! BTW, I did the Bush Coffee (made a fire in backyard) using your tips. MAN that really did work!!! I normally don't drink coffee black (probably for the same reasons you don't) but it tasted really good. Thought I would throw that in here.
Reallly appreciate your videos, and hope to make it out to one of your school sessions. Now I have something to go out and try this weekend. Have made plenty of char cloth, but haven’t tried the other natural materials yet. 👍🏼
Great job as always, just as a side note I really liked the yurt camp video. I would like to see more videos like that , maybe a tarp camping video. Take care.
Thank you for sharing Dan. I prefer punkwood for my char as well. I have heard that you can add uncharred punkwood to your can each time you use a piece and embers in the can will be enough to char it. Have you found this to be the case?
casting down like that is less than optimal as all you do is end up spilling your tin with a miss strike. Cast over the top granted it isn't as efficient as not all of the sparks fall into the tin and the sparks aren't as hot but it doesn't spill your tin nearly as often (if ever). I use a traditional tinderbox regularly and use the cast over method exclusively and it is so much better.
Hi Dave, excellent video as usual! I'm wondering if ordinary charcoal -- like the blackened leftovers from an old campfire -- can be used as char? I made char cloth once, out of about six attempts; I'm looking for an easier way! Thanks
Ive never seen anyone use charcoal, but I promise you will get better at making char cloth. Make sure ur container is in the fire for a long time, and that there is a small exhaust hole. It is hard, if not impossible, to overchar your char cloth, so keep it in for awhile
@@frankie1597 Thanks! I eventually realized that I was using some synthetic or blended cloth, not pure cotton. Real cotton works much better! But I do like using punkwood, since it's easy to find large amounts of it in the woods. I can use a big chunk, which gives me plenty of heat, and more time to fiddle with the tinder before the char is used up.
So here's a question: say you were in a real survival situation. All you have is a carbon steel knife and a piece of flint you managed to find by the river. Its winter time and you need a fire to survive the night but have no charcloth or anything. What would you do? Even those natural materials need to be charred, but you need char to make that fire to char it!
Nice video, very informative and entertaining, I was wondering, I tried to light fire on punkwood as it is, without charing, I didn't make it, is it possible to make fire like that?
All the guys and girls that watch thies vids must be young ,I learned all this and more when I was a kid in the late 60s in boyscouts,now a days people think this stuff is new,who'd a thunk,but good vid
Great info. Will you be selling char material that would be a big help to me. I've tried numerous times with different materials and metal cans and fail miserably.
Dan, you are the Obi Wan Kenobi of fire starting with a flint and steel. I am thinking I need to get to one of your fire starting clinics. The fire starting Force is not strong enough in me!!! This is not the char I am looking for!
What time of year do you anticipate that happening? Hope you're not planning for our weather. :-) Rain, snow, and sleet. Make your pick. Wait a few minutes, you'll get what you want.
The amount of time can vary widely depending on the material, moisture level, temperature, and so on. The way I make char, I watch the hole in the tin when I heat it. It will start to have a little jet of smoke come out of the hole and the smoke will usually start on fire. As soon as the smoke stops streaming out of the hole (and the flame goes out) I remove the tin from the heat and cover the hole to prevent oxygen from getting inside. Allow it to cool completely before opening. There's a little bit of a trial and error process here to get it perfect, but I have yet to see anyone follow this process and not get at least a partial tin of usable char.
