Making Char

[fd-ems-emt]

One of the traditional non-primitive tinders that are used with flint and steel is often referred to as char. This is cotton fabric that has been charred,
To make char you need:

100% cotton fabric
A metal tin with a closefitting lid
A fire

1. Cut the fabric into small pieces (5 cm/2 inch square is about right), and place in the tin. If the can is truly airtight (e.g. has a screw on lid) you may which to make a small hole in the lid, but this is not necessary for tins with press on lids.
2. Place the tin in the fire for at least a few minutes. It will get red hot. Once it has reached this stage you can move it out of the fire, or wait for the fire to die down. Do not open the tin while it is still hot, or the char might ignite.
3. You now have char.
If it is totally black and somewhat fragile (i.e. tears easily) you have gotten it right. If it is only brownish you need to fire it some more.

Different materials for char

Rush pith - easy to make an takes a spark if anything too easily - you need a lot - it races away.

Bramble pith is unreliable but can work OK - some parts of a tinful will work, other parts be useless. Other piths need experimentation - many plant piths are OK but a bugger to collect much of. Other promising piths like willowherb didn't work for me.

Any woody bracked fungus I tried worked superbly. Wet fungi weren't very successful, but would probably be if dried slowly before trying to char them.

Punk wood also superb

Charred herbivore dung also works well.

Charred grass worked great the first time I tried it but was hopeless every other time I tried to repeat it - so it can be done but you wouldn't want to trust your life to it (or even your dinner)

Now that your Char is made,
Here is link on how to use Flint and Steel with it to get the char lite to start a fire....

http://www.supload.com/vid/FlintandSteel+002/1101890195/wmv/