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how primitive is charcloth? (Read 6739 times)

Douglas_The_Black

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how primitive is charcloth?
Nov 19^th, 2005 at 8:45am

for those of you who do not know char cloth is just cloth that you "cook" to turn into something that can make fires easily.

i mostly have a intrest in Medieval/ dark ages/ and the like history but i also enjoy reading about pioneers and the early settlers. So one day i bought a flint and steel striker because thats all you ever see those guys use. It works quite well and i can easily start a fire, IF i have some char cloth.

Its fun starting fires with a hunk of flint and a knife too. But is useing a flint and steel go back as far as the dark ages? If so then would they have char cloth?

i think english once said that Medieval travalers would have some kind of primitve match to start fire, But i would still like to use my flint and steel i have a very hard time of it when i dont have my char cloth.

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slingbadger

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Re: how primitive is charcloth?
Reply #1 - Nov 19^th, 2005 at 11:25am

The use of flint and steel go back further than the Middle Ages, definatly. I think I read a reference to it in the Aeneid, but don't quote me on that. It didn't take long for people to figure out the sparking once iron was being produced.
Char cloth is not as ancient, but it definatly goes into the Middle Ages. It was the woman's job to handle the fire, then by the way.
It also was used by Native Americans before European contact. They used pieces of quartz and pyrites. I have tried to do it this way, and can't yet.

The greatest of all the accomplishments of 20th cent. science has been the discovery of human ignorance The main difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has it's limits.-Einstein I'm getting psychic as I get older. Or is that psychotic?

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Douglas_The_Black Interfector Viris Spurii Offline Hakkaa päälle! Posts: 3491 Salineville Ohio Gender:	Re: how primitive is charcloth? Reply #2 - Nov 20^th, 2005 at 9:36am ah cool, so i can use my char cloth then. I would think that the men could make fire even if it was the womans job
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Gard Senior Member Offline Yup, there are slingers in Norway too! Posts: 396 Norway Gender:	Re: how primitive is charcloth? Reply #3 - Nov 20^th, 2005 at 11:00am The use of matches in Norway began around 1800, so before that flint and steel was the easiest way to make fire. Gard
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Curious Aardvark Forum Moderation Offline Taller than the average Dwarf Posts: 13965 Midlands England Gender:	Re: how primitive is charcloth? Reply #4 - Nov 21^st, 2005 at 10:44am flint and steel goes back to the late iron age - obviously before then you had no steel :-) Charcloth - well you'd assume it would be contemporary with the manufacture of cotton based cloth - no idea when that started, but certainly before the middle ages - probably lol
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bigkahuna past-moderator Offline Posts: 3894 Delaware, USA Gender:	Re: how primitive is charcloth? Reply #5 - Nov 21^st, 2005 at 11:50am I don't recall ever hearing of Native American use of charcloth before the European invasion. Most Native Americans were skilled enough in the use of whatever local plant fibre they had ,to get a good fire going.
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slingbadger Interfector Viris Spurii Offline Don't Badger a Badger Posts: 3247 Akron NY Gender:	Re: how primitive is charcloth? Reply #6 - Nov 21^st, 2005 at 12:05pm That's correct. They would use finely shredded plant fibres, like nettle, or cattail down as a starter.
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bigkahuna past-moderator Offline Posts: 3894 Delaware, USA Gender:	Re: how primitive is charcloth? Reply #7 - Nov 21^st, 2005 at 1:14pm Also shredded grapevine or dry puffball spoors.
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Douglas_The_Black Interfector Viris Spurii Offline Hakkaa päälle! Posts: 3491 Salineville Ohio Gender:	Re: how primitive is charcloth? Reply #8 - Nov 22^nd, 2005 at 9:17pm i have tryed that stuff, i need to get a little better with the flint first.
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Willeke

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Re: how primitive is charcloth?
Reply #9 - Nov 23^rd, 2005 at 8:17pm

Charcloth can also be made out of linnen, as easy and good as out of cotton.
In medieval times that was more available and much cheaper than cotton, and I would not be surprized if it can be made out of wool too.

And making it is not that difficult.
You need a container that is almost airtight. Nowadays you can use tinfoil, of a metal tube with stoppers that do not fit airtight. In the old days they could also have used clay to make an one time container.

A kitchen stove is enough but a real fire, or it's cools will do too.

Willeke

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bigkahuna past-moderator Offline Posts: 3894 Delaware, USA Gender:	Re: how primitive is charcloth? Reply #10 - Nov 23^rd, 2005 at 8:38pm Linen is very good. Wool not so good as it has natural fire retardency to it. Linen is good though and you prepare it the same as you would cotton cloth.
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Smudge

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Re: how primitive is charcloth?
Reply #11 - Nov 24^th, 2005 at 10:18am

I too have tried using flint and steel to light fire but have not had much success with my tinder. The charcloth lights up fine, but I run into a problem when I transfer the cloth to my tinder ball which is usually made of dryer lint. The charcloth only scorches the tinder ball no matter how hard I blow on it and before I know it my tinder has been turned into charcoal with no open flame. ??? How did you get yours to work DtB?? ???

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bigkahuna past-moderator Offline Posts: 3894 Delaware, USA Gender:	Re: how primitive is charcloth? Reply #12 - Nov 24^th, 2005 at 8:45pm You need to use finer tinder. It should be almost a powder consistancy in order to work well.
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Willeke Interfector Viris Spurii Past Moderator Offline Give me some string and I know what to do. Posts: 2072 Netherlands Gender:	Re: how primitive is charcloth? Reply #13 - Nov 25^th, 2005 at 12:33am I have been told that the dust collecting in the tumble dryer filter works very good. But I never tried it myself. Willeke
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bigkahuna past-moderator Offline Posts: 3894 Delaware, USA Gender:	Re: how primitive is charcloth? Reply #14 - Nov 25^th, 2005 at 1:37am Dryer lint makes very good tinder. That is one of the reasons that you have to keep your exhaust vents clean or you could have a nice little fire start there.
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