Handy looking kit Pitman,nice pics.Good looking dogs too.The pic of Terror is especially nice,like he/she(?)was posing,good timing.
The char cloth I haven't heard of.Cotton I assume.Is it all charred,or is some left uncharred.Also what are the tube bands for,burning?And what type of fungus is in the kit?Thanks. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

Cheers buddy,
Terror (real name Snicker)is very much a girl unlike Maisy who is a girl but acts like a boy if ya know what I mean, LOL !

Yeah Char cloth is cotton that has been charred so due to it being partially burned it takes a spark straight away. It is often used with traditional flint and steels !

The tube bands are sections of regular bicycle inner tube, this will burn even when wet and also burns long enough to get any other tinder ya have going as well.

The Fungus is called Tinder fungus and is a type of bracket fungi that has been dried. I have still yet to use this stuff but from what I understand it will smoulder for a very long time and can be blown back into a hot ember when you stop. It is therefore a fire that you can carry with you !!!

This is my first view, sweet thread. Nice fire kit. More people should venture over to the Outdoor forum. Personally, I always check it first.

If you ever want to make char cloth yourself, it's really easy and you can make huge stockpiles of the stuff quickly.

You will need:
- fire
- a fire-proof steel (not aluminum, not tin) container which seals reasonably tightly
- a screwdriver, nail, awl, or similar tool
- cloth of cotton or linen. Do not use synthetics or synthetic blends. Some people swear by old bath towels, but I've not had any problems with old T-shirts, or even new fabric

1.) Cut your cloth into squares. The bigger the piece, the longer it burns, but the more wasteful it becomes. Between 1 inch and 2 inches square should be fine.

2.) Take your steel container and punch a small hole in the top of it. It only needs to be 1/8th of an inch or so.

3.) Stuff the cloth into the container. Do not pack tightly. Just toss it in casually until the container is full. Put the lid on.

4.) Build your fire. Once you start to see coals and your fire is really starting to generate some heat, put the container into the fire. Try to pile coals around it so that is being heated from all sides.

5.) After a while, you will see smoke escaping from the vent hole in the container. It will get progressively more nasty until eventually the gasses discharging from the vent hole will ignite. Once this flame goes out, promptly remove the container from the heat and let it cool.

6.) When the container is cool enough to handle with your bare hands, you can open it. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Char cloth should be a rich pure black, but it should still be cloth. That is it should be flexible. If you end up with something so brittle that it crumbles when you touch it, or if there is just a cup full of char in the bottom of the container, you cooked the cloth too long. Start over.

If the cloth is not black, but dark brown, and does not catch a spark easily, you didn't cook it long enough. You can throw it back on the fire.

If the cloth is black in places but has brown spots, it didn't cook thoroughly. This could be because you packed too much cloth in (there needs to be air space for the heat to get in and the exhaust gasses to get out), because the container was not heated evenly (remember to bank the coals up a bit), or your container is just too big.