00:00:10other modern conveniences fires had to
00:00:11be started in more primitive ways like
00:00:14rubbing sticks together or burning wood
00:00:15with a magnifying glass but anyone who’s
00:00:18tried these methods knows it’s extremely
00:00:19hard work to make a fire especially in
00:00:22an emergency situation luckily there’s a
00:00:24way to cheat and it’s called char cloth
00:00:29[Music]
00:00:42to get started on this project I’ll
00:00:44sacrifice one of my little boy shirts
00:00:46and a can of tuna
00:00:48this shirt is 100% cotton and that’s
00:00:50what we need so now we can focus on
00:00:51prepping this can I’ll grab my wife’s
00:00:53can opener and a small screwdriver and
00:00:55get to work on removing the lid the lid
00:00:58lifter cuts sideways and removes the top
00:01:00portion of the lid just below the rim
00:01:02and that’s perfect because we’ll want it
00:01:04to fit back together later on okay the
00:01:06tuna comes out and after a little
00:01:07cleaning our char cloth maker is nearly
00:01:09complete let’s cut off about four pieces
00:01:11of shirt and lay them on the lid then
00:01:13the bottom of the can fits over top to
00:01:16finish we can punch a small hole in the
00:01:17top with this screwdriver to act as a
00:01:19vent hole to char this cloth properly
00:01:22we’ll need to heat this up over 400
00:01:23degrees Celsius and that can be done
00:01:25with the solar scorcher it’s about 7:00
00:01:28p.m. and the Sun is nearly set I found
00:01:30the focal point and I’m happy to see
00:01:31there still plenty of heat the little
00:01:33flame shows that the cotton is charring
00:01:35and releasing hydrogen and methane gases
00:01:37through the hole in the top
00:01:39all right the flame just went out so
00:01:40that means it’s done and we’ll need to
00:01:42carefully cover the hole with some
00:01:43aluminum foil to prevent air from
00:01:45leaking in and causing a flashback now
00:01:47that it’s cooled down we can remove the
00:01:49foil and the cover to see how our cloth
00:01:51turned out it’s turned completely black
00:01:53totally charred but not burned and
00:01:56that’s just what we needed the fabrics
00:01:58still pliable but now is extremely
00:01:59sensitive to heat just a few seconds
00:02:02with the Sun and a water bottle and we
00:02:03can easily make a fire your water bottle
00:02:06can also be used to make a fire without
00:02:07the char cloth but it takes a lot longer
00:02:09and is much more difficult okay so it’s
00:02:12the next day and I’m making another
00:02:13batch this time with an open flame this
00:02:16method works super well it only takes
00:02:17about 2 minutes to cook all the gasses
00:02:19out of the fabric when it’s cooled down
00:02:21and the foil is off I’m really impressed
00:02:23at how much the fabric is shrunk from
00:02:24the original size now I’m wondering if
00:02:27cotton balls would work so my little boy
00:02:29is helping load a batch and after 2
00:02:30minutes in the fire they’re all done
00:02:32they’re looking great and I’m interested
00:02:34to see how they’ll compare to the cotton
00:02:36fabric
00:02:37to test the quality let’s brush the side
00:02:39with a flame and blow gently to see if
00:02:41it glows a success the fabric ignites
00:02:44amazingly fast and burns impressively
00:02:46slowly from this point all it takes to
00:02:48get a flame is to add something
00:02:50flammable like a piece of paper and blow
00:02:52aha fire these charred cotton balls work
00:02:56so well and are so cheap and accessible
00:02:58that I think from now on I’m gonna use
00:02:59them exclusively in my fire piston you
00:03:02can see how to build this in a different
00:03:04video I also tried making char cloth
00:03:06using another fabric and a mint in a
00:03:08glass baby food jar and an Altoids tin
00:03:11overall I was most impressed with my
00:03:13tuna can an open flame and handful of
00:03:16cotton balls well there’s another item
00:03:18for my emergency kit and a fun project
00:03:20with my kids that’s it for now if you
00:03:22liked this project perhaps you’ll like
00:03:24some of my others check them out at the
00:03:26king of random calm
00:03:31[Music]
00:03:36you
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