Making Char in the Ground: From Friction to Flint & Steel

The ability to make charred material frees you from relying on friction fire, which can be temperamental and requires a fair amount of exertion. Getting ignition from percussion (flint and steel) requires much less time and energy expenditure provided you have a piece of sparky steel and some good char.

The phrase “make hay while the sun shines” definitely applies to fire too. If you were reliant on friction fire, it is definitely best to do so before the rain shows up. On this particular afternoon, the clouds were moving in and it occurred to me that there may be times when it is best to make a fire even if you don’t need one at the moment.

There are several ways to make char without a tin, and some work better for me than others. Burying smoldering material is one of the most often recommended methods ; but I struggled with it for a while and had multiple failed attempts due to the damp soil in the forest and fine sand in the riverbeds.

When it is dry, burying the material directly in the sand snuffs it out quickly, but also seems to damage the outer surface rendering it much less likely to take a spark. Putting the material into a bark sandwich first helps to protect it from the abrasive sand as well as any moisture present in the ground.

I have run into this same issue when snuffing out smoldering material with pressure; which has led me to seeing the value of treating it delicately.

I grabbed some punk wood from a cottonwood log in the riverbed that was pretty dry, but still dried it out further next to the fire before igniting it with the coals. The drying stage might not have been necessary but it also helped to dry the bark sandwich. I would have to be much more diligent about moisture management in the rainy season.

This particular type of punk wood is amazing at catching spark but burns up very quickly. With a slower smoldering material, I may have been able to skip the burial and smother it directly in the bark sandwich wrapped in leaves, but this sometimes leads to a package of burned up ashes, so I wanted to make sure it was really out. In hindsight, I should have put a few of the maple leaves over the bark to keep even more sand out before burying it over.

I will put a list of more no-tin char videos below in case you aren’t interested in alternative methods. There is always more than one way to accomplish a task, so get out there and have fun experimenting.

The rain never showed up, but the char worked beautifully and having it would have been a lot easier than using the bow drill set if it did start falling.

Making Natural Char in My Hands
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3V_vZpifYko

Fire Chain at the Ocean (charring in kelp)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aTsa9lvpAjU

Far North Bushcraft & Survival Video – Emergency Fire lighting Method For Wilderness Survival (using a bundle of leaves)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H5dmsz9-8y0

Materials Used…

Bow Drill Set: Silver fir hearth and spindle with a fatwood bearing block and stinging nettles cordage

Tinder Bundle: Cottonwood punk wood, moss, and willow twigs.

Char: Cottonwood Punk wood

Music:

Luca Stricagnoli – The Last of the Mohicans (Guitar)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Kbv1OpIpaA

Fredji- Endless Nights
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KePN7-dF_lw