Making Charcoal Flakes From Sawdust

Charcoal flakes are a great easy to make item with many different uses. These flakes are great items to take camping/backpacking. They take up very little space, are light weight, produce a lot of heat, and are easy to light (can be lit from flint and steel or just one match). Those of you familiar with making char cloth will recognize the process.

What you will need:

Sawdust (I recommend courser sawdust from a saw mill or a thickness planer)

A lidded Tin with a small hole in the lid (I use an old tobacco tin, but plan to upgrade to a larger tin soon)

fire

something to grab the hot tin out of the fire with (I use a pair of channel locks)

leather gloves (recommended)

Step 1: Fill Tin Loosely With Sawdust

Scoop up some sawdust into the tin, do not pack it, place the lid back onto the tin.

Step 2: Place in the Fire

Place tin in the fire and wait. Depending on how hot your fire is in about 30-60 seconds it will start to smoke and a flame will shoot out the hole.

Step 3: Remove From Fire

When the Flame dies down used you tongs to remove the tin from the fire, will be very hot do not touch with you bare hands. Set somewhere to cool off, once cool put on leather gloves and remove the lid.