Survival - Making and using carbonized cotton to light a fire

This is a soda can, cut in half, and then with both halves fitted into each other. You can use this to make carbonized cotton. So let's try to hermetically seal this can, in quotations, because it's not going to be 100% sealed... We are going to try to cover this opening with an acorn. Let's twist it to make it fit, we'll put it in there. The cotton is already in the can when you seal it, we'll put it in the flames for 20 or 30 minutes... ...and that's how we'll get our carbonized cotton. There will come a time when we'll have to unplug the top, so gases generated by combustion can be released... ...but then we need to cover it back up immediately. This is cotton from an old t-shirt. We can use cotton from jeans, t-shirts, socks... ...but the thing with socks, underwear, and undergarments in general, is that they usually contain a mix of elastic... ...t-shirts, handkerchiefs, things like that are better. What you should do is cut strips, this one is a bit thin, but you can cut them to your taste. Cut them into short strips, so that they fit into the can when we roll them up. And do that with all the strips you have. What's more, this is a good way to preserve space within the can. It's also a good way to dispense the cotton, to be able to take just a piece. Then, when it's carbonized, you're going to be able to break off little pieces with your hands. So then we can take a little piece, and then when we want more, we cut more. And once the cotton is carbonized, it won't unroll. It will look like this, we'll put it in here, together with whatever other pieces we want to carbonize. And then we will plug up the can with an acorn and put it on the fire for 20 or 30 minutes. To make this can what we've used is a soda can. A blade, I used this one, you can use whatever blade you want, anything that will make the cut. I use this one because it cuts easily... ...so I prefer to use this, which doesn't cost anything, instead of a knife. This is easy, it cuts without a problem because it's aluminum. It's best to cut it as straight as possible. Then it will be easier to fit one piece over the other if you don't have rough edges that stick out. And since both pieces have the same diameter, since it's the same can... ...it makes sense to not have rough edges, otherwise it will be harder to fit them together. In order to fit them together making small dents in one of the halves, like an accordion you could say, will make it easier. That way they are easy to fit together. And this is the the hardest part: fitting them together. Normally you have to fold it, but then you have gaps. But if you have tact and luck you can seal it like this. For example, now that this piece has been fitted with the other, it's done. You have to be careful not to touch the edges because they are very sharp. Done. Now that we're done with the new can, it's ready. Take off the tab from the can, and it's done. Cover the whole with a stick or something. Or, we can put, if you have 2 cans, you can stack them on top of each other, since they don't weigh very much. ...then the gas and vapors released by combustion, if they are strong enough to make the can explode... ...(which is the reason we have to open the can)... ...so, before the can explodes, what you would do is move the top can a little bit up to release the gases, and once they are out, you let the can back down... Well, we've already stuffed a few pieces of cotton in there, and we are putting in the last one. In this case we are going to close it with an acorn. In this case there are some small openings, but I think it should be fine. Let's experiment with this can. [here we are lighting the gases and vapors on fire as they leech out of the can] So, the can has been in the fire for 20-30 minutes and we can see that almost no gases were emitted. So, this will be a good time to take it out of the fire. It's important to note that, even though no more smoke is coming out, you should let it cool down a bit. Until the can is totally cold, that way you can pick it up with your hands without burning yourself. Because it's possible that, if we open it too soon, the can will be very hot... ...and if it's still burning in the can, when you open it, the addition of oxygen will burn off all your cotton. So, let's just let it cool off a bit. 5 minutes, 10, I think is sufficient, then we can open it and see the results. Ok, let's open the can now that it's cold. And let's see how the cotton came out. This is the carbonized cotton. Here we have a piece. Now this is very fragile. This is a loose piece that's come apart. And it's very fragile. That's why it's convenient to have it rolled up somehow, that allows you to store it without it breaking up. What's more, it's an easy way to dispense the cotton. Since we had it rolled up, we take what we want, unroll it... ...and if we want this piece we took, the rest we can put away wherever we want to store it. [and this is what the final carbonized cotton product looks like] [and this is what the burned acorn looks like after the process of carbonizing the cotton...] [and this is what the can looks like on the inside...] [now we can test out our carbonized cotton to start a fire as tinder] [we can use these tools to get the spark] [then we can put the lit cotton in a nest of tinder...] [...blow…] [...and voilà! Fire!]