More On Tow Rag & Tow Cloth.

Tow rag was simply worn material from tow cloth. When old clothing or other materials made from tow became worn & needed replacing, this worn cloth became rags for household cleaning work. When this tow rag was of no further use for cleaning, it was turned into tinder for fire lighting by charring it in the fire, & extinguishing this smouldering cloth in a tinderbox.
Tow rag could be used for cleaning guns, the tow fibres after hackling could also be used for cleaning the bore of a gun. After use for gun cleaning it might be used for kindling a fire.

Tow is the short fibres left over after combing or “hackling” the longer flax fibres called “line”. Flax is a plant that was dried and pulled through a hatchel, like the one below.

These fibres were then made into tow cloth, which, in the 18th century was used to clean gun barrels, and when they were finished, it was put into their fire bag and used for lighting fires. Tow was an inexpensive material and was also used to make work clothes and work frocks.

http://017924b.netsolhost.com/ccblog/2013/03/12/18th-century-tow-cloth-and-other-early-antiques/

More Information: http://flaxforsale.com/html/flax_process.html

http://resources.osv.org/explore_learn/document_viewer.php?Action=View&DocID=1067

http://www.prickettsfort.org/Resources/18th%20Century%20Clothing.pdf

Flint & Steel Fire Lighting Methods.

Flint & Steel Fire Lighting Methods.

Flint & steel & the use of a tinderbox has been in use since before the middle ages. One common method was to strike sparks onto tinder in the tinderbox by striking flint against steel. Once the tinder has caught the spark from the steel & produced an ember, several methods of making fire can be employed.

1.    You can hold kindling material (dry grass or similar) to the smouldering tinder & blow the kindling into flame.

2.   You can use a spunk (sulphur headed match/splint) to make fire by simply holding the sulphur tip to the smouldering tinder & blow gently.

3.   If you are using tow rag as tinder & have charred this material directly in the fire, then there will be patches of cloth that have not completely charred. If you blow on the ember on the tow rag, the uncharred parts can be blown into flame.

4.   You can hold a candle close to the smouldering ember & drip wax onto the tinder. If the tinder is punk wood or tow rag, it can then often be blown into flame.

The Tinderlighter.

Using a tinderlighter you can employ methods 2 & 3 to create fire. You can also tip the smouldering tinder into a nest of dry kindling & blow the kindling into flame. This method works best if you add additional tinder.

The Flintlock Gun.

Using the pan on the flintlock gun in the same manner as using a tinderlighter, you can make fire by adding the smouldering tinder to a kindling nest. This method is improved by adding additional tinder to the already smouldering tinder in the kindling nest. You can also use a spunk/sulphur match.

No Tinderbox Methods.

Personally I think carrying a tinderbox is a good idea, especially for processing tinder charred directly in the fire. Without a tinderbox you need to find some other method of extinguishing the smouldering tinder. This can be done by using some type of lidded container, or you can bury the tinder under dry earth. The earth does make the tinder less effective, so the method I used was to wrap the smouldering tinder in a piece of leather before burying. Using a tinderbox is the preferred method.

1.    You can place your tinder in a nest of dry kindling & strike sparks onto the tinder & blow the nest into flame.

2.   You can hold a piece of tinder material on top of a piece of flint between thumb & forefinger & strike the steel downward against the flint. This will cast sparks upward onto the tinder held on top of the flint. Once the tinder is smouldering, you can add the tinder to a kindling nest. Again, this method works best if you add additional tinder to the nest.

Detail of the altarpiece of the Saint Georges church in Haguenau, Bas-Rhin, France.

In this lower image Joseph is holding flint & tinder in his left hand, & is about to strike downward against the flint with the steel held in his right hand. Below you can see an open wooden tinderbox & some spunks/sulphur headed matches/splints/tapers.

13.   You can use plant tinders even if they are not charred, by adding “a very little” pinch of gunpowder to the piece of tinder & striking a spark onto the gunpowder. Be very careful using this method. Only use very little gunpowder, & keep your face clear of the area. The powder will ignite & start the uncharred tinder smouldering.

For further instruction please visit my video channel & check out my fire lighting videos covering all these methods above. 

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCHEOMSZJETfj3GnoyONuvCQ?view_as=public

The Jakes Or Tinder?

(Deborah Frazier, from The Porcelain God by Julie Horan 1996); 

The Jakes Or Tinder?

One thing leads to another, directly or indirectly, this is usually the way it is in research. Until now, I believed the popular opinion that scrap cloth went to cleaning the house and items in the house and then was used as tinder. But my research into what was used in the 18^th century to cleanse or wipe one’s self after defecating has thrown new light on tow rag used as tinder. Now undoubtedly tow rag was used as tinder, it was charred in the house fire and then extinguished in the tinderbox. But now I see that not all the rag went to tinder use, because some of it had to be used in the Jakes.

Not just strips of cloth were used. Out in the wilderness anything that could be used was used. Sticks, rocks, moss, leaves of trees and plants, and even sea shells. From early times apparently the Romans used either sponge or cloth on the end of a stick. But this of course was in their toilets, not in the woods. Common sense will dictate what to use when away from home, the more comfortable items would of course be first choice, such as the soft large leaves of plants. If these were not available, then the woodsrunner would have looked for the next best thing.

Poorer families reportedly used fresh corn cobs. Some they say were hung on a piece of cordage for repeated use (!). Others more fortunate kept a box of corn cobs in the outhouse.

For my use in historical trekking, I carry some rolls of cloth in a cloth bag, but to be practicle, there is no reason why we can’t also carry modern toilet roll in a cloth bag.

I would like to wish you all happy and safe….ah…trekking.
Take care!

18th Century Travel Commode.

18^th century toilet.

 Sir William Cornwallis kept “pamphlets and lying-stories and two-penny poets” in his privy to be read and then used (Spufford, 1981, p. 48-49).

http://www.nwta.com/Spy/fall99/chapbooks.html

We know from archaeological evidence that in some areas during the Age of Insufficient Light (qv) that mosses were used. (The best known of these is the Coppergate dig in York which was later commercialised into the Yorvik Viking Centre) We can assume that leaves and other plant material were commonly used everywhere.
A poster to one of the threads on this subject had apparently read of scraps of cloth having been found by archaeologists. It is not known whether these were used only once, or whether they were washed and re-used. Nor is it known how common this practice was, or even if the cloths were definitely used for that purpose on a regular basis.
The third possibility is washing. It is known that Romans had used a sponge on a stick for their ablutions in that region, and it does not seem too far fetched to assume that this custom was also practiced in the Middle Ages. It may be that this is what the cloths referred to above were for.
---- CG Luxford (hicgl@bris.ac.uk)
Cacata carta (Catullus 36.1).]

http://www.shm-qa.net/shm-p2.html

The rich used wool or hemp for ablution while the poor used grass, stone or sand or water depending upon the country and weather conditions or social customs.

http://www.sulabhtoiletmuseum.org/old/pg02.htm

. Strips of torn fabric were used as toilet paper. (c.590– c.1500)http://lib.oup.com.au/secondary/history/Big_Ideas_History/8/03_SAL_BAH8_SB_71097_SPREADS_RGB.pdf

MASON86 lists “1 Toilet Cloth;”

http://www.gunstonhall.org/mansion/room_use_study/textiles.html

"I know a gentleman who was such a good manager of his time that he would not even lose the small portion of it which the calls of nature obliged him to pass in the necessary house; but gradually went through all the Latin poets in those moments. He bought, for example, a common edition of Horace, off which he tore gradually a couple of pages, carried them with him to that necessary place, read them first, and then sent them down as a sacrifice to Cloacina: this was so much time fairly gained and I recommend you to follow his example . . . ."

—Lord Chesterfield to his son in the 18th century

http://wordinfo.info/unit/3949/ip:6/il:T

Bathroom. History of the home. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=inoVg5a1kps&feature=c4-overview-vl&list=PLE42FE815C9D0EF51

Elm Cottage outhouse in Wychwood Forest.

Part Two. A Closer Look At Flint and Steel Fire Lighting.

This is my brass tinderbox which I carry with me when in the woods. NOTE, it does NOT have a hole in the lid. A hole in the lid would only let in damp and ruin the tinder inside. The tinderbox is used to prepare plant tinders, but you do not need a hole in the lid, and you DO NOT place the tinderbox in the fire.

Tinder is prepared by simply charring directly in the fire on the end of a pointed stick. Once charred on the outside ONLY, it is placed in the tinderbox and the lid is closed to smother the smouldering tinder.

The misconception regarding the hole in the lid comes from the item below.

Above is a tin used for charring linen or cotton cloth. You will note it has a hole in the lid with a twig stuck in it. This is a modern invention, NOT a period one. In the 18th century charred tow rag was used in the homes, rarely in the wilderness. A person travelling from his/her home may well use charred tow rag in their tinderbox, but a woodsman or woods woman would not.

Amadou was also sold to households in England and Europe by tinder sellers. In this case the Amadou was treated with potasium nitrate to aid in its catching a spark.

Tow rag was charred directly in the fire, placed in the tinderbox, then smothered by placing an inner lid on top of the tinder. The same type of preparation was done using wooden tinderboxes.