How to Open a Bag of Charcoal: Explaining the “String”

Find the Back of the charcoal bag.

This is easy to determine because one side will feature a “clean” seam/stitch where-as the other side won’t.

The clean seam is the front.

The back side does not have a clean seam:

Have the Back of the Bag Facing You

Undo the knot at the end of the string.

Flip the bag over to the front side once the knot is undone.

The string should now be exposed from the front.

Pull this strong from the front side.

As you begin to apply pressure by pulling the string outward, it will begin to unravel the the sewn string:

From there you simply continue to apply outward pressure until the stitch is completely undone.

Note: After removing the string, it can’t be put back in place.

Rather, you simply roll the bag closed until the next time you need charcoal.

What Type of Stitch Closes These Bags?

The stitch is called a “101 Single-Thread Chain Stitch.”

In general, this type of stitching is considered insecure as each loop is dependent on the subsequent loops.

Meaning, if a single thread fails, the entire stitch can fail. Often this type of stitch is used for “temporary” applications.

The above factors work well for a bag of charcoal – the stitch is temporary and strong enough to keep the bag closed.