False Tinder Fungus (fomes fometarius), tutorial.
Hi amadou fans everywhere!
Like many of you, I've had a go at making amadou, after seeing RM (pbuh) using some on TV. I've wrestled with the fungus shell, skinned my knuckles, blunted my knives, all to get hold of a layer of fungus trama; soaked it for various lengths of time in various iffy solutions, cursed it, pounded it, and watched it dry, just to get a piece of this wondrous material.
But, rewind! What do we want it for? Well, speaking for myself, I don't plan to make riding hats or dry fishing lures, my only reason for wanting amadou is to catch a spark, even a weak one. It's a lot of work, with mixed results. Is it worth the trouble?
I think I've read all that the site has to offer on amadou, unless I missed something somewhere; PatrickM did an excellent tutorial, hats off to him, but as a couple of other posters pointed out in reply, (Marts and jason01), there's no real need, if it's tinder that you want.
Here's a photo of the beast in question:
1. The shell. A bugger to seperate from the trama layer, but pierces easily enough, using a knife or wood-chisel.
2. The trama layer. The business part. Smoulders nicely and smells nice, I often have a piece smoldering nearby. And fluffed up, never fails to catch a spark (so far, anyway, touch wood!).
3. The myceum (at least, I think that's what it's called). The heart of the fungus, a chocolate-coloured ball with white spots in it. Usually waterlogged at the moment of harvest, it smolders nicely when dry, but with a slightly different smell.
4. The spore tubes. These grow in annual layers that can be detached seperately from the underside of the fungus. Smolders well, works fine as a coal extender even without charring, but charred, it's just awesome. If you were to put a piece on your hand and light the top, it would burn your hand before you could even see that it's alight! There's something about the tubular pattern that seems to transmit the heat along the tubes. Odourless, smokeless, and almost impossible to put out. A sugarlump size piece will burn away quite happily for about 10 minutes, and gets really hot when you blow on it.
Like to give it a shot? Here's how.
Catch yourselves a fomes fomentarius, cut out the crown where the best tinder is, and cut the rest into segments. Cut away the spore tubes into thumb-sized pieces using a 1" wood chisel, and put them aside for char, and allow the rest to dry for a day or two.
Here's a close-up of the business part of the fungus;
Here's a couple of photos of bits of char from the bottom half of a tinder fungus:
close-up:
I use this as a coal extender.
Stone firestarting kit:
Tinder bundle:
And here are a couple of vids I made this morning. Please excuse the poor quality, I only have a phone-camera and they're the first videos I've edited.
I've also posted the vids on youtube, they play better if you select the smallest screen display.
vid 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iGHxYGhvXLI&feature=user
vid 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nb35rCwnV7E&feature=user
Video 1 - using the stones. (1minute 40 seconds)
Video 2 - blowing up the fire. (50 seconds)
The only advantage I can see of using amadou is that it's compact, and it's also a bit easier to handle if you are using a flint and steel. Apart from that, if it's just a spark-catcher you are looking for, rest easy, you can spare your knuckles a skinning after all!
all the best
Al.
Hi amadou fans everywhere!
Like many of you, I've had a go at making amadou, after seeing RM (pbuh) using some on TV. I've wrestled with the fungus shell, skinned my knuckles, blunted my knives, all to get hold of a layer of fungus trama; soaked it for various lengths of time in various iffy solutions, cursed it, pounded it, and watched it dry, just to get a piece of this wondrous material.
But, rewind! What do we want it for? Well, speaking for myself, I don't plan to make riding hats or dry fishing lures, my only reason for wanting amadou is to catch a spark, even a weak one. It's a lot of work, with mixed results. Is it worth the trouble?
I think I've read all that the site has to offer on amadou, unless I missed something somewhere; PatrickM did an excellent tutorial, hats off to him, but as a couple of other posters pointed out in reply, (Marts and jason01), there's no real need, if it's tinder that you want.
Here's a photo of the beast in question:
1. The shell. A bugger to seperate from the trama layer, but pierces easily enough, using a knife or wood-chisel.
2. The trama layer. The business part. Smoulders nicely and smells nice, I often have a piece smoldering nearby. And fluffed up, never fails to catch a spark (so far, anyway, touch wood!).
3. The myceum (at least, I think that's what it's called). The heart of the fungus, a chocolate-coloured ball with white spots in it. Usually waterlogged at the moment of harvest, it smolders nicely when dry, but with a slightly different smell.
4. The spore tubes. These grow in annual layers that can be detached seperately from the underside of the fungus. Smolders well, works fine as a coal extender even without charring, but charred, it's just awesome. If you were to put a piece on your hand and light the top, it would burn your hand before you could even see that it's alight! There's something about the tubular pattern that seems to transmit the heat along the tubes. Odourless, smokeless, and almost impossible to put out. A sugarlump size piece will burn away quite happily for about 10 minutes, and gets really hot when you blow on it.
Like to give it a shot? Here's how.
Catch yourselves a fomes fomentarius, cut out the crown where the best tinder is, and cut the rest into segments. Cut away the spore tubes into thumb-sized pieces using a 1" wood chisel, and put them aside for char, and allow the rest to dry for a day or two.
Here's a close-up of the business part of the fungus;
Here's a couple of photos of bits of char from the bottom half of a tinder fungus:
close-up:
I use this as a coal extender.
Stone firestarting kit:
Tinder bundle:
And here are a couple of vids I made this morning. Please excuse the poor quality, I only have a phone-camera and they're the first videos I've edited.
I've also posted the vids on youtube, they play better if you select the smallest screen display.
vid 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iGHxYGhvXLI&feature=user
vid 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nb35rCwnV7E&feature=user
Video 1 - using the stones. (1minute 40 seconds)
Video 2 - blowing up the fire. (50 seconds)
The only advantage I can see of using amadou is that it's compact, and it's also a bit easier to handle if you are using a flint and steel. Apart from that, if it's just a spark-catcher you are looking for, rest easy, you can spare your knuckles a skinning after all!
all the best
Al.
