Is this good for making Amadou?
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Oh yes 
That corky top layer is the best of stuff.
Now cut it out *before* the fomes dries like a brick
cheers,
Toddy
That corky top layer is the best of stuff.
Now cut it out *before* the fomes dries like a brick
cheers,
Toddy
Thanks Jd! ...is that just a case of slicing/ flaking it up and drying it - or is there more to it than that?
If you're using a commercial "firesteel", that'll do; if you intend to use a flint and steel, it's best to boil it with wood ash for an hour or two.
You can use it in thin sheets or scrape off fluffy bits and use that.
Don't forget to make sure it's properly extinguished if you are using a big bit or you will lose it all as it smolders in your tin/bag.
You can use it in thin sheets or scrape off fluffy bits and use that.
Don't forget to make sure it's properly extinguished if you are using a big bit or you will lose it all as it smolders in your tin/bag.
Bugger, I was prodding at one of these last week at a scout camp, didnt have my book with me so couldnt check. Ah regrets
It's worse when they've dried out solid 
Best thing I've found to beat it out into the velvet is to lay the lump on a log and hit it lots with a stick.
cheers,
Toddy
Best thing I've found to beat it out into the velvet is to lay the lump on a log and hit it lots with a stick.
cheers,
Toddy
The hammer will smash it to bits. The stick kind of bounces and it spreads it out slowly without cracking.
Drives the neighbours nuts though as I pound away at the fomes
cheers,
Toddy
Drives the neighbours nuts though as I pound away at the fomes
cheers,
Toddy
It's quite fascinating.
A bump of amadou, boiled and still pretty sodden, gets pounded out until it's almost like a velvety feeling/ chamois kind of cloth. Sort of. It's hard to describe. Felty maybe ? Anyway, if it's hit with a sharp edge it'll split, but if it's pounded with something like a stick, that kind of bounces on it, it just keeps growing flatter and wider. Pretty cool really
cheers,
Toddy
A bump of amadou, boiled and still pretty sodden, gets pounded out until it's almost like a velvety feeling/ chamois kind of cloth. Sort of. It's hard to describe. Felty maybe ? Anyway, if it's hit with a sharp edge it'll split, but if it's pounded with something like a stick, that kind of bounces on it, it just keeps growing flatter and wider. Pretty cool really
cheers,
Toddy
It's quite fascinating.
A bump of amadou, boiled and still pretty sodden, gets pounded out until it's almost like a velvety feeling/ chamois kind of cloth. Sort of. It's hard to describe. Felty maybe ? Anyway, if it's hit with a sharp edge it'll split, but if it's pounded with something like a stick, that kind of bounces on it, it just keeps growing flatter and wider. Pretty cool really
cheers,
Toddy
I think I know what you mean - I've experienced something like that before playing with corn flour that had got wet... if you held a lump and let if flow through your fingers it would flow like a liquid, but if you threw it on the ground it broke up into pieces like a solid, very weird
.... Not that I throw wet cornflour around on a regular basis. AhemAnyway I knew nothing about amadou yesterday morning and now I'm loving the stuff!
Great info, thanks guys!
An quote from one article about flint and steel usage in Lithuania (1937).
"Before using horse hoof it is fermented. They take the lower part of fungus, the soft part and boil it up in ash for 2-3 hours. Then leave it in the same water for a month. Then dry it (pound it maybe) and use for flint and steel."
Anyone any ideas? Can this be different preparation of different pars of the same fungus? M'be another tinder to the tinder list?
"Before using horse hoof it is fermented. They take the lower part of fungus, the soft part and boil it up in ash for 2-3 hours. Then leave it in the same water for a month. Then dry it (pound it maybe) and use for flint and steel."
Anyone any ideas? Can this be different preparation of different pars of the same fungus? M'be another tinder to the tinder list?
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I've left it soaking for months at a time (trying out different dyeing methods) and I can't say it fermented. 
Also, the lower part of the fungus is like straight grain, tight packed, miniscule tubing (how it spores) That bit slices up easily, and it burns well, but it doesn't take a spark well.
Interesting to find out though
cheers,
Toddy
Also, the lower part of the fungus is like straight grain, tight packed, miniscule tubing (how it spores) That bit slices up easily, and it burns well, but it doesn't take a spark well.
Interesting to find out though
cheers,
Toddy
I recently collected a birch polypore (false tinder fungus) whilst out on a bimble and left it to dry in my front room. Today I was playing with it and found that the corky/foam top part took a spark really well and when left to its own devices created a large useful ember. I also tried to light the lower 'pore' section and although it initially took a spark it refused to spread into an ember before going out.
Yep, but if you get the edge of a slice of that lower porous stuff alight, it kind goes to a glowing ember and stays at that until it's burnt away, but it can be blown into a flame. It's good stuff
cheers,
Toddy
cheers,
Toddy
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