Mushrooms as bowdrill hearths

[Ginger]

Fascinating, illustrated article speculating about (and experimenting with) the role wild mushrooms may have played in making fire. This is in the Puget Sound Mycological Society newsletter. It was reprinted from Mushroom: The Journal. http://www.psms.org/sporeprints/sp408.pdf

It discusses using common species as coal extenders and even as hearths under bow and hand drills. It recommends using birch polypore (common in Britain, I think), artist's conk, red-belted conk and tinder fungus as a hearth and suggests they may be better than wood.

 

[al]

ive put some cramp ball fungus in the notch of a handrill before to get an ember

 

[falling rain]

Thanks for that Ginger. Excellent link :super:

 

[tomtom]

very interestin Ginger, thanks!! :wave:

 

[den]

Nice one ginger top link.

 

[Ed]

I've used cramp balls but I'll have to give the birch polypore a go.... I think I still have a few dried blocks of it lying around :biggthump

Ed

 

[den]

I don’t know what it is like around the country but around here Birch Polypore is very common. I’ve always put it down as a strop maybe but not much more.
I need to check it out again.

I've used the thin leather like paper thick layer you can peel off the top of what I think was the many ringed polypore.
.

 

[Ginger]

Glad people found that interesting.

Being deskbound for the last 17 years or so, I don't have any upper arm strength at all and found bowdrill fire-lighting to be very difficult. So I'm quite intrigued by the possibilities of these mushrooms.

If anybody gets a digital film of using one I'd be very interested to see it.