Back in 2009 I started a thread about a fungi I had found that proved excellent in fire lighting:
http://www.bushcraftuk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=41216
At the time I couldn't identify the mushroom and as I hadn't seen it often I considered it's ability to take a spark a 'one off' and thought no more about it.
I recently found the fungus again at the base of a Scot's Pine & remembering my previous experience took it home. After a few days drying in the garage I tried again with the flint & steel and again it took a spark. Excited by the find I did a bit of research and found out the fungus is Phaeolus schweinitzii or Dyers's Polypore. Interestingly there is no record of it's ability to hold an ember only that it was used traditionally as a fabric dye:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phaeolus_schweinitzii
Next I drew some comparisons with other fire lighting fungus:
Comparing it with some prepared Amadou and Chaga I found it took considerably longer to take a spark (from a flint & steel) but once lit quickly developed in to a good sized ember. Chaga also has this advantage over Amadou which being flat tends to burn laterally.
I can't get either the Dyer's Polypore or Chaga to take from marcasite & flint although I have achieved this with the prepared Amadou.
The Dyer's Polypore can't be used in friction fire lighting as it's far too fragile, I understand it is possible to use a Horse's Hoof as a bow drill base board although I've never tried it so can't confirm. Chaga is the king when it comes to friction fire lighting - it can be used for both hand drill & bow drill producing a ember with about 50% less effort than common wood on wood combinations.
Unlike HHF which requires a bit of work to turn it in to Amadou both Chaga & Dyer's Polypore need no preparation only a little time to dry out.
Dyer's Polypore produces a considerable amount of smoke, it's not unpleasant however and potentially would be enough to keep the midges and mozzies at bay in the summer.
In Scotland Chaga (if you know where to find it) is classed as 'occasional', HHF is on every other dead Birch tree. Dyer's Polypore is also classed as occasional but there is no geographical range described. I'm assuming therefore it can be found across the UK. Cramp Balls are (in my experience) absent from N.Scotland where as Chaga & HHF are rare in the south of England. It would be useful therefore to gauge the availability of Dyer's Polypore in other areas of the UK.
Here's some photo's:
A selection of fire lighting materials including Dyer's Polypore, Amadou & Chaga
Dyer's Polypore
Side view: the soft, velvet layer and the trauma layer underneath take the spark
The spark caught
A nice hot ember ready for blowing to flame with the bracken
So there you go, another useful fungus. Keen to hear if anyone has tried other fungi (other than the well known ones) for fire lighting and how they got on.
http://www.bushcraftuk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=41216
At the time I couldn't identify the mushroom and as I hadn't seen it often I considered it's ability to take a spark a 'one off' and thought no more about it.
I recently found the fungus again at the base of a Scot's Pine & remembering my previous experience took it home. After a few days drying in the garage I tried again with the flint & steel and again it took a spark. Excited by the find I did a bit of research and found out the fungus is Phaeolus schweinitzii or Dyers's Polypore. Interestingly there is no record of it's ability to hold an ember only that it was used traditionally as a fabric dye:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phaeolus_schweinitzii
Next I drew some comparisons with other fire lighting fungus:
Comparing it with some prepared Amadou and Chaga I found it took considerably longer to take a spark (from a flint & steel) but once lit quickly developed in to a good sized ember. Chaga also has this advantage over Amadou which being flat tends to burn laterally.
I can't get either the Dyer's Polypore or Chaga to take from marcasite & flint although I have achieved this with the prepared Amadou.
The Dyer's Polypore can't be used in friction fire lighting as it's far too fragile, I understand it is possible to use a Horse's Hoof as a bow drill base board although I've never tried it so can't confirm. Chaga is the king when it comes to friction fire lighting - it can be used for both hand drill & bow drill producing a ember with about 50% less effort than common wood on wood combinations.
Unlike HHF which requires a bit of work to turn it in to Amadou both Chaga & Dyer's Polypore need no preparation only a little time to dry out.
Dyer's Polypore produces a considerable amount of smoke, it's not unpleasant however and potentially would be enough to keep the midges and mozzies at bay in the summer.
In Scotland Chaga (if you know where to find it) is classed as 'occasional', HHF is on every other dead Birch tree. Dyer's Polypore is also classed as occasional but there is no geographical range described. I'm assuming therefore it can be found across the UK. Cramp Balls are (in my experience) absent from N.Scotland where as Chaga & HHF are rare in the south of England. It would be useful therefore to gauge the availability of Dyer's Polypore in other areas of the UK.
Here's some photo's:
A selection of fire lighting materials including Dyer's Polypore, Amadou & Chaga
Dyer's Polypore
Side view: the soft, velvet layer and the trauma layer underneath take the spark
The spark caught
A nice hot ember ready for blowing to flame with the bracken
So there you go, another useful fungus. Keen to hear if anyone has tried other fungi (other than the well known ones) for fire lighting and how they got on.
Last edited:
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