Preparing amadou

[Brian]

I have read Patrick m's tutorial on preparing Amadou, my question is, does it need to be boiled or can you let the amadou sit in a solution of water and ash for a few days. I ask because I want to prepare some amadou that Soda Joe gave me at the Ireland meet up and I don't have a fire I can leave it on for a day, any replies would be great,

Brian

 

[Tadpole]

I have read Patrick m's tutorial on preparing Amadou, my question is, does it need to be boiled or can you let the amadou sit in a solution of water and ash for a few days. I ask because I want to prepare some amadou that Soda Joe gave me at the Ireland meet up and I don't have a fire I can leave it on for a day, any replies would be great,

Brian

I have heard that you have to simmer it for three days and nights in stale urine
or boil it over night in in a solution of saltpeter.
there is an old thread on the subject here

 

[Brian]

Tad,

I know about the boiling but was curious as to whether you could do it without boiling mate

Brian

 

[Tadpole]

Tad,

I know about the boiling but was curious as to whether you could do it without boiling mate

Brian

I have read that you can take the Amadou beat out flat till it has become quite soft and flexible, then soak it in saltpetre for a few weeks until it is saturated in the solution then you dry it. I've not tried it, and have only read about it (on a german web site about tobacconists' shops)

 

[Marts]

You can use the amadou without any treatment beyond letting it dry out. When you want to put a spark to it just use the tip of your knife to fluff it up and chuck a few sparks at it.

I'd give it a go before turning to boiling etc.

 

[gregorach]

I picked up a bit just the other weekend there... It does make a good coal extender just cut into strips and dried, but it doesn't seem to take a spark that well. I've also got a bit that I separated the amadou layer from, soaked overnight (just water), and beat flat - that works better, but it's still not great. It'll catch a spark, but the tiny coal will usually die rather than spread. Could be that I'm just not fluffing up enough of it though...

As for whether a long soak in an alkaline solution will improve matters, there's only one way to find out...

 

[Toddy]

Ah ye gods and little fishes, the boiling urine again
Okay, I think several ideas have become conflated to turn out this one.
Cut up and boiled fomes fomentaria is a good dyestuff. If the amadou layer is then dried a little and then pounded it makes a good spark catch. If it's soaked in saltpetre it's even better.
The muddle comes when *stale* urine, that is ammonia, is used to clean wool before it is dyed (it's an excellent degreaser and removes the lanolin leaving the wool receptive to a dye). Ammonia is also used to *pull* a reluctant dye from lichens & fungi.
Piddling into a straw pit was an old way of obtaining saltpetre for gunpowder.

Somehow or other all these ideas become mixed up and we have the truly appalling scenario of some poor sod boiling up his amadou in urine for three days

On the other hand, we really need to trial all these I suppose

Cheers,
Toddy

 

[Tor helge]

I`ve made amadou once. I just soaked the hoorse hoof fungus ( inner layer) in salpetre and water for some weeks and then dried it.
I catch sparks nicely and burns like a fuse.

Tor

 

[Brian]

Thanks for the replies, I'm going to give it a bit of a beating and try lighting it. SWMBO not too keen on me having things soaking in urine around the house

Brian

 

[Le Loup]

We don't have Amadou here, but if we did the first method I would try is charring. I have yet to find a plant tinder that will not catch a spark after charring. If someone tries it, can you let me know if it works or not please.
Thank you.
Le Loup.

 

[Mr Cake]

You can use the amadou without any treatment beyond letting it dry out. When you want to put a spark to it just use the tip of your knife to fluff it up and chuck a few sparks at it.

I'd give it a go before turning to boiling etc.

I'd definitely concur with this. I've caught sparks from marcasite and flint with just such minimal preparation of amadou tinder.

 

[coln18]

I was taught on one of that guy Mears courses that you trim out the layer under outer skin, and then process it by boiling it in a lye solution of charcoal and boiling water, leave overnight in solution then take out and dry either by the fire or elsewhere for a few days, you have to beat it and pull at it gently too, but for the life of me i cant remember if that was before or after boiling in lye solution.

Big Jason, (JAG009) is currently doing some experiments on it, so you could maybe pm him a few questions, or im sure he will be along soon.

 

[Toddy]

We don't have Amadou here, but if we did the first method I would try is charring. I have yet to find a plant tinder that will not catch a spark after charring. If someone tries it, can you let me know if it works or not please.
Thank you.
Le Loup.

There are ten teaplate sized ones sitting at my back door drying in the sunshine right now. If we can find a legal way of you importing some I'll happily post out some raw stuff for you to try.
If I remove the spore tubes there shouldn't be a problem with any contamination of your native trees.

cheers,
Toddy