amadou

[seb.h]

So I've been out and harvested some bracket fungi and cut out the amadou.
What would the next step be. I was planning to just let it dry. or is there something else that needs doing?

[Shewie]

You can boil it up with some wood ash for a couple of hours and then pound it with the end of a rolling pin, that should break up the fibres and allow it to take a spark better.

Some folk add Saltpetre (potasium nitrate) but I've not tried that method yet.

[seb.h]

that's what I've seen, great I'll do that tomorrow. I'll have to get my own pan, i'm not sure my girlfriend will be to happy if I use her's

Saltpetre seems like more effort than it's worth, you may as well just get some fire lighters if your gonna do that.

[Bambii]

Theres an article on it on the main website i think.

[Martin]

You could extract the salt petre by boiling down your urine for a couple of days. Just don't tell your girlfriend and everything will be fine. Oh and remember not to use that pan for your porridge for a while.

Hope this helps

Martin

[luresalive]

I use salt peter for my amadou, ( it has been used in similar forms since the 12 century), but try potassium carbonate if you think saltpeter is too much hassle..

[comanighttrain]

never heard of boiling down your urine for SP....i never bothered trying because the method i heard was using dirt from animal sheds and filtering it down then boiling it off...sounded like a lot of smelly hassle.

[Mouldsy]

When I was on a course at Woodsmoke they showed us how to prepare Amadou they just told us to rub it between our fingers as if your fingers were riding a mini bike, the amadou will stretch but be careful not to rip it, you can use it straight away as it doesn't need any prep, the fungus we used was the horse's hoof fungus.

[resnikov]

Horse's hoof fungus are great, I found a wood that has loads of them, they do take a spark without processing them but I am thinking of doing the boiling in wood ash then stretching them, I just need to find a pan like seb.h my wife wont like me using one of hers.

[Lone Wolf]

Horse's hoof fungus are great, I found a wood that has loads of them, they do take a spark without processing them but I am thinking of doing the boiling in wood ash then stretching them, I just need to find a pan like seb.h my wife wont like me using one of hers.

where is the wood you found with horse hoof fungus i've been searching for ages and only found a small one and didnt want to take it would rather let it have time to develop (and it was half way up a tall tree XD)