Horse Hoof Fungus / Amadou Fungus / Tinder Fungus / Tinder Polypore / bracket fungi – Fire Starter Tinder
Just inside the tough outer layer of Fungus is a velvety smooth inner layer that resembles felt or the finest suede! This is known as “Amadou”.
You scrape the surface into a small fuzzy ball and that becomes your tinder that takes a spark then is transfered to your large tinder bundle to start a fire.
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I found a few of these fungus’s the other day in birch trees so I wanted to test to see if it works as advertised on most bushcraft sites as a tinder/fire starter I have the layer cut out and am going to dry it out for a few days and give it a go…
Well I gave it a go today and I could get it to light with a modern firesteel but had no luck with a flint and steel I did try several ways but just could not get it to take a spark I saved it so will let others give it a try at the next meetup… char cloth still can’t be beat then comes drier lint and cotton…
here are a couple pics of what I will be working with on the project…
My Review of the: The DC4 is a diamond/ceramic Sharpener
My Review of the: The DC4 is a diamond/ceramic Sharpener
I received the DC4 sharpener from Paul at http://www.workwearcanada.com/index.cfm after he found out I was looking to do a review on the DC4 sharpener. It was very kind of Paul to have sent me one for testing. He sells a variety of kit, so check his site for some very good deals.
The DC4 is 4 inches long (Dimensions 32×100mm) and works out to be a good size for me.
I cut a bit of non slip to size and that worked out like a charm. No slip and kept the
DC4 in place. I also put a few short nails in the leather case with it as I have seen that they can come in handy to secure the DC4 on a log, although I have not done this for this test.
In the picture are the knives used in the test ranging from kitchen knives to bushcraft knifes from manufacturers, and a couple I have made and also an Ulu blade for something different in the mix.
One side is a fine diamond stone (25 micron) think that works out to about 600 grit
The other side is ceramic stone made of synthetic sapphires. I have no idea as to how fine it is in microns or grit. (If you know please send me the info)
It also comes with a nice leather sheath and has plenty of room to put a few nails in along with the no slip.
They say you don’t need to lubricate the DC4 but I still like to use water with diamond sharpeners just a personal preference. Both sides are very durable and should last a lifetime of use.
The diamond side does a quick job. The ceramic side you really need to spend some time with to really put a nice final edge on a blade.
All in all I am very pleased with the DC4 it does a superb job and a real quality product. This will be my main sharpening stone while in the great outdoors of Canada.
Bill
bushcraft.survivalbill.ca
Did some Foraging today for Labrador tea
I was looking up Labrador tea on the net since this was something I did not think we had here on the west coast and I really wanted to give it a try just to see if I liked it or not well I got lucky and and found info that yes we do have it and it showed were some was locally to me to almost the exact spot so I went out today and picked some for myself I just made up some tea and I have to say I rather like it I can not describe the taste at all it has its own distinct flavor…
DIY Gaiters
I made these up over the last couple days used very heavy duty PVC coated nylon and upholstery thread.
Water Proofed Pants DIY
I Water proofed my camo pants I really wanted something waterproof for winter since most of the time its wet but also for the snow wanted them waterproof so that they will not absorb water from melting snow out in the bush I am hoping to get out very soon to test them out… This was done with the 50/50 mix of wax and Vaseline now the one thing I don’t know is how they will stand up to being washed so will keep you up to date as to when I do that….
Water Proofing Camo Hat
I decided to try out water proofing my Camo Hat and see how it works out as I want to work on water proofing larger projects in the future and what to see if my concoction works or not…
I made up a 50/50 mix of wax and petroleum jelly while it was still warm I used a small paint brush to brush it all over the top of the hat when it cooled down it was actually fairly whitish but after it was covered I used a heat gun to melt it into the hat and that worked very well it soaked right in no problem you just have to watch you don’t burn the hat though I got it smoking pretty good though it did make the hat stiffer but thats OK I think it will soften up a bit with use but that will be part of the test to see that once it softens up if it still stays rain proof… if this works then I want to do a jacket if I can find one in cotton that I like….
Blacksmith Forge upgrade
I upgraded to forge a bit I found a metal drawer that seems to be perfect to set the forge into I will put some dirt in to stabalize the air pipe in the drawer…
Bow Saw
I made up a BowSaw for a 21″ sawblade I also have to make crossbrace for a 24″ and a 36″ blade
Here I made up a case for the Bowsaw to keep this kit together.
