Article reprinted courtesy of the author Ragnar of www.ragweedforge.com How to use Tinder Fungus

Tinder Fungus (or more proper Amadou) is the name given certain species of fungus that grow in a shelf like formation on old trees. It is used as a punk to catch the spark for flint and steel. Then the ember is transferred to the tinder. It was also used to stop bleeding, and as a strong purgative. Larger pieces can be used as razor strops, and the Sammi people are said to use it for a moxia (you don't want to know). After tobacco came into use, it was common in Holland to keep a small brazier of smoldering Amadou in the house for a ready light.

Preparation

Here's the traditional method for preparing Tinder Fungus for flint and steel.

Take a large iron pot, and almost fill it with the fungus. Add strong urine to cover the fungus. Boil gently for three days and nights, adding urine as necessary. Drain and dry.

A more convenient method is to boil the fungus in a solution of saltpeter. Try to get Potassium Nitrate rather than Sodium Nitrate. The Sodium Nitrate is hydroscopic, and the tinder fungus prepared with it works poorly in damp weather.

Use

Just take a scrap of the tinder fungus and hold it on your flint, just back from the edge. Strike down the edge and skate a spark into the tinder fungus. With just a little practice, it will catch almost every time.

The use of fungus in fire making is very old. I've seen more than one report of fire making kits composed of fungus, tinder and iron pyrites in Neolithic sites.

Finding It

The species is called Polyporus igniarius, a related species; Polyporus fomentarius is also used. The common names are "touchwood" and "German tinder" or "soft amadou". They do not occur in North America, but there are several related species that grow on trees such as the birch (called "Chaga") which makes a good coffee substitute as well as a great spark catcher. They are all shelf types. See what is in your area and try them

during a primitive meet up, i heard many people trying to light tinderfungus on verious ways after various kinds of processing. None of them worked. A person whom did nothing to the fungus exsept, cutting it in to thinner pieces, was able to light it, with flint and another rock. It even worked in the damp, cold and lightly rainy conditions we were in that week.

The fungus is it known as Elfebankje in Dutch? My knowledge does not exceel in the Kingdom Fungi or (plantea for that matter).

Interested to make this.

i think they called it "tondelzwalm"

I have never successfully used either of these but according to Mors Kochanski's "Northern Bushcraft" (or just "Bushcraft" in the second edition), there are (at least) two types of Tinder Fungus - False Tinder Fungus (which is what you're describing) and True Tinder Fungus. True Tinder Fungus, which I believe is found only on living birch trees, looks like a black diamond-shaped growth on the bark of the tree and only needs to be dried. The False Tinder Fungus, which looks like the front part of a horse's hoof sticking out of the trunk, is much more common, but needs to be prepared in advance as you describe. Mors Kochanski recommends boiling it in a slurry of wood ash. (Not the whole fungus; the "amadou" is actually the suede-like inner skin of the fungus, and that is what is extracted and used to prepare the tinder.)