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A4 checklist with all illustrated steps. Tick the boxes on paper as you go.

FeatherSticks · Fire

Tinder Fungus & Amadou: Finding, Processing and Using Horse Hoof Fungus for Fire

This grey hoof on a dead beech has carried fire for thousands of years.

Quick facts

Time
Field method: minutes once dry. Amadou: an afternoon plus drying time
Difficulty
Medium — careful knife work and patience with drying
Best for
Flint and steel, extending a small ember, carrying fire
You need
One old, dry bracket from dead wood, a sharp knife, a spark tool

What you need

  • Sturdy, sharp fixed-blade knife
  • Folding saw for stubborn brackets
  • Log or chopping block as a work surface
  • Old steel pot, sieved wood ash, gloves and eye protection (for amadou)
  • Wooden baton for pounding
  • Spark tool: ferro rod, or flint and steel striker
  • Small tin and zip bag for storage
  • Water to put out test embers

Step by step

  1. Find a bracket on dead wood

    1 Find a bracket on dead wood

    Look on dead or dying beech and birch for grey, hoof-shaped brackets. Take one where collecting is allowed and leave the others: they are habitat.

  2. Check that it is tinder fungus

    2 Check that it is tinder fungus

    Hard as wood, grey crust with bands, flat brown pore surface underneath, typically 10–30 cm wide. This check is for fire use only, never for eating.

  3. Cut off the crust

    3 Cut off the crust

    Set the bracket pore-side down on a block. Shave off the hard grey crust in thin cuts, always away from the hand that holds it.

  4. Slice out the trama

    4 Slice out the trama

    Under the crust lies the soft, cinnamon-brown trama. Slice it off in pieces about 5 mm thick and stop where the hard tubes begin.

  5. Dry it, then scrape it to fluff

    5 Dry it, then scrape it to fluff

    Dry the pieces until they are bone dry. Scrape the surface with the knife edge held at 90° until you have a small heap of fine fluff.

  6. Catch a spark, feed the nest

    6 Catch a spark, feed the nest

    Throw sparks onto the fluff until a dot glows and spreads. Lay the glowing piece in a dry tinder nest and blow it into flame.

Common mistakes

  • Trying to catch sparks on the grey crust or the hard tube layer instead of the trama.
  • Striking sparks onto trama that feels dry outside but is still damp inside.
  • Expecting raw, smooth trama to take flint and steel sparks without scraping, pounding or charring.
  • Cutting towards the holding hand, or holding the bracket in the palm while slicing.
  • Taking every bracket from a trunk, or cutting brackets off living trees and in protected areas.
  • Handling hot wood-ash lye without gloves and eye protection, or boiling it in a cooking pot.
  • Putting a "dead" piece back in the pocket or pack when it is still smouldering inside.