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it's all about outdoor survival, desert survival and all wilderness survival

Thursday, June 6, 2024

Fungus For Fire Starters ( Chaga mushroom Inonotus obliquus )

Using mushrooms to start fires is actually nothing new. To be honest, I only found out about it recently


adapted from https://www.backpacker.com/skills/how-to-start-a-fire-with-fungus/

" One of the best: chaga aka tinder fungus. This thick black fungus burns easily, smolders for hours, and gives off a pleasant woody smell. Here's how to use it. Chaga mushrooms grow year-round in cool northern forests from New England to the Northwoods and Wisconsin in Minnesota and into the southern Appalachians."


.image source https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Global-Geographical-distribution-of-Chaga-mushroom-in-the-circumboreal-regions_fig1_353134480

Global Geographical distribution of Chaga mushroom in the circumboreal regions



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Inonotus_obliquus.jpg


After I researched it, it turned out that there are also many types of mushrooms that can be used as tinder to start a fire. Such as Chaga mushroom Inonotus obliquus, Horse's Hoof Fungus ( Fomes fomentarius),  but this time we are focusing in chaga mushrooms. However, the method for using and lighting the fire is more or less the has the same method.


How to find this mushroom

Chaga mushrooms grow year-round in cool northern forests from New England to the Northwoods of Minnesota and Wisconsin and into the southern Appalachians.

Open your eyes and focus, start looking at the birch tree trunk which is already quite large; if you see dark, swollen chunks of fungus that resemble charcoal or burnt wood and what's more, they often grow in places where the tree has been scarred. grows where the tree is injured (actually chaga is a parasite; take a small piece of it). Pry a palm-sized piece of the stem with a knife or tool that you have with you at the time.


How to light it on


Shave or scrape any part of the mushroom lump, either with a knife or with a stone that has a fairly rough surface, and this will result in a pile of powder.

After that, the next method can be to use a flint striker or use focused sunlight

If you use a flint striker, make sure the spark hits right on top of the pile of chaga powder. This chaga will be highly flammable and flammable, by any method you like

Below is a video on how to lit fire using flint, iron pyrites and fungus  


Below is a video on how to lit fire using focused sunlight and soda coke can