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Please, if anyone can get some Cramp Ball Fungus for me, I'd be very grateful.
8)
Cramp Ball is a small, black lump that grows on dead Ash, Sycamore, Beech etc.

See this weblink for a picture and info: http://www.arkive.org/species/ARK/fungi ... fo.htmlurl


Here in Scotland it is in very limited supply - it is more common down south.

I use cramp Ball as a tinder when lighting fires from sparks or with wood friction and embers. It is the best there is!

Many many thanks - and enjoy playing with it yourself (ask for advice if you need).

Ah I know the stuff, that link was down so I had a look up in my mushroom book. It is all over the place donw here if it is what I think it is.

Next time I go for a walk in the woodland up near me I shall keep an eye out

Andy,

It is easy to spot Cramp Ball - I'm sure you have got it right.

It is identifiable by the concentric circles on its underside - once you have carefully removed it from the wood - delicate things!

I don't know why the link is down - but if you want more verification - Google: Cramp Ball Fungus.

If you have any, can we come to some arrangement - posting up here to me? I'll pay the postage and something for your trouble.

If it is dry put a match to it and watch ... blow on the orange ember ... careful not to burn your hands ... it gets so hot ... will set tinder nest of grass or birch bark alight easily!!!

Next time you are camping and trying to light a fire with a match or lighter ... or a whole box of matches, more like, light a cramp ball first ... saves a whole lot of windy rage and cursing

For pictures of Cramp Ball:
lets see if this link works -
http://www.offwell.free-online.co.uk/fungi/ascos.htm

~M

http://www.agarics.org/Index.jsp is the best on-line resource I have found for mushroom identification. Although no cramp ball.

Have mentioned it before but this is the best book I have found too http://www.eco-logicbooks.com/index.cfm ... iate_id=18 - MUSHROOMS & FUNGI OF GREAT BRITAIN & EUROPE, Author - R. Phillips

PlayingWithFire wrote:Please, if anyone can get some Cramp Ball Fungus for me, I'd be very grateful.

'ere, just a cotton pickin' minute. Shouldn't you be using available resources to light your stone age fire with? I mean cavemen were not often able to post a message on the internet asking people to sent then supplies, were they?

It is just that teaching uses up more resources than just for one self - and these tinders need to be prepared in advance to be best - and people wishing to learn are not in a position to collect it in advance.

I can use local material, and green or wet if I must - but I need to help others learn.

Our ancestors certainly traded. They were also not daft enough to let the fire go out - and kept a tinder ember (or similar) if moving fire.

ooh touche

Right I have found you some I think it is the right stuff it was all over the place down here. In fact I am very glad to have taken your mission, ended up in a woodland that I have never been to before and saw a wild deer.

Also it was a really old unmanaged woodland so there was dead wood all over the place, an ideal place this autumn for fungus.

Give me a PM with your address so I can post you up the cramp ball. You are right it does burn sort of smolders I guess.

Andy Hamilton wrote:In fact I am very glad to have taken your mission, ended up in a woodland that I have never been to before and saw a wild deer.

Walking through woodland can be a remarkably uplifting experience, particularly hardwood trees, but even a decent pine forest can be good. Living in a concrete jungle, I'm very fortunate to have several extensive woodlands within a 20 minute drive, all with open access. If it wasn't for these, I would undoubtedly have gone stark raving bonkers years ago, but two or three times a week, I redeem myself by spending and hour or two strolling through some woods. I even try to plan my work schedule to allow time for this. Yesterday I must have walked for 5 miles through the woods without seeing another person. I simply can't understand why most people would prefer to spend their Saturday afternoons in the hell that is a shopping mall.

I hope PWF is still around - he seemed to have a lot of interesting things to say. But maybe living in a yurt on Orkney, while making electricity by pedal-power and lighting fires with stoneage matches doesn't leave much opportunity for an internet connection.

Muddypause wrote: Yesterday I must have walked for 5 miles through the woods without seeing another person. I simply can't understand why most people would prefer to spend their Saturday afternoons in the hell that is a shopping mall.

I hope PWF is still around - he seemed to have a lot of interesting things to say. But maybe living in a yurt on Orkney, while making electricity by pedal-power and lighting fires with stoneage matches doesn't leave much opportunity for an internet connection.

Yep we did not see another person in the woods either and Bath is suposed to be a tourist town, madness.

I think PWF is havign a break from all things technical, no doubt we shall hear from him again soon.

Hi Folks - Back, sort of! (Using the library internet in Kirkwall, Orkney).

Weather has been a bit mixed - wind is the biggest issue here. Living in a tent (too busy to get the Yurt up) - been helping on Wheems Organic Farm, planting tatties and onions, spreading seaweed and repairing stuff. Good fun!

Andy - thanks for hunting down some Cramp Ball. (Let it fully dry out - in an airing cupboard - and remove any bugs).

Must dash now - but will be around periodically.

Off to explore some stone age pottery and simple living.

Best wishes to all.

Malcolm

G'DAy Malcolm,

Nice to see you back arounbd again!

Nev

hello.

if you need any more Cramp Ball - let me know, as the place i wild camp often has loads of them.. we use them for fire lighting, as we prefer to use flint and steel (or if we're feeling brave a fire drill) to light our fires.

that and a nest of dried, clematis bark makes for a good start of a fire, and the clematis is great for making natural cordage.