View Full Version : Where to find Crampball!?
Hi all,
I heard the fungus crampball is good for use with sparks and smoulders for hours, am i right in thinking you can get this from alder trees? If not where!
Ash trees are normally the best place for Cramp balls
Brynglas
03-05-2004, 00:05
Hi all,
I heard the fungus crampball is good for use with sparks and smoulders for hours, am i right in thinking you can get this from alder trees? If not where!
As has already been posted, ash trees, and dead/felled ash trees are always a good bet.
I was wondering if anyone had tried cultivating these? I was thinking of putting some logs in the garden and try and work out how to spore them. I find crampballs excellent tinder and I'm always using it..... I think I should grow my own supply.
Any help?
:-)
Ed
Thats a good idea :clap: .... I'd be interested to see how you do it.
how long do their tinder properties last? I have a few which i keep in various kits, but was wondering if they have a useful "shelf live"?
Only ever seen them a few times and just wondered if worth having a few for future, or if they degrade after a while.
:uu:
Paul
Justin Time
03-05-2004, 18:39
Pathos
I've got a few that have been sitting on my kitchen window since the autumn, and they don't seem to have degraded in any way.
cheers Andrew
Mine have been around since the wilderness gathering last sept, seem to be drying up and falling apart though. Theyare kept air tight with dry tinder though.
Paul
Ed, you might try 'cultivating' cramp balls and as most fungi have a synoptic relationship with their host trees it might work. However as crampballs arent so common (as we would like) you might not get the success your hopeing.
I think you would need not only the right wood to act as host but also the right enviromental conditions - if you can find a cramp ball site on the ground then mimic it in your garden that would be your best chance.
Failing that - trial and error and a little luck will rule the day.
trial and error and a little luck will rule the day.
Thats what I was thinking...... I've grown other fungi with some success, just never anything outdoors.
:-)
Ed
how long do their tinder properties last? I have a few which i keep in various kits, but was wondering if they have a useful "shelf live"?
Only ever seen them a few times and just wondered if worth having a few for future, or if they degrade after a while.
:uu:
Paul
Since you are local I'll let you into a great place for cramp balls ... the University Botanical Gardens at Treborth! Go for a walk and you should find loads!
Since you are local I'll let you into a great place for cramp balls ... the University Botanical Gardens at Treborth! Go for a walk and you should find loads![/quote]
Cheers Adi. I should know where that is as I am a student here!!
I'll make a point as soon as exams and deadlines allow. :roll:
Paul
Cheers Adi. I should know where that is as I am a student here!!
I'll make a point as soon as exams and deadlines allow. :roll:
PaulGood luck with the exams, Paul!
I you want we could perhaps meet up at Treborth when your exams are over...
Thanks Kath
A day out in the woods sounds good. I'll look forward ot it.
Paul
bushwacker bob
12-05-2004, 14:01
Do you guys in the wild west have a shortage of ash trees? or just crampballs? Down here (southern mid Hampshire) we have an abundance of them, in fact its difficult to find an ash tree without any.They do vary in quality tho' some are wet in the middle an wont spark easily. If you wait for a dry spell before collection they are much better.Dead standing ash seems to provide the best ones.There are so many i have even used them to fuel a bbq.If anyone has a problem obtaining them PM me and I'll send you some at postage cost :-D
Plenty of ash trees here! (Their nasty hookey roots get into your foundations if you're not careful!) But mostly I've seen cramp balls on birch in these parts.
Could somebody give me a description of an Ash tree, i have a book but it's not very precise and doesn't have a picture.
http://www.rfs.org.uk/thirdlevel.asp?ThirdLevel=164& SecondLevel=33
http://pioden.datasnake.co.uk/coed/lib/wtreeid.pdf
k cheers mate!
cheers,
Scott
rapidboy
02-07-2004, 22:09
Whats a crampball look like ??
bushwacker bob
02-07-2004, 22:50
like a black lump stuck on the side of an ash tree. follow Espys link and theres a picture. :wink:
:yikes: :yikes: :yikes: In my tight underpants!!!!! :yikes: :yikes: :yikes:
Every morning I check every ash I pass on my way to the station. And haven't found one yet!
Seems like some areas may be better for them than others... :?:
AntarcticFire
11-08-2004, 10:08
Around the garden at home, I tend to find them on fallen Yew trees
at the moment... the first time I went looking I was actually suprised
just how many I found growing in quite a small area.
A small spark from the firesteel and away they went.... :chill:
Ok, I'm starting to really feel down. I left home early and checked EVERY tree on my way to the station this morning - ash, sycamore, oak, hazel, rowan, alder, aspen, hornbeam, willow. NOT A DAMN THING!!! In fact I didn't find a single damn mushroom/fungus...
I'm beginning to think that my part of the world is just not suited to the rotten little black things...
I only want a couple! One for my tinder pouch and one for teaching plantlore! :cry:
falling rain
11-08-2004, 14:06
King Alfred's Cake
Daldinia concentrica
Up to 5cm across
Forms hard, knobbly balls on the bark of (dead and dying branches of deciduous trees, particularly on ash). Surface is usually shiny black and the fungus is brittle. Concentric rings revealed in cross-section. Widespread. Found all year.
You probably will have no luck looking on live healthy trees as some may be doing
There are loads where I live in Shotover Country Park all on dead Ash Trees :wave:
I've been looking on the dead/dying trees. There are a number that 'kids' have vandalised, but still no joy.
Lichen - YES! Fungi - Nil point!
Burnt Ash
17-08-2004, 01:51
Ed, you might try 'cultivating' cramp balls and as most fungi have a synoptic relationship with their host trees
Some fungi have a mycorrhizal symbiotic relationship with plants. Most trees have an ectotrophic mycorrhizal association, often with a basidiomycete fungus.
A symbiosis is an intimate relationship between two organisms that confers mutual benefit(s) that outweigh (possible) disadvantage(s).
As far as I know, cramp balls (Daldinia concentrica) are merely specific consumers of dead or stricken ash trees (Fraxinus excelsior). I don't think there is any symbiotic relationship between the tree and the fungus.
I have only ever found cramp balls on fallen ash.
Burnt Ash
Tantalus
17-08-2004, 02:41
couple of nice pics here (http://www.btinternet.com/~arb_exchange/trunkline/pests/aie_pd_daldinia.html)
never noticed them in scotland but maybe cos my eyes are on the ground looking for more edible ones??
Tant
Cramp Balls, King alfreds cakes(Daldinia concentric) can be found an any dead ash (Fraxinus excelsior) wood. The tree dosnt need to be dead and the branch can still be attached to a tree. The bad news is that in towns/cities we tend to remove dead wood to keep the place tidy & Health and safety issues! What you need is a big mature ash in a rural setting which hasn't seen any attention from tree surgeons.
Nick
bushwacker bob
22-08-2004, 00:50
Or Bushcrafters!
SleepyWeasel
23-08-2004, 22:22
I've not seen these around Mid Wales but have seen them in bits of North Wales, on dead and fallen Ash trees, when Dry these are great, they only need the merest spark to get them going. I kept some in the bottom of my tinder kit and they finaly disintegrated , but the powder and bits all go together into a tinder ball and it seems to work
They do seem to be very localised. I have spent a lot of time in ash woodland in Somerset, and found none. On the flip side, woods that I visit in West Sussex (one in particular that Wayne and Nomad have been to with me) are infested with them. Some of the older standing dead ash is almost black with them.
Keep looking and you will come across some in the end. :biggthump
I managed to half fill a tube (the type that Ballvennie whiskey comes in) on one short outing down here in the west country :o):
Burnt Ash
01-09-2004, 09:42
Hi all,
I heard the fungus crampball is good for use with sparks and smoulders for hours, am i right in thinking you can get this from alder trees? If not where!
TIP: As soon as you've gathered your crampballs, put them on top of a nice hot central heating radiator (or on the AGA) overnight. Not only does this really dry them out and improve their efficiency for firemaking purposes, it also kills the little boggerties that feed on crampballs. On several occasions in the past I've found my stored crampballs have been eaten and black dust just falls out of the empty shells.
Of course, even if you've done as I suggest, your cramp balls can be re-infested at a later date unless stored in a bug-proof container.
Burnt Ash
Brand new member & very new to bushcraft, think I found a load of Crampball fungus (Looks like horses hooves, dark grey, hard little tiny holes umderneath presumably where spores are released?). It was on silver birch both living and dead branches. Fenland peat woodland. I'll give it a go with some sparks and let you know!
Brand new member & very new to bushcraft, think I found a load of Crampball fungus (Looks like horses hooves, dark grey, hard little tiny holes umderneath presumably where spores are released?). It was on silver birch both living and dead branches. Fenland peat woodland. I'll give it a go with some sparks and let you know!
Hiya Burt,
welcome to the group :wave: it sounds like Birch bracket fungus (http://www.uksafari.com/birchbracket.htm) by your description. Otherwise known as Razor-strop fungus. Especially going by the location you found them in.
Cramp-balls or King Alfreds cakes (http://www.uksafari.com/alfredscakes.htm) look like this.
They both have their uses though, so well found.
cheers,
Martin
bambodoggy
17-01-2005, 10:12
Martin, do you know if Birch Bracket is edible?
Cheers,
Phil.
Phil,
I've never come across anything, in any of my books or research to suggest that it is in any way edible. I would have thought not due to the tough structure.
Thanks for the reply shinobi, I had a look at both the images you sent & mine was neither. Not detered I hunted the web and found it here: www.treesforlife.org.uk/tfl.birch.html. This is exactly what I found Formes Fomentarius. At least I know what Crampball is now, thanks. :biggthump
Along with Formes Fomentarius, look for Daldinia Concentrica - http://www.floralimages.co.uk/pdaldiconce.htm
bambodoggy
17-01-2005, 12:17
Cheers Jak...I didn't think it was but in the links Martin provided (nice links Matey) it specificaly mentioned the Crampballs being poisonous but didn't say anything about the brackets...so I just wondered.
As a rule I don't eat fungus unless from a shop, my recognition skills just aren't up to it yet... :?: