View Full Version : iron pyrites and amadou
walkswithnomoccasins
29-04-2009, 19:18
HI,
I am doing a talk on bushcraft for the local scout troop and am looking for a few extra bits (so i can show different firelighting solutions through the centuries). I am seeking some nodules of iron pyrites and a small amount of amadou so i can put together a neolithic style tinder bag.
any help with this would be very apreciated
Kind Regards
Pete
Wilderbeast
29-04-2009, 19:22
just a word of advice, lighting a fire with iron pyrites is really VERY difficult, if you do show them, practice LOTS!! I did something very similar for my marine troop, there's details of what I did the talk on and how I did it here,
http://www.bushcraftuk.com/index.php/Forums.html
good luck mate, all the best!
passengerplanetearth
02-05-2009, 08:16
Hi! No disrespect to the previous poster, but I beg to differ, stone fire making is loads easier and less strenuous than with sticks. Here's a vid i made, using marcasite rather than pyrite.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YGgZ6jpVnCo
Happily I'm expecting to get hold of a new marcasite stone in the next couple of days (822 grams, yippee!!) so the piece I use in the vid is surplus to requirements. If u PM me I'll send you the small piece of marcasite I was using, and a piece of tinder fungus to go with it. I have some amadou I made, but it's a lot of work to make it, and you really don't need it. All amadou is is a compressed layer of the fungus, the trama layer, and using amadou or fomes fomentarius straight off the tree gives exactly the same result, using exactly the same method.
If you are interested then, as I say, PM me and I'll send it on.
all the best
Al :-)
Wilderbeast
02-05-2009, 09:01
Hi! No disrespect to the previous poster, but I beg to differ, stone fire making is loads easier and less strenuous than with sticks. Here's a vid i made, using marcasite rather than pyrite.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YGgZ6jpVnCo
Happily I'm expecting to get hold of a new marcasite stone in the next couple of days (822 grams, yippee!!) so the piece I use in the vid is surplus to requirements. If u PM me I'll send you the small piece of marcasite I was using, and a piece of tinder fungus to go with it. I have some amadou I made, but it's a lot of work to make it, and you really don't need it. All amadou is is a compressed layer of the fungus, the trama layer, and using amadou or fomes fomentarius straight off the tree gives exactly the same result, using exactly the same method.
If you are interested then, as I say, PM me and I'll send it on.
all the best
Al :-)
:) its each to their own I guess, and I think it's dependant on alot of conditions, when I tried with iron pr. and horses hoof fungus it took about 30 minutes, but it was humid and the fungus was a little wet, found bow drill much easier :D!
Here's a vid i made, using marcasite rather than pyrite.
My understanding is that marcasite _is_ iron pyrites - just a more pure crystaline form. They're both iron sulphide.
Jim