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lsms
Strangler



Registered: 09/03/13
Posts: 639
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Re: Chaga and Gym-liota? [Re: Forrester]
#19084761 - 11/04/13 10:03 AM (10 years, 3 months ago) |
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I chiseled around in with a knife and rock. It seemed to work pretty well.
Way to tell me it hurts when accidentally you punch the chaga!
  
-------------------- "We cannot proceed. You cannot rate yourself." Or can you?
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lsms
Strangler



Registered: 09/03/13
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Re: Chaga and Gym-liota? [Re: lsms]
#19084935 - 11/04/13 11:04 AM (10 years, 3 months ago) |
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Anyone have a good method to dry this? I've just left it sitting in the sun.
-------------------- "We cannot proceed. You cannot rate yourself." Or can you?
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fry day


Registered: 07/19/13
Posts: 1,010
Loc: PNW
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Re: Chaga and Gym-liota? [Re: lsms]
#19085210 - 11/04/13 12:34 PM (10 years, 3 months ago) |
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You must break it up into smaller chunks/slices while it's fresh, both to help it dry before rot can set in and to make it easy to prepare later, when it will be rock hard.
Fer instance, if you plan to grind it in a coffee grinder or such, mangle it into pieces that will fit into the appliance...
If not grinding, you can use a chunk or a slice in the pot, and keep reusing it until the color of the tea fades, meaning you've used it all up.
-------------------- "Shrub, 30-90 cm. Leaves 2.5-) 4-9 cm, sessile or amplexicaul, broadly ovate to ovate-oblong, obtuse or rounded to subapiculate or subacute, when crushed not smelling of goats." "The initial quake was a 6.6 but fairly shallow. I felt it as a prolonged up and down vibration followed by a jolt forward and then to the left, like square dancing."
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lsms
Strangler



Registered: 09/03/13
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Re: Chaga and Gym-liota? [Re: fry day]
#19085344 - 11/04/13 01:13 PM (10 years, 3 months ago) |
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Thanks! Here's the plan I have come up with after much pondering Do try to shoot it down if at all possible.
How does chunkin' it up small enough so that it will fit in a dehydrator sound? Let that baby go overnight and store the chunks in quart jars?
-------------------- "We cannot proceed. You cannot rate yourself." Or can you?
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fry day


Registered: 07/19/13
Posts: 1,010
Loc: PNW
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Re: Chaga and Gym-liota? [Re: lsms]
#19086925 - 11/04/13 07:15 PM (10 years, 3 months ago) |
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Whatever works for ya - if you have a dehydrator just do it. ;-) Might take more than overnite, tho'.
I'm always afraid when folks want to leave these big chunks to air dry in the winter. Yuk. Might work in the summer with full blazin' sun and dry air, but not in the cold and damp. But I'm in Oregon and move my dehumidifier around all year to suck out the damp in my belongings so I'm perhaps a bit hyper on this perticular topic. 
I've contemplated using my miter saw to slice up big stuff, but somehow it seems inappropropriate, a waste of some of the material, and slightly dangerous because of the irregular shapes. I slice smaller conks with a serrated blade but it's a bitch, big ones I'd really have no choice, not strong enough to saw through 'em with a bread knife. No chaga here to wrestle with, tho'.
-------------------- "Shrub, 30-90 cm. Leaves 2.5-) 4-9 cm, sessile or amplexicaul, broadly ovate to ovate-oblong, obtuse or rounded to subapiculate or subacute, when crushed not smelling of goats." "The initial quake was a 6.6 but fairly shallow. I felt it as a prolonged up and down vibration followed by a jolt forward and then to the left, like square dancing."
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xfsketch
Conky



Registered: 08/14/13
Posts: 4,982
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Re: Chaga and Gym-liota? [Re: fry day]
#19087215 - 11/04/13 08:11 PM (10 years, 3 months ago) |
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Cool congrats on the Chaga!!! Looks like goldy inside which is what I saw someone posted for you earlier lsms reminds me of petrified volcanic ash.
-------------------- Might Take Some Time, But I Will Find It! Whatever it is. Im a determined person!
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xfsketch
Conky



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Posts: 4,982
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Re: Chaga and Gym-liota? [Re: xfsketch]
#19087216 - 11/04/13 08:12 PM (10 years, 3 months ago) |
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P.s. Your knuckles look painful. I been there took a month to heal lol.
-------------------- Might Take Some Time, But I Will Find It! Whatever it is. Im a determined person!
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RuralAnomaly
Sporadic


Registered: 10/05/13
Posts: 2,153
Loc: Spitzenkörper Ohio
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Re: Chaga and Gym-liota? [Re: fry day]
#19087837 - 11/04/13 10:47 PM (10 years, 3 months ago) |
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Quote:
fry day said:
I've contemplated using my miter saw to slice up big stuff, but somehow it seems inappropropriate, a waste of some of the material, and slightly dangerous because of the irregular shapes. I slice smaller conks with a serrated blade but it's a bitch, big ones I'd really have no choice, not strong enough to saw through 'em with a bread knife. No chaga here to wrestle with, tho'.
know anyone with a hobby band saw? you might be able to rig a jig to hold the bigger chunks and then slice off bits
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Forrester
aspiring sociopath


Registered: 02/05/13
Posts: 9,351
Loc: Northeast USA
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Re: Chaga and Gym-liota? [Re: lsms]
#19087947 - 11/04/13 11:17 PM (10 years, 3 months ago) |
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Quote:
lsms said: How does chunkin' it up small enough so that it will fit in a dehydrator sound? Let that baby go overnight and store the chunks in quart jars?
That's exactly what I do, works well. Overnight is usually long enough for me, although my chunks aren't that big or they won't fit in the dehydrator.
-------------------- Repugnant is a creature who would squander the ability to lift an eye to heaven, conscious of his fleeting time here. ------------------- Have some medicinal mushrooms and want to get the most out of them? Try this double extraction method.
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fry day


Registered: 07/19/13
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Loc: PNW
Last seen: 2 years, 30 days
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Quote:
RuralAnomaly said: know anyone with a hobby band saw? you might be able to rig a jig to hold the bigger chunks and then slice off bits
I've got a bandsaw in the shed, no blade on it, haven't used one for years... Seems that might be a bit safer than the miter, the blade wants to violently fling pieces that are not long and/or flat enough to nestle in the stops and be held firmly while the blade bites. I have the idea that fine teeth on the band would hold less potential for that, but with nothing to anchor a chunk on the band table I'm not sure how that could work outside of a slideable jig or something similar beyond my meager fab skills.
I sure wish someone else with more saw skills would figure that out and let us know. ;-)
-------------------- "Shrub, 30-90 cm. Leaves 2.5-) 4-9 cm, sessile or amplexicaul, broadly ovate to ovate-oblong, obtuse or rounded to subapiculate or subacute, when crushed not smelling of goats." "The initial quake was a 6.6 but fairly shallow. I felt it as a prolonged up and down vibration followed by a jolt forward and then to the left, like square dancing."
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RuralAnomaly
Sporadic


Registered: 10/05/13
Posts: 2,153
Loc: Spitzenkörper Ohio
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Re: Chaga and Gym-liota? [Re: fry day] 1
#19089166 - 11/05/13 09:20 AM (10 years, 3 months ago) |
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you could glue the part you don't want (the outer crust) to a block of anything, 2x4 for example, and let it set overnight to harden, use a fast drying wood glue - then you can shave off chaga and not fingertips by holding the 2x4 flat against the table, just make sure when you glue it, its sitting on a flat surface so when you go to cut some of the chaga is on the table too to minimize the torque on the blade and make it easier to push thru you might have to take a file to the chaga side to flatten/rough it a bit to get a good hold on the glue
i'm just brainstorming, i've never chopped up a chaga and don't know how well that glue would hold or if layers would separate but from what you went through to get it off, it looks tough enough lol
-------------------- bite my basidiocarp
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lsms
Strangler



Registered: 09/03/13
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Last seen: 9 years, 4 months
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I went with the hammer and pillow case technique I saw somewhere. It worked alright except the pillow case got torn up even worse than my hand.
This is what I couldn't fit in the dehydrator, is leaving it on top of the wood stove a bad idea?
-------------------- "We cannot proceed. You cannot rate yourself." Or can you?
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Forrester
aspiring sociopath


Registered: 02/05/13
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Quote:
RuralAnomaly said: you could glue the part you don't want (the outer crust) to a block of anything, 2x4 for example
You DO want the outer crust (the black burnt looking part) if you're using it medicinally though.
-------------------- Repugnant is a creature who would squander the ability to lift an eye to heaven, conscious of his fleeting time here. ------------------- Have some medicinal mushrooms and want to get the most out of them? Try this double extraction method.
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RuralAnomaly
Sporadic


Registered: 10/05/13
Posts: 2,153
Loc: Spitzenkörper Ohio
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Re: Chaga and Gym-liota? [Re: Forrester]
#19089722 - 11/05/13 11:57 AM (10 years, 3 months ago) |
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ah HA, well. don't want any glue with your medicine. looks like your method works just fine without getting so involved anyway
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purplepixie
ForestLurker


Registered: 08/20/13
Posts: 64
Loc: Ireland (W)
Last seen: 3 years, 1 month
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Congrats on the hunk of chaga! FAB find!
It's the only mushroom left i REALLY would love to find...when in Scotland next i'm dedicating all my time to hunt for it :-) Might get a few queer looks wandering around the wilderness yielding an axe! hahaaa..
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SEEK, AND YE SHALL FIND...
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fry day


Registered: 07/19/13
Posts: 1,010
Loc: PNW
Last seen: 2 years, 30 days
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Re: Chaga and Gym-liota? [Re: Forrester]
#19098484 - 11/07/13 12:05 AM (10 years, 3 months ago) |
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Quote:
RuralAnomaly said: you could glue the part you don't want (the outer crust) to a block of anything, 2x4 for example
Thanks for the inspiration... That's sometimes why I ramble on a bit, trying to spur some other ideas... Now I'm thinking that if you have a big chunk, you make your first two cuts to quarter it and give you two flat sides on each piece, one on the table and the other nestled up against the back support on the miter. If they're big enough you use a hand to support it until the piece gets too small, then a piece of wood or such... Now it seems doable without losing a digit or two or launching chunks. LOL.
Quote:
Forrester said: You DO want the outer crust (the black burnt looking part) if you're using it medicinally though.
That is my understanding also...
-------------------- "Shrub, 30-90 cm. Leaves 2.5-) 4-9 cm, sessile or amplexicaul, broadly ovate to ovate-oblong, obtuse or rounded to subapiculate or subacute, when crushed not smelling of goats." "The initial quake was a 6.6 but fairly shallow. I felt it as a prolonged up and down vibration followed by a jolt forward and then to the left, like square dancing."
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