[______]

Making mushroom logs!

I cut down a few invasive trees recently (Norway Maples). If you inoculate the branches and logs with spores of a mushroom that you want (in my case, shiitake) during the first few weeks after cutting, it will fruit with that for a few years. It's a fun DIY project, and a way to reuse trees.

To prevent unwanted mushrooms from the environment from colonizing, you seal the holes you drill, as well as the end the ends of the logs, with cheese wax - which I had heated in a crock pot, hence the need for cleaning that up.

[homerowilson]

Very cool. I regularly plug logs with various spawn (lately hericium) and have had good luck covering the plug with natural clay instead of wax, which unfortunately I have tons of in my yard. In my case, the cover is mostly to prevent rodents from eating the mushroom spawn, which they seem to love.

[horttemppa]

So how did you get rid of the wax? I was inoculating logs a year ago and the jars are still waiting for clean up.

[kevin_thibedeau]

Fill the pot with water and heat it above the melting pont. Cool it down and the wax will form a skin so you're left with just a ring to scrape off.

[Blackthorn]

Haven't tried this specific instance but kerosene (which is the major component of WD40) is a great solvent for waxes.

[markdown]

> which is the major component of WD40

TIL, thanks!

[robinsonb5]

The traditional method of getting wax out of clothes is a hot iron and brown paper. I daresay the same principle - melt the wax and soak it up - could be applied to other surfaces.

[coolspot]

Answer from Snapchat My AI: Mix baking soda and water into a paste, then use it to scrub the wax off.

[usrusr]

Oh great, now I wonder what the mushrooms would suggest for getting rid of Google

[agentwiggles]

Whatever they suggest, good luck making sense of it the next day

[happysadpanda2]

Am I mistaken in thinking that "The last of us" covered this?

[Arrath]

If nothing else it would certainly be a trip.

[LoganDark]

Only if they were psilocybin mushrooms.

[dopidopHN]

As a human, I would like to note that this technique, as much as it will eventually works, is not the most effective.

See the boiling water brother comment.

[wlesieutre]

Personally I'd try Bar Keepers Friend

[justinclift]

Ironically, here in Australia that brand has really destroyed its image.

They're now stocked in most of the big chain supermarkets, but it's a "reformulated" version of Bar Keepers Friend using Citric acid instead.

It's completely and utterly useless at cleaning the things the old Oxalic acid version worked on. :(

With careful perusal and emailing via Ebay though, the original formula stuff can be found.

This is the seller I get it from: https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/231989692018.

I'm not affiliated with them in any way.

[ajb]

Always been a bit suspicious of that since it contains oxalic acid, which is toxic. I assume it's water soluble enough to get rid of easily before you use the surfaces for food though.

[ydant]

> oxalic acid

The benefit of using oxalic acid for cleaning, apparently, was discovered as part of the process of cooking rhubarb:

https://barkeepersfriend.com/oxalic-acid-magic-of-bkf/

[wlesieutre]

Definitely rinse thoroughly, with the exception of vinegar there's not a lot of cleaning products you want to be eating

[passwordoops]

My new #1 HN comment for 2023

[schrectacular]

They are harder to find now but we always used metal tennis ball cans in a pot of boiling water. Wax in the cans of course.