MayaDust or TinderDust are shavings from cultivated pine (fatwood) with 80% resin content from the highlands of Mexico, packed in a convenient waterproof container that is easy to carry in your pocket or backpack. Gives maximum heat energy for minimal weight. Use TinderDust together with a Light My Fire Swedish FireSteel to light your campfire with ease.

3 Responses to “MayaDust TinderDust Camp Fire Tinder”

1. Mr. Nicholas R. Flynn says:

   April 7, 2010 at 12:00 am

   I still have 99% of my tin (plastic container) of Maya Dust and having forked out a fiver for a tin of sawdust I feel somewhat ripped off.

   Like another reviewer, I have tried to get this stuff to catch with a fire steel, and nothing … I even tried it with a full tin, dust all nice and lose … with big fat sparks coming off the steel … absolutely nothing!!! I’m sure I could have whittled the steel to a point and would still not get anywhere.

   In comparison, I have just dropped a single spark onto some bog-standard cotton wool, and it caught hold immediately.

   I’m therefore tempted to ditch the contents, fill the container with cotton wool (& even some matches) and be pretty confident that I could have a fire in minutes.

   I’ve also used old man’s beard and moss, steel wool … and even dried fungi … much better.
2. Mr. D. R. Saunders says:

   March 21, 2009 at 12:00 am

   as an out door person i do like to try new products on the market.

   i had no problems at all in lighting the maya dust. when you are trying to light the maya dust make a small hollow in the ground, keep the wind to your back so it dose not blow out the embers and give good strong rubbing stokes on your flint and you WILL find fire. when you see a flame add small kindling and work your way up to larg branches and you will have a gr8 fire to keep you warm and to cook on.

   the reason i only gave 4 stars are due to the price being O.T.T. the maya dust WILL do the job, however if you take some british pine and scrape it into sawdust it will work just as good.

   i hope this helps.
3. R. Taylor says:

   July 21, 2008 at 12:00 am

   Maya dust is made from the wood of fatwood pines. It’s high in resin so burns with a hot yellow smoky flame, lighting kindling very well. So far, so good.

   The problem comes when it’s marketed as a companion to a flint and steel, as a primary tinder (which is the only way I’ve seen it). It doesn’t work in this regard at all. I spent about an hour one day (it was a slow afternoon) attempting to light it with my previous firesteel, the light my fire scout. By the time i gave it up as a lost cause, I had a slightly charred circle in my pile of maya dust, and powdered metal oxides everywhere.

   So it doesn’t work as a primary tinder, how about as a secondary; an extra link between tinder and kindling? Well, it will work, if you build the structure well enough that it doesn’t collapse- sawdust isn’t exactly known as a building material- but really it’s unnecessary. Use a good enough primary tinder and you don’t need a secondary; cotton wool and vaseline, papery birch bark, a well made feather stick, some mosses and lichens, or dry grass.

   The short version: maya dust is unnecessary except as a tinder augmenter where tinder is scarce and/or damp,and experienced people shouldn’t need it at all. And remember, at the end of the day, you’d be paying £5 for a small box of sawdust.