I scraped some into a paper napkin, which I then rolled up into a cylinder and ignited with a magnifying glass. The paper smoldered away for about a half-hour, then suddenly burst into flame in my hand. I don't know if the magnesium scrapings had anything to do with that or not.<br><br>I doubt it would add anything to cotton balls, vaseline soaked or not. As I understand it, the advantage to the magnesium is that it burns very fiercely and very hot, but very briefly; therefore, the primary purpose is to get it to ignite something that ordinarily wouldn't readily ignite - e.g. a piece of newspaper can't normally be set on fire with only a spark.