That's my only quibble with those who advocate planning on using primitive methods to start a fire. If your primitive method requires a modern forged knife, paracord or shoelaces & kiln dried wood it's not really primitive. Even making the concession for carrying a knife is kind of cheating- if you can have a knife, why not a ferro rod? I have tons of respect for those who can make the cordage by hand in the wild & create their drill set with a piece of sharp stone, but even that person would be hard pressed to do so when they're already lost- and out in the rain with the sun going down. Even such a noted primitive living skills expert as Cody Lundin advises people carry modern firemaking supplies & be prepared to survive.

Also, fire preparation is at least as important to consider as combustion. I'd rather have a fire steel, a cotton ball and a good supply of dry kindling and small fuel than a pair of Zippos and damp green wood. Or at least I'd feel a lot better with a good knife, axe and/or saw to go with the fire steel than I would with a blowtorch trying to light logs. In a leisurely camping setting where I have time to create tinder, kindling and a couple sizes of fuel I'd bet you a hundred dollar bill I could get a raging fire going in minutes. Having that quality preparation would even more critical in a survival situation when the chips were down. What do they say- the worse you need a fire the harder is to make?