A lesson in humility? Definitely. I can relate! I couldn't do it a few weeks ago at a camp (in Ontario), and wrote it off to weeks of rain and damp tinder. (Shavings from wet wood are still damp!)

Making a bird's nest-type tinder bundle to catch the spark sounds easy but it's not. You need lots of super dry, fluffy stuff and that's not as easy as it seems. We've got a few going but only after some dry hot patches.

One of our Scouts brought a zip-lock bag full of milkweed with him this weekend and got a one-match fire going quite nicely. The other kids thought it was magic. Not sure if it would have worked so well with the firesteel.