I knew that steel wool could be used to create an ember with a battery, however I didn't know that steel wool will do the same thing it does with a battery by striking it with a hotspark/flint. I played around with it even more and discovered it even catches from the sparks produced by a Sparklite and even Bic sparks. I can't believe I never figured this out. It doesn't make a flame, it just "holds the spark". But, I threw some cotton on top and it burst right into flames. The fact that steel wool can be started by both battery and by traditional spark methods means it gives me a little more versatility. I have included a film canister full of it in my mini kit along with my vasiline/cotten and fat wood. If you guys already knew this, i'm sorry, but I never knew how versatile steel wool was until now.

Steel Wool has different sizes usually marked w/ 0's. 0000 is what I use, it's very fine steel wool and will cath a spark readily.

Adam

Just remembet to check it regularly. Unlike cotton balls after an extended period of time you might only have a handful of rust.

Willn rust make wire wool loose its combustion properties?

burning metal is actually rusting metal. Rusted metal can't rust again.

I used to have some very fine steel wool with powdered sulfur. That burns even hottter and is really hard to extinguish. It's hot enough to ignite kindling in matchstick size.