Your question "sparked my interest" and I tried for about an hour with my magnesium fire-starter. I tried lint out of my pocket, dried grass, a cotton ball and "fuzzy" wood. Then I decided to cheat. I got some of my steel wool out of my wood finishing cabinet and pulled it apart so it was not so dense. This worked GREAT. In fact I just go through vacuum packing about 4 to put in my BOB and 1 in my PSK. It is light and the stuff caught after about 3-4 strokes on the striker. Blow pretty briskly to get it to burn hot and "POOF" I had a fire that I had to put out. Try it - you will be amazed. Ol' Dad taught me that about 100 years ago.