Good information, thanks for sharing. I can tell you that a few decades ago, a friend and I went and did about the same experiments but with different items.
We went to tha mountains, about 7000 ft in a pine forest and took minimal equipment and the plan was to test all our "survival" gear.
Perfect timing, it was not too cold but it was almost a steady drizzling rain with a wet forest all around. We had a vehicle within a mile, so we could always retreat.
We made a nice shelter with a tarp tent item I wish I still owned and proceded to test out some navigation skills and search the nearby area. The original area we planned to go had been recently clearcut and turned into a mess:(
When it was time to cook our meals, we started testing all the firemaking goodies we had collected over the years. Some of these miracle items had been carried with the intent that we could rely on them in an emergency. As it turned out, nothing worked very well. Some items could not even be lit once we finally had a fire going. They had dried out or evaporated whatever magical property made them flammable.
What finally worked was come plain cotton balls, one of the magnesium blocks with striker and after exhausting all the super duper magical firemaking gadgets, we found the Starburst candy wrappers in our pockets were perfect to make a fire in wet/damp conditions.
By using a dry cotton ball and shaving the magnesium into the cottonball, which kept it on one place, easily sticking to the cottonball. One strike from the ferro rod and it caught fire, a few starburst wrappers, which are waxed paper, and we had a system that burned long enough and hot enough to light damp shavings and wet twigs. From there it was easy to get a nice cooking fire going.
Since then, I have refined my system a little, I buy a roll of waxpaper at the market, costs less than $2. I then saw off about an inch and a half roll, pull out the cardboard tube from the center and carry that inside a 35mm film canister. I use a Firesteel to ignite a tinder tab (Same as the Sparklite ones) or a plain cotton ball and take about a 6 inch piece of the wax paper twisted up and it will almost always burn long enough and hot enough to get my kindling going, even if damp. If I need more, I have plenty of waxpaper in the canister.
I have several Sparklites and my only concern with them is the flint can deteriorate over time, while the Firesteel is obvious as to it's condition and I check on it before any trip.
Everyone should test their technique and gear and know what works for them and what doesn't. You now have a some good ideas on firemaking and know what works for you. Way to go!