Blackswan ,
As someone said, do a search and there are some interesting threads.

I don;t have a sparklight yet - I want to get two of them. I use a Doan's magnesium flint striker and a knife (I don;t use the magnesium). You can buy cotton swabs in disk form - they're about 1- 1/2" in diam. x 1/8" thick. If you warm vaseline up to where it's nice and maleable, you can spread it on both sides of these disks. Or, soak them in parrafin oil. Then, cut the disks in half, roll them up into a small "log", roll that in small strips of waxpaper, and seal the last of the "roll" with a small dab of hot glue.

These will ignite with a good spark, even on blustery days... and they'll burn for a solid 60 seconds or more.

Steel wool (super fine 0000) is good too, especially if saturated with parrafin oil, though it won;t burn for more than a few seconds - enough to get some dry tinder going.

I think the key to any method you choose is preparation.

Also, you're NOT out of luck without your tinder quicks. A good flint sparker (and I've heard the sparklight is a good one), coupled with good preparation and patience, will start dry tinder. It's not easy, but it can be done - I've done it a couple of times sucessfully and if I can do it <img src="/images/graemlins/crazy.gif" alt="" /> so can you.