I use homemade firestarter such as the vaseline impregnated cotton balls as well as a half candle wax impregnated cotton balls. They light easily and burn for a while. Triox will really go to town in a hurry.
I was trying to understand why the mag block was so commonly found and so popular. But given the idea of getting the shavings into a cotton ball makes good sense, as well as using a shortened hack saw blade. I wanted to keep the mag block in my BOB, but I just wasn't sure it was worth it. I'll give it another try.