I usually just have to touch the business end of a 9V battery to some 0000 steel wool and it starts glowing for me, maybe it's easier because the contacts are close together, so the current between that gap is pretty strong? We've also used 6V lantern batteries, the two spring contacts touch the steel wool, rusty or not, and we have things going. What kind of battery are you using, and how?

The kids in the troop were complaining that at this years Klondike Derby they couldn't use a battery, and had to use the flint/steel, but, they soon found out, as you did, that those sparks get the steel wool going well too. Puzzled that the battery didn't work for you though. We'll get to the bottom of it! Nothing that More Power can't cure!