I prefer the sharp spine to the average striker tool. It will generally produce far more sparks and larger sparks than say the striker that comes with a Light My Fire Scout. The striker tool is just one more thing that potentially will be lost when you need it the most.

A 90° spine is used for more than striking a ferrocerium rod. The edge can be used to scrape cedar tree bark to create kindling or to create micro curls from a chunk of wood or scrape birch bark to create kindling. Any time you can save the working edge of the blade and not dulling it you are doing yourself a favour. The 90° edge on a carbon steel blade also improves the ability for it to strike flint to create sparks.