Considering I'm on a different continent, I dont know the paper you are talking about, but I find it strange that it wont ignite. The alloys used the make these fire steels are designed to give off sparks greater than 3000 degrees C (Sorry dont do F) When Ive tryed using paper, it has never taken more than 2 scrapes to ignite, and the sparks have been hot enough to ignite paper laying flat on the ground with no other prep.
The packing paper you tried hasnt been treated with flame retardent has it?
I like Magnessium as a tinder too regardless of its problems. Its a Magnessium alloy because straight magnessium would be too explosive to use, but it burns with a temp at approx 5500 degrees C. Water will split back to hydrogen and oxygen at just over 5000 degrees, giving more fuel <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />
Hematite ground into a powder will burn at a similar temp, and one of its properties is that it provides its own oxygen when it burns, but again when used straight it can be explosive.