Roman flint and steel

[Lucius Aurelius Metellus]

Hi Paul, et al,
Yes, start with very small tinder like the resinous "fat" part of a piece of pine or similar evergreen. If that can't be had, we used to make in wilderness survival school what we called "fuzz sticks", which is a sliver of pine or similar stuff that is very dry, and you take a knife and carve small slivers along the stick so that they stick up like a pine cone or a porcupine's quills. Make several of these and place them "tee-pee" style over your bundle of tinder (dried leaves, straw, shredded bark or hemp rope, etc), and then quickly but carefully place your flaming ball or "nest" of tender under the teepee so that the tinder under it catches, and you should have no problems. And always start from tiny sticks and twigs, then go to larger stuff as the flames begin to catch and grow stronger. It's definitely not as hard as it sounds, and I actually carry some of this dried tinder in my kit; things such as char cloth, shredded hemp rope, and dried "fat lighter" kindling twigs cut into small lengths. Hope this helps!