Ive heard a lot of people say that you need to use flint with the strike-a-light steel so today I test this theory out using minerals and fossils that I have collected over the years. I tested leopard skin jasper,quartzite,citrine,fossilized wood,Gryphaea a.k.a devils toenails and even a dinosaur egg,all of which make sparks when striked on the steel. The best sparks where made using quartz,fossilized wood and the devils toenail. Remember its not the stone that is used that gives of the spark it is tiny fragments of steel that are being shaved off of the steel and Upon contact with oxygen in the air, the surfaces of the iron particles spontaneously ignite and give off heat as they oxidize {rust]
I can imagine a lot of people do not know this. Perhaps it is due to being compared to ferrocium rods, which function as the ignition source.