If you struggle to get a fire started using "flint & steel" - the issue will likely be your TINDER .. (NOT THE BLOODY DATING WEBSITE):
I need to be clear about tinder and kindling - as they are different - or they need to be very different stuff. - Tinder such as dry char-cloth, punk-wood or ARMADOU fungus - ground-up or processed into a sort of cloth is the stuff you need to get it going (Otzi The Iceman had it in his pockets when found) - perhaps the easiest stuff for you to get is cotton wool balls from the chemist or dollar-shop - and you can make things work even better by smearing your balls with a little Vaseline ... as fuel.
tinder needs to have fine small particles with large surface areas ('light & fluffy' does it ..) that will catch a spark and then react to heat by starting to burn or at least GLOW or smoulder and smoke .. It mostly is natural materials like fine plant fibres or dried fungus.
Kindling (NOT THE BLOODY WITHDRAWAL SYMPTOMS FROM DRUGS & ALCOHOL !) is fine dry grassy-feathery wood shavings then small twigs or sliced dry wood 'splinters' that will next readily take fire from the tinder .. then you can gently add progressively larger stuff as the fire gets going ..
There truly does seem to be almost a non-theist (or atheist?) religion around fire-making .. with multiple gods to be worshipped and loyally presented with burnt offerings flaring in the night-time wilderness .. It's great eh.
Wikipedia says: Archaeology
Evidence for fire making dates to at least the Middle Palaeolithic, with dozens of Neanderthal hand axes from France exhibiting use-wear traces suggesting these tools were struck with the mineral pyrite to produce sparks around 50,000 years ago. At the Neolithic (that's 12,000 years ago) site of La Draga, researchers have found that fungi was used as tinder. - Hearths are one of the most common features found at archaeological sites.
.. Those old Cavemen and cavewomen must have been expert at the knowledge & skills needed to survive and thrive eh .. they didn't have any social support services.- This next video is not very well recorded - BUT it's expert fire-making fact content is great;
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fPBPgDspPPE
It's all a load of fun eh - but in this hi-tech 21st Century a Bic lighter works fairly well for pagans ..
Have fun - Be Happy - and stay safe
Neolithic Fungi for readers: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5918798/
Marty K.
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