Well, at the college I go to, their motto is "learn by doing." I did just that. I melted some petroleum jelly and saturated a cotton ball. I may have gotten some water mixed in with it, so I'll try again. So far though, it seems that saturating the cotton ball makes it so a ferro rod doesn't work too well.
Don't saturate them buddy, you just want the outside well covered and then you can tear them open a little if need be to take a spark !
