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Ok, the flint and steel part I'll give him credit for. That is a decent 'old fashioned' skill to have. But I'm not impressed with his skill after that point. That ball of paper should have been much better used to get his tinder burning - those little sticks must not have been too dry or something because it took way too long to get going there. I was taught to use wood shavings (instead of paper) and larger pieces of shavings up to the sticks - always seemed to keep a steady build of fire going. Cut sticks are like split wood - they catch faster than rounds.
In any case, I agree - I wouldn't spend that much time getting my stove going each time I do a cold start either.