Start a Fire Using Steel Wool and a 9V Battery

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A bizarre and potentially useful way to light a fire:

You'll need:

• a small amount of steel wool (about a golf ball, when packed up)
  
• a 9-volt battery
• kindling and wood for your fire, as usual

What to do:

• build a pyramid of your small kindling (twigs, dry grasses, etc.)
  
• stretch the steel wool out into a long, thin ribbon (about as thick as a not-very-thick dreadlock, or a very thick strand of knitting wool)
  
• touch both poles (positive and negative) of the battery to the steel wool, near the end of the steel wool
  
• the current will cause the steel wool to catch fire in multiple places
• immediately light your kindling with the steel wool. Blow on the steel wool to keep it going long enough to light the kindling; touch the battery back to some un-burned places if necessary
  
• continue building your fire like you learned in Girl Guides or Boy Scouts
  

Other notes:

• the finer the grade of steel wool, the better.
  
• it doesn't have to be a 9V battery. A 9V is easier because you just have to touuch one side of the battery (the end with the poles) to the wool. You can use another battery as long as you find a way to touch both poles to the steel wool. Usually that means touching one end of your steel-wool strand to the positive pole and the other end to the negative pole.