I was cleaning out my trunk and I found my old ferro rod, which I got 20 years ago with a cheap compass.

I've only used it once to start a fire; I am such a poor outdoorsman I depend on lighters to get my fires started, which I usually have at least 2 in the car.

So I tried sparking it with attached striker, and even after 200 tries, I might have gotten a small spark once out of twenty attempts.

It was dry and I rotated the rod so I struck every surface at least 10 times.

I must have spent $20 total on my survival kit (who knows where I put the compass), so is this normal for ferro rods to fail to spark? Is there something I can do to resurrect it to full firestarting status? Or just toss it?