First of all, please, excuse my english cuz i'm 16 old spanish guy
About the electrolysis (to make separe hydrogen & oxigen) you need a carbon electrode. You can use the pencil carbbon tube, but there's a bit more resistence than an "activated carbon" that you can find in a 4.5v spend battery. You must open it and you'll find 3 little more batteries inside. Be carefuly when you extract the carbon rods, you must use clamps (and gloves if you want) becouse as you know it is full of acid. Don't squeeze the carbon piece too much with the claps or you will broke it :wink: . This "active carbond roods" are the best electrode after platinium ones (you can imagine what a platinium electrodes cost!!!). Then, if you have a movile dc charger, you can use it as power font, there is more much amps and volts, so the reaction is more much faster, with the hydrogen & oxigen separation or the iron oxidament. So, now you have the best electrodes you can get for free, next you can do the next : You know that destilated water isn't a conductor by it self, you must mixture salt, or Sulfuric acid. (with salt is enough).
Then to oxide the iron, you must use a big piece of iron (ofcourse) to get more iron oxide, and a bigger area in contact with the solution. And sue a little ammount of water and a big ammount of salts, so you must saturate the mixture. (becouse if there's alot of water, you'll g2 wait hours and hours trying to evaporate the water). When you finish to corode the iron, you'll see that your saline solution is getting yellow, then brown and finaly black. WHen it is black it means that there is alot of iron oxide and you'll g2 to wait that the water evaporates. You can accelerate that proces warming up the water to 100ºC, so the water will evaporate faster. Then the oxided iron is completed. Now i tell you how do i make aluminium powder. I get some aluminium paper and then i grim it :wink: .
And finaly, to ignite it, there's a very syple metod to do it. Get a litle light bulb, then boke the glass and be arefuly to not breake the tungstene cable. With the precense of oxigen arround of the cable, when you lgiht it at distance with a 9v battery and 2 meters of cable to it, when the cable burns against the termite, or the magnesium... it will ignite nicely !!! Soo, i hope it helps you all guys.
Regards from Catalonia!