Iām not an expert either but I would have guessed that the force from the top anvil acts like a hammer and detonates the gunpowder that way instead of with sparks.
They mention using a playing card between the anvils in the article, and in at least one [1] video they seem to use paper between the anvils as well, so it seems probable it would work - or at least not hurt.
Then again, I'm not an expert in this kind of thing. Would this somehow make things way more dangerous in a different way?