What to do with large chunks of Magnalium?

[Norwest]

Hey,

Made some stars recently and discovered that the Magnalium contains large granules due to  shipping regulations. What can one do with the large granules left over after screening through 40 mesh screen? Are these trash or can they be used for some sparkle effects?

Thanks, Norwest

[DavidF]

I had a large chunk of magnalium, which I put into a long tube and squished with a long rod to break it into smaller pieces. 50/50 magnalium is as brittle as glass. Then I ran it through a hand crank grain mill I bought after seeing it used in a black powder video on the 'Everything Black Powder' channel. My objective was to get a 40-60 mesh cut, which will be used for Pirotex Slow Gold glitter stars. He posted details about those stars on this forum. After multiple grindings and screenings, I had about 60% 40-60 mesh, and about 40% -80 mesh. Some folks mill magnalium in a ball mill to be used in metallic colored stars, as an ingredient in strobe mixes, and in flash powder. It's potentially dangerous to mill, and I wouldn't use it in FP myself because I don't trust it. The grain mill is also useful for 'corning' small amounts of pucked black powder, which is why I bought it. Larger mesh magnalium is not commonly available, but definitely quite useful. I'm sure others know of different uses for it.

[Carbon796]

How large are they ? There was a guy that used to sell some -8 material. It worked great in comets. 

[Mumbles]

I wouldn't necessarily assume it's magnalium automatically. If it is, it should be large irregular chunks. Some suppliers (skylighter and firefox particularly), used to use magnesium turnings or what was allegedly magnesium. They'll look more like curled strips generally. I never did anything with them, but I always had the impression that they seemed too hard/strong for magnesium.