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I'm, uh, "vintage" enough to have had a chemitry set of the dangerous and fun kind. It helpfully supplied magnesium strips to light afire using the equally helpful alcohol burner. Man, does it ever burn! And water has no effect on it once lit.

That said, Coleman's X stoves have magnesium burner legs, so it's not as though the stuff's going to burst into flames in the presence of heated language :-) Still, there's probably a reason you don't see actual magnesium "mag" wheels these days.


The reason may well have nothing to do with what we are discussing.

Magnesium ladders, once popular, were replaced by much cheaper aluminum ones.

Magnesium IS lighter than aluminum, but aluminum alloys are superior in strength and fatigue. The end strength to weight ratio doesn't look particularly good for magnesium.

There must be a reason why over the last 80 years, the lighter (expensive) magnesium alloys haven't displaced the (heavier) cheaper and stronger aluminum alloys.


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A friend who used to own a prototype machine shop did have to take extraordinary care when handling magnesium and storing/disposing the turnings. Aluminum's also a hazard, but not as severe.


Many metals are a hazard when the surface area is high and the volume is low, such as the infamous magnesium ribbons and machine turnings as well as fine powders.

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He also worked with titanium. I don't recall what he had to do with the turnings, but it was very challenging to work with. I'll ask next time we go hiking.