I believe there is a problem with putting the Mg filings into water, unlike aluminum, Mg does not form a resistant oxide layer that prevents it from further reacting with the water. Ball milling might have its own problems of ignition, as that is often a problem.

Glad you like the forum.

That's what I thought as well, and also why I am not building the device he illustrates on that site...
but on said site he states "Magnesium is somewhat problematic because of its reactivity with water. A spoonful of potassium dichromate added to the bath greatly suppresses the amount of bubbling that takes place. I've also used mineral spirits instead of water when grinding magnesium with very fine sandpapers, but this is less convenient."
Do you think this is a viable solution for the Mg+H2O problem?
Also, when grinding Al on a wheel, the wheel had to be cleaned/ran against a piece of steel in order to keep the Al from "gumming" it up and making it smooth...
I haven't made a ball mill as of yet, so just speculation, and although information on the web is rarely totally accurate, all the anecdotal reports I've seen just say to run the mill for short periods of time, allow to cool, slowly open to let air in to oxidize the metal, and use ceramic spheres...
Would really love some Mg, if possible and in the scope of home chemistry

EDIT -- Was in the middle of replying when Sedit posted, so to be clear, the "That's what I thought..." is referring to Vesp's post... sorry for any confusion.

EDIT AGAIN -- Sedit, not trying to be too nosy, but wally has invaded most of the US, and every one I have visited has had them in the camping section, near portable stoves and propane and camp fuel and the like...

I looked it up on wikipedia before posting this...but magnesium pills. I have a bottle of Magnesium Citrate in my cabinet. The amount of Mg is 11% of the pill.  

 

According to this, if you dropped the Citrate you'd be left with Mg+2, but whatever you did the reaction in, the Mg+2 would probably react with the solvent. If you used water.

What about the possibility of using a basic non-polar solvent, possibly ether, to remove the citrate?

I'm not positive, but I believe making a solution of acid, basic, the acid will form a salt, and separate from whatever it was on.

I'm sure this form of Mg would be pure. Also, the Mg should make a precipitate at the bottom of the non-polar solution.

Correct any errors please. I'm in no way saying this will work.

Ah. Shit. I should have knew the 2+ meant ions.

Damn. Well atleast I tried..

Haha. Yeah, its mainly little mistakes like forgetting 2+ was an ion. I forgot that having two less electrons would make it an ion.

Sedit you could file the Mg block for powder or drill in a drill press at a slow speed and with coolant so the MG doesn't come to ignition temp. Then wash in acetone or alcohol to remove tap magic or other coolant used.