i spent 6.50 on a firestarter and i take it home rip the the flint off and take a hammer to the bar outside the damn thing wouldn't flatten so i took a sledge hammer no use it broke in pieces. i can't file it 1. file is too small. 2.i scrape and scrape i get maybe, maybe get a pile the size of a pea in 5mins. help i want to get some good mesh for flash. i am at ends rope here.

If the bar broke into pieces, then do this. Put the pieces inside of a heavy duty ziploc freezer bag, then put that bag inside of another bag, inside of another bag. Then take the bag and set it on a hard surface like concrete and give it a good whack with a sledge hammer until it breaks up the bar into nice small pieces. After than you might wanna use a regular hammer to crush those pieces. Once the bar has been ground up into a nice granular, ball mill it until it's flash quality.

The purpose for having three layers of bags is to prevent the bag from breaking due to the force of being hit with a sledge hammer.

Even 3 layers won't help with the sledge hammer problem. The sharp edges of the broken Mg will cut little holes in the bag when the bag's side is between the Mg and the hammer. Not to worry though, I think the small holes won't allow much out anyway. Try putting the Mg in the freezer first(when trying to shatter it) or even cool it with dry ice. That should get it to be quite brittle so getting it into fine pieces with a hammer will be easier. For flattening it perhaps heating it up would help.

Yea, I was wondering about Magnisium powder (aka fire starters)... are you supposed yo flatten it first, before filing it ??

Or can you just file it straight from the bag/box ?

What if you put the Magnesium in liquid nitrogen then hit it? Hehehe

I only had my magnesium break, not shatter, into 2 or 3 peices. All the other times it just flattens. The reason I flatten it is so it is easier to cut it up and ball mill.

Freezing it with a little dry ice and shattering it with a slegde hammer sounds like a really good idea to me, and next time I make some I will try that out.