Chain condoms

Lately I've been doing a lot of wick grab moves. Either for direction changes or just a little excitement. After a couple sessions I inevitably have little second degree burns all over my hands and arms from the chain just above the wick. Those little burns get seriously annoying.

To fix the problem, I took a section of 2" wick and sewed it into a sleeve that slides down the chain to cover the hottest section.



The sleeve slides easily so you can quickly pull it up the chain when you dip and let it back down to spin. It acts as a buffer between your skin and the hot metal as well as an insulator so the metal doesn't seem to get quite as hot. This has dramatically reduced the number of burns I get when grabbing and doesn't add much weight.

Anyone else out there use something like this or have a better design? I thought about kevlar gloves but that would ruin the whole effect.

That's a pretty good idea... I would use it, but I change between my nylon practice monkeyfists and my kevlar ones quite regularly, so I need to be able to get to the quicklink. I'll have to stick to avoiding the chain.

The sleeve slides easily up and down the chain\quick link\swivel so the quick link is still at the base and is accessible. Spinning force keeps the sleeve in place. I put the swivel above my quick link so it just pokes out the top of the sleeve and does not interfere with it's operation.

Nope, my chains never even get hot I can wrap then around bare skin down to the head and the head can even sit there for a second.

What type of chains do you use? And do you have metal bolts sticking out of your heads? Maybee you have really big heads? I did use to have that problem, but that was when i used cable. Cable burns suck.

The only exposed metal is the top link ring. It's probably my fuel. I primarily use white gas which burns hot and I usually spin a few times before the poi completely cool.

Doing grabs with kero is far too messy. You end up looking like you stepped out of a coal mine.

I always look like I've stepped out of a coal mine when I'm spinning. Wraps with snake poi using kero = very black. I'm going to give your idea a go when my wick comes in the mail.

I find the ballchain doesn't cause burns (not enough heat capacity to cause significant burns I think), but the quicklink, eyebolt, and washer do.

I like your idea though... it also made me wonder about coating the offending parts with a thin layer of white glue to reduce their heat conductivity, though this is probably not durable enough to be effective on the quicklink and would also complicate opening it, which means this wick condom idea still sounds pretty good, and a lot less cumbersome than arm gaurds.

hmmm....

Excellent idea. After seeing wick grabs for the first time at Burning Man, i immediately started trying it. i use white gas and haven't gotten any bad burns ( just a little discomfort when i don't catch the wicks just right [ home-made cathedrals with large fender washers and a big eyebolt through them ] ). When next i order stuff from HOP then i'll probably get some extra kevlar to try that out. Thanks.

As a side note, i'm a bit more concerned about messing up my nylon handles when doing sustained grabs than getting burned. My friend's handles are quite warped now after periodically melting a little from such grabs. Maybe we should switch to leather? ( i'll do a search to see if a thread exists on that topic ).

I've been doing grabs like that for a bout 6 weeks now, and my nylon handles are still in one piece. I got some leather handles a few days ago though, because I'm also worried about my nylon handles melting or catching on fire.

Ok, is it just me or is it obvious that the most dangerous thing is the metal in fire-poi construction- it conducts and retain lots of heat, weakens under heat and isn't actually that good to spin with (chain and swivels, links etc)

THEREFORE

ditch firepoi with metal in- I have since october and I'm a far happier fire spinner!

I am saying nothing more.

what do you make the chain substitute out of? wood?

LOL!

You can't just say something like that in the "Technical Discussion" forum without the details Mr Chutney.

errrr... gloves people?

nevermind...

Good thinking Chutney. I have a feeling I know what youre talking about. Ive been wanting to take the same path for the past two months or so. Just havent gotten around to buying the supplies to make my new leashes yet. May I inquire on the method you used? I was just thinking of something like a reverse snake. However, doing that would still leave metal bits at the bottom... But I dont really care about that, I just want to get rid of the chainness. But, if your way gets rid of chains and metal near the heads, Im all for hearing it.

Its not my design to disclose I'm afraid

So you say we should ditch fire poi with metal in them yet you can't tell us how to do that. Hmmn.... interesting.
i think i'll stick to getting burned by the metal cuz it's cool. Really cool.

I suppose you could use kevlar rope as your chain but I can't imagine it would last more than a season. Hyperloops might be tough with rope unless it's thin and then I would seriously worry about it's longevity.

I think metal is still the answer. If built properly, it will be the last place to fail on a poi set.

mbbeer:

The thing with chain is you cant really tell if it was built properly. You never know if theres a weak ball in your chain or a messy weld in your links. Lots of things can happen to it including rusting, weakening at joints due to friction, weakening of the chain due to heat, etc. On top of that, chain just doesnt feel as good as other things can, namely kevlar rope. Its certainly a different feeling when you spin. Its closer to sock poi which is exactly what I want. And even Kevlar rope can last quite a while if its made with the right design and taken care of. Plus, its not really expensive to get ~3 feet of 1" rope for a set of leashes.

Chutney: Is this design planned for sale? If not, perhaps you could send me a PM with some info or at least the name of the designer so I could talk to them personally? Either way, its not a big deal as Im fine with using my current metallic method but Im always looking for fun new ways of doing things.

You could also use 1/16 cable leash inside of 5/16 kevlar rope.
But how would you attach the kevlar leash to the wick?

I wanna make my poi as light as possible.

Have a looksie here:

http://www.homeofpoi.com/ubbthreads/showflat.php?Cat=0&Board=UBB7&Number=136606
http://www.offline.org.uk/flids.php

for my answer to wicks that don't hurt too much when you catch them/do bareskin wraps