Depreciating Burn Times

So, I have done a total of six burns with my fire heads, first one was a few days ago. Once they start getting low, I spin them as fast as I can to put them out so the wicks don't burn, which it looks as though they have started to burn (which I assume is because they are on fire and is normal), and I redunc them after letting them cool down for a minute. My question is this: I have noticed that the burn time has greatly depreciated in the six burns I've done... from 10 minutes to 5 minutes, is this normal and it will work its way back up? Or have I [censored] them up already? A month ago people were talking about conditioning the wicks by lighting and extinguishing them a doven or so times... but it was decided in that thread that it was not needed. So is there anything I can do to get the burn times back up, is it the normal way of things, or did I screw up?

Oh and I an using cathedrals.

Thanks

'conditioning' or 'curing' wicks by lighting and extinguishing them a dozen (or whatever) times prior to the first burn, has been pretty much shown to be a total myth here.

Many (myself included), are of the opinion that, when using paraffin, it is of benefit to the wicks to extinguish them well before they go out of their own accord, and dunk them immediately into the paraffin, on every burn.

The theory is that this stops the smouldering that could damage the kevlar.

DO NOT do this if you are using white gas as it is dangerous- the white gas could well ignite on contact with hot wick

Do you blow it out? Because whever I have tried blowing it out it acts like a trick birthday candle and reignites itself. But has anyone else found it to be the case with new wicks that the burn time goes down and then increases again, or is there anything I can do to get the time up again?

I use a steel extinguishing tube to put out long burning fire props, exclude air, head goes out etc, typically some of the kit I regularly make use of can be made to burn for upto between 10 and 15 minutes for comercial shows etc. Mainly I prefer fully internally cored tube poi and staff, which I make to my own spec.

I have been asked to make cathederal fold poi for people before, to be honest I'm not that sold on the build but it seems to work well enough, giving times of around 10 mins consistently, uses a lot of kevlar though.

With regards to your particular issue, two things come to mind, aside from dunking as soon as extinguished as long as using kero / parafin.

That is (1) while the wicks are still substantially warm, between burns, the running time will be reduced, I tend to notice this more with Poi than staff, typically from cold, i can expect to get around 12 mins full run, there after around 8 mins unless allowed to cool fully.

(2) Your particular catherderall wicks are these fully kevlar or are they hybrid wicks, containing both kevlar with a cotton core, cheap build, but very susepatable to degredation.

mark

They are the full kevlar wicks that are sold here at the HoP shop. What is a steel extinguishing tube, and where might get one/ how could I make one?

Thank you for the help so far.

It's nothing fancy, I use a spaghetti tube which happens to be made from steel, sealed at one end, probably easier to buy one than make, unless you have access to metal rolling skills and welding / folding equip.

Although most metal tubes of reasonable thickness will work well, so long as the heads fit, for efficient extinguishment, try and match closely the size of head to tube diameter, your going to need about a one foot of tube length, and please DON'T be tempted to blow into the tube to speed up the process, or you will get a face full of fire.

mark

warming your wicks will make it easier for the flame to stay, as they need to reach the threshold of latent heat before any fire is created.

with all that soot, you'll depreciate the price of your toys.

financial terms outta context day has arrived!

Hmmm after reading this im kinda annoyed at myself. ive just made a new funky staff, im gonna make an extishuishing tube, seems to be the way to go. except the staff has some monkey fist heads, first thing i noticed is that they burn FOREVER, litteraly, my arms died before they did, i couldnt blow em out because there too big, so i just let em burn out. any method that should be used for the monkeys? im gonna be spinning at a mates party this weekend, would be nice to be ready for it....

i just notiiced after checking just then that the wick has white burnt bits.... kicking my self for it.

yeah I let my monkey fist ropes burn out for the first time and also found white residual strands in the wick- most annoying when I spen all that time tying them

Still they still burn fine, I guess they just won't last anywhere near as long

So when the wick itself actually burns, it turns white? Is this correct? And anything black is soot or a bit scorched or what?

Thanks for the responses everybody, they have been helpful.