Make wicks burn same length of time

Hi Everyone!

None of my searches spit out anything on this:
I started Firetwirling a few weeks ago, but my steel core/Kevlar Pois that i soak for about -30-60 min in Lampoil do never burn longer than maybe 2 minutes, and one of them always goes out way before the other, to be precise after a couple of easy swings (i did not even speed up yet!)
What could be the reason for this? I bought the pois in New Zealand, and there does not seem to be a lot of wick on them, but why does one burn better than the other?
and should i keep the jar i store the fuel and the pois in closed? should i store them in the fueljar? or take them out? Soak them right before i light them, or right after i played?
Plus it takes ages to light them - but i already read that i should soak them briefly in colemans or something similar to light them up in the first place.
I am sure someone asked all this before, but i could not find it in the forum. Thanks anyways for your help!

Silke

How Poi can burn longer:

1. on each wick about 1 meter or more..
2. make Catedrals constuction( is very
advantageous,save lamp oil)
HOP

3. your stirg or chain may be shorter
4. lam iol isnt advisable for long burning
try: 1/3 lamp oil 2/3 kerosen
5. nothing more
6. good luck

Your going to get alot of differnt opinions of this quiestion. Personally, I store mine in paint can full of lamp oil. I do this for two reasons. Firstly, when I am done spinning I can remove the poi heads put them in the fuel and close the lid. No fuel leaks out, no waiting for toys to cool down, it's harder to get soot marks on things you don't want them on, and no burnt fuel smell is invading my living establishment (I don't mind the smell but other people do). The second reason for storing them in the can, is that I know that they have soaked long enough and are ready to go.

You do know that it's a good idea to prime new toys (if you didn't prime them well, that might be why they burn differently). Soak the heads over night, light them, let them burn alittle while, put them out, and repeat about three times. After about three times you'll start to get good burns. After that it's all about trying not to let the soot get out of control.

Hope that helps alittle, As I said there are alot of techniques for this, and this is just mine. Try a search using "equipment care"

use kerosene...straight from the bottle...put it on so the wicks soak up a lot....then you can swing them around for a long time with nice big flames

That's weird that your wicks will go out as soon as you start speeding up, even right after you light them. How tight is your kevlar wrapped/folded? If it's exessivly tight it can act like that. Kind of like how much water will a sponge hold while you're squeezing it as opposed to when it's in it's natural relaxed state. You may want to try loosening your wrap/fold. The looser it is the more fuel it will hold and the air gets to the fuel better, but don't go too loose otherwise it will shorten the life of your wicks dramaticly.

As for one going out before the other it is possible that it's the same sort of deal with wick tension, but it is also a really common thing to have one go out before the other. I can't even recall the last time both of my wicks went out at the same time. And it could also be as Richee mentioned that one of your chains may be slightly shorter causing one of your wicks to spin faster than the other. It could also be that whether you make your wicks or buy them from a place like this website, they are generally hand made and so are a little different from one to another and imperfections occur.

Hope it helps

I also have found that lamp oil doesn't go as long. The folks i learned from mostly use camping gas (aka Coleman fuel), which goes, depending on the wicks, from 3-5 mins. Side note- shop around in your area for the best price! In Denver, you'd think a flagship REI store would have the best price, but it's actually about 30% more than other places. I've found the best deals at surplus stores that also carry camping gear (most of them at least in the U.S.).

I have never once had my flames last the same amount of time, and haven't seen it happen more than once or twice. A lot of people will keep spinning patterns with both poi even after one goes out, which is fun to do, but not exciting if you are spinning for an audience. If i am spinning for an audience, once one poi sems about to go out, i will usually spin it hard to put it and, than then drop it and spin the still-burning poi in some wilder patterns. I kind of like spinning just one poi sometimes. Since there's no worryies of collision/tangle, you can do much larger moves...

Okay, this wasn't much help for gettin a more even burn, but Richee and SickPup pretty much made the relevant points above, thus leading me to ask myself why i am even posting this...

One thing I noticed right after I started with fire was that my right poi would always go out first!

It was then I realized when I shake out excess fuel I'd give em both a good hard spin, but since I'm very right-handed it was getting a harder spin than the one in my left hand, and the burn times were showing that.

Now I make it a point to shake out both my poi in the same hand before I light up so they receive same amount of force... I get pretty equal burn times with them now.

Hope this might shed some light on your situation!