Opinions wanted on these please

Erm, I don't do fire eating...but:
~ That doesn't look like Kevlar, or if it is, it's very old Kevlar.
~ The one on the right seems to have metal coming out the end, which could result in serious tongue burnage
~ Do you need 4? 1 quality one might be better
~ It doesn't say whether they've been used or not. Oral hygene might be an issue...
~ Looking at the metal, it seems to be a thinner wire bent double to make it stronger... I'd actually hazard a guess at coat-hangers.

I'd guess (again) that if they bought them at a workshop, the workshop leader made up a load of cheap sets to sell afterwards, using coat-hangers/garden wire and a some old wick (possibly towelling).

Personally, I wouldn't buy them.

Looks like fiberglass to me and if the wire is indeed coat hangers, you can make yourself some toys just like this for the price that the ebay seller is asking for shipping.
Can't say I'd like a mouth full of fiberglass though.

i think it did say that they weren't used...i don't think i would get these just with the information presented but you can always look at history and ask them questions or for more pictures

I make professional fire props, fire eating wands / sticks / tools included,

with explicit reference to http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=200082340746 these have some serious flaws, and as such wouldn't recomend them. Not least that the kevlar if it is kevlar, appears to have been fastened / finished off with kevlar thread wound around the exterior and tied off. To me this is not best practise and all of the comercial fire eating wands I have seen using this build have a tendency to unwind with predictable results.

I'll put some new images up sometime of the build I use, to to sumerise the deisgn, these are built on a 7 or 10mm tubular duralamin former, the kevlar is internally anchored, tightly wound around the former, folded and secured with buried screws which go right through the kevlar shroud, through the metalwork, into the core and through the other side of the metalwork partly into the kevlar shroud.

mark

Lol, I'm guessing you actually meant the ones that Wheee posted? If not, you might want to work on your sales pitch

Uh, no. They scare me.

Hmm, seems the internet is a smaller place than some people would have us believe. I came across this auction myself a couple of days ago. Theres something familiar about Durbs from another message board too...

Anyway, the point of the post:

The reason I remember this auction is that I had a hunch I knew which workshop the seller was referring too and the construction of these torches looked familiar. Having asked the seller my hunch is correct.

The torches are actually made by this guy : http://www.bobthefireeater.supanet.com/bob.htm. Not someone I have a particularly high opinion of (I know a lot of the regulars around here and over at firetoys would disagree with him on a few things).

Knowing several people who've attended this workshop I've also seen several of these torches up close, so can add a few things. I've never seen a set this new before though - they've always been blackened from use before (this means I can't confirm what the wick is made of)

Yes the metal on these can stick out of the bottom end slightly. They're made by bending the wire in half, feeding the wick through the fold, then wrapping round.

The wire itself is reasonably stiff - its not going to bend up you unless you're particularly violent shaking excess fuel off. I don't think its garden wire - thats more flexible than what these are made of. Might be coathangers, but I doubt it - I've seen no evidence of the slight kinks I'd expect to come from straightened coathangers.

What isn't visible in the photos is that there appears to be some very fine wire used in securing the wick (or it might be a wire reinforced wick - its hard to tell which under all the soot on the ones I've seen up close).

I'd not worry too much about whether they've been used or not from a hygene point of view - dunking them in fuel and setting fire to them is likely to kill off the majority of bugs!



Having said all that my own torches are built using a similar construction to these, but with a few improvements where I wasn't quite happy with Bob's design, specifically:

The metal doesn't stick out of the bottom on mine. Instead of passing the wick through the bend, I threaded the wick onto the wire then down to the bend. The result is that the end of the wire is burried somewhere in the middle of the wick.

Wire free wick used.

No wire used in wick attachment - the wick is sewn on with kevlar thread - stiched at each wrap around the stick.

None of the stray thread ends visible in the above pictures - again both ends of the thread used to attach the wick are burried somewhere in the middle of the wick.

The wire I used was some 1m lengths from a modelling supply website (bent and cut to a suitable length for a torch). Kinda wish I'd thought of coathangers, might have been cheaper - though more work. I found out myself that garden wire indeed doesn't work well - my first prototype bent before they went anywhere near fire.

Hmm, seems to be a problem with that link. Try this one : http://www.bobthefireeater.supanet.com/

P.S. Is that some sort of a record length for a first post?

I would not. They look dangerous with the metal sticking out the end, and the wicks look like a Kevlar/wire mix which personaly I would not use for firesticks/wands. If I were you I would save my money and use it to make a better pair of firesticks/wands or look around for a safer pair to buy.
Simple saftey rule in fire eating/dancing, if your unsure about a piece of equipment don't use it.

Me not like the look of those. They dont look safe to me but I used to use BBQ skewers (metal with wood handles) and kevlar for mine but I don't have those any more coz they are in England and I'm not