Wind up, swivels, and chain types....

All righty, I'm considering grabbing up some of the new oval link chain they got here on hop.

My question is, are swivels really a necessity? I've been playing around with some poi that have no place for the release of wind-up, and it doesn't seem to be causing any problems. I understand it can be a safety issue with cable, putting undue stress on the tiny strands, but are swivels really necessary for stainless steel link chain?

Anyone played with it that can tell a major difference in handling?


I did searches for "wind up" and "swivels" and didn't really come up with anything involving my question directly.

Thanks ahead of time for any help.

I think it's a matter of taste: the windup will affect the flight of the chains a little. But adding swivels definitely compleximacates things--it might be a wash in the end. If you get the chains without swivels and you decide you want swivels, it wouldn't be that hard to cut off some chain (to keep the length) and add swivels in later.

Tedward from Bearclaw and I have argued about this at lengths. I don't use swivles of any sort and I don't have any problems. He seems to think that it compounds the stress put on the links. He's probably right, but in the case of welded link chain, it's not enough to break anything. I have broken dog chain (non welded), and I've busted through a brass swivel.

I guess it really depends on personal preferance, weight of poi head, and spinning style.

Swivles to me make an unneccessary weak point. The way I spin and the weight of my wicks keep me from using ballchain, I know I'll destroy them.

You guy's are pretty much in line with what I was already thinking.

86'ing the swivel would definately put a lil more stress on the chain, but good link chain is way stronger than necesary anyways.

And it is certainly easier to deal with leaving the swivels out. hook one link of the chain to the triangle quick link on the handle, and the other link onto the quick link that I build into the wicks I make, and boom, easy peesy, with minimal connection points to break. One point where the cable in the wick holds the quick link on, then a chain link directly attached to that, then to the handle. As opposed to quick link-ring-swivel-quick link-chain-quick link- handle....

That's my logic anyways. Keep it simple.

Bingo