Making New Double-staffs

Alright guys, I have a dilemma and would like advice .

I have currently been training up my doubles skills with a pair of well weighted (heavy as possible) 90cm long practise staffs, with the intention of converting them into doubles when I get around to buying the wicks after exams. I've already got the dowel and aluminium tube obviously, but my dilemma is this:

I would much prefer 4 inch wicks. So I'm a bit unsure.
a) 4inch wicks might be way too much to start off with, with regards to burning myself etc, seeing as ive only ever played with doubles on fire when theyve been full length.
b) 4 inch wicks in combination with shorter than usual typical double staves is even riskier.

I'm am pretty confident my skills at twirling are good enough to deal with the 4 inch wicks, but I am considerring possibly just getting some more piping and dowel and contructing staves that are just a little bit longer. I just feel that 2 or 2.5 wicks wouldnt feel right, as I am so used to 4 inches and their fury .

So all you doubles pros, any tips or opinions would be muchly appreciated.

- Klaymen

[EDIT: Where I got my materials from:

This is for Melbourne, Victoria.

Chrome steel/Aluminium tubing + dowel + screws + washers:

Tait Timber & Hardware Pty. Ltd.
15 Weir Street, Glen Iris, 3146
Telephone (03) 9822 3381
www.taittimber.com.au

Has perfect steel here, and sells dowel too (its too bad the dowel is just a little thinner than the inside of the tube, but oh well =/.) Also, this is walking distance from Glen Iris station, on the Glen Waverley train line from the City.

WICKING:

Good ole' juggleart, I don't know if you can get it anywhere else :P.
www.juggleart.com . ]

I don't play with doubles much, and I think it's up to you what size of wick you fell comfortable with. ( especially as doubles has more chance of hitting me / you well me mostly) Practise is the best thing to make you feel comfortable with the staffs and confident you aren't going to hit yourself. But I'm going to say this anyway:

Ooooo, look at the little 4 inch wicks! Aren't they sooo cute!

jeez, you use bigger than 4 inch wicks?? Aaanyway, yeah, i know its mostly about the size you are most comfortable with, and to be honest I find myself most comfortable with the 90inches. But im willing to make them a bit longer and have 4 inches than go without and have a little bit shorter staff. I'm basically worried about making my staffs too insane and burning myself trying to look cool with 4 inches on a too-short staff . I also have an afro, a fire-hazard, but I can cover the creature with some type of beanie-device if needed [ie because of poi windmill move basically, sure to burn my hair, not that it hasnt happened before with normal staff hehe]:P.

- Klaymen

I think 4 inch wicks on 90cm sticks doesn't give you much left to hold without getting burnt...

I'd suggest smaller wicks (boo, boring) or bigger staffs. I'm really glad I changed up from 1m to 1.5m sticks, it's made me do lots of things cleaner, and I can do pretty much everything with the long ones I could do with the shorts. Plus, the extra weight will give your shoulders lots more definition, which is always good (everytime I go home, my mum says "I'm sure you're getting broader across the shoulders...")

So yeah, big sticks, lots of fire!

Yeah fair enough, I have to take a trip to the dowel/pole place anyway for my mates new staff too. I think I will go with 4 inches, its way cooler, i dont think ill go as large as 1.5m sticks though, maybe 1.2m. What do all the doubles-ers in here have as their lengths?

Hehe yeah, I bloody love the heavy staffs. When you make a staff you just HAVE to put dowel all the way through. It makes everything so much smoother and works your muscles, and they pretty much force you to do the right thing because they are harder to maniplate.

- Klaymen

Oohhhhhh! 4 INCH. I thought you was talking of 4 cm wicks. Goddamnit, I feel like NASA.

Mine are 120cm....can do most contact moves with 'em too...

Written by:

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Oohhhhhh! 4 INCH. I thought you was talking of 4 cm wicks. Goddamnit, I feel like NASA

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but you wrote inch ........ :P

yes, this is the way my brain works.

What does everyone else think? 1.2m I dunno, seems a tad long. My main concern is basically that 90cm im gonna burn myself with 4inch wickies. Should I go all 'hero' and risk it?

- Klaymen

How tall are you? How long are your arms? If you're going for shortish staffs, then maybe go for the longest that'll comfortably spin a wheel (if that's the right word - where you hold both arms out together and spin the staffs in the space between them)

Or go for 120, and then if you don't like them, cut them down. Bit of a hassle, but easier than making them longer

lol when people ask about staff dimensions, the words 'p1ssing' and 'contest' cometh to mindeth!
It's all up to personal choice about what makes for a more beautiful repertoire, rather than bravado.
klaymen mate, you don't *have* to fully soak 4" wicks if you don't always want the full fire
good luck mate!

My Sticks are 90cm long with 4inch wick. Pyroptix uses similar sticks too (cept his are shorter).

It seems to be a bit of a norm in Oz to use sub 1m sticks for doubles?

I have to say tho, I tend to use Katinca's (approx)75cm sticks with 2.5inch wick on them more these days as the fire is more manageable for moves which stay in close proximity to the body.

Im looking after BenJamens doubles too. They have 4 inch wick and are about 5 foot long and heavy! horses for courses

I find with my sticks the only time I need to be especially careful is before Ive burned them off, because eth flame can 'lick' up the staff all the way to the handle...which hurts.

Josh

After measureing from my hand to my chest (around 52cm, a tad longer) I have decided to go for 1m staffs or just over, but get 4 inch wicks. Yeah, you are right bender, but I just find I enjoy a burn more with the fury of 4 inches .

Yeah, flame licking, that's what i was thinking Josh. And I guess the flame lick would be even worse with the 2 doubles held in one hand. But at the same time, you can beast out single moves quick quickly at the beginning of a burn, burn some of the kero away and spin real fast to avoid getting licked, then throw up and catch into doubles, then towards the end of a burn possible do some cross-formation doubles. Yep, that's what I'll do, but I'll obviously vary it up a bit .

Final verdict: 1m staves, 4 inch wicks. Keeping current poles as practise staffs which will be useful.

Thanks for the advice folks! I guess you'll find out how it goes after i give them a crank :P *kisses afro goodbye*.

Adios,

- Klaymen

the first and only set of doubles ive made was one meter, with four inch kevlar heads....twas the only kevlar i had in the house, and 2.5 inch looks so small after using the fat stuff for a while!!!! anyway, LOTS of fire for someone more accustomed to two poi heads...also limiting in that i can't slide my hands too far off center without getting hot fingers...i think my next set will be longer, maybe 1.2 meters or so...i played with a longer set yesterday and i liked the feel. but best of luck and im sure after a month or so with anything you'll be more sure of what you like personally.
whats the verdict on tubing material for you guys? i usually go aluminum for weight but now im being told it conducts too much heat(maybe thats why my hands are hot) and that copper is just as light but cooler(temperature, not more pimpin, that is)...
what do you guys think?
heph

also, when ima talk 4" i also mean 50cm of 3.2mm thick kevlar, which once secured onto a 17mm guage staff works out to be the circumference that is smaller than the girth of a coke can.
or diet fanta.
can't forget that ace tangy flavour - ask for it by name yo.

Thanks Heph. Yeah I'm going with hardened aluminium tubing, but to be honest I wasn't really sure of any alternative [I'd be interested to hear what other good tubing materials can be used, if theres something better than hardened aluminium obviously I would prefer to get it, I mean, I'm spending 80bucks on the wicks and that aint cheap ;P]. I think the last staff I made I used some type of steel tube or something (not sure, it was shiney though). Anyway, bad mistake, the heat tends to sort of warm the metal, and it ends bending all the time and you have to bend it back in to shape. Although that problem will be over-come anyway since I'll be putting dowel all the way through these new ones. So yeah, i will probably use hardened aluminium tubing.

- Klaymen

Heph: copper is one of the best conductors of heat there is (see here) [1]- it's used in many cooling products. It's also weaker for the weight and (I think) less springy, so it's more likely to kink and bend.

I made a pair of 1m staffs out of steel tube, they work quite well - the extra weight is useful on staffs that small. They bend quite easily, but also bend back quite easy, and when they're that small, they don't have to be *too* straight . I didn't have a problem with heat as such, but then I only had 2 inch wicks. That said, the only burn i've had from staffing came from those just after I learnt snakes - you don't have very much space to lock that isn't burning...

[1] I'm not sure if a copper *staff* would necessarily conduct more than an equivalent ally one, though, as there would be a lower cross sectional area. Needs more math than I'm up for at the mo