Handles and grips for Staffs

Myself, I prefer not to have a handle or grip in the centre at all, although I do like to wind 3m medical tape along the sides to stop the fuel dribbling as much?

Obviously (as usual ) I'm the odd one out.

Can people please list their REASONS for making their handles and how the handles help or accentuate the way you do staff.

This way I might start to undertsand what everyone else is into it so much.

Peace, love and mungbeans...

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Charles (INFERNO)

the main reasons i use black tape...

1. i have a plexiglass clear red staff... black looks good with red, and on a clear staff is very easy to see

2. Anything too thick (ie. cloth, rubber grip tape, handles) is heavy, and though it may help spin, it can cause wind resistance and be a bit more awkward for me

3. In ninjitsu i only used tape staves so i'm used to them...

4. your fingers slide on the grip easier

5. Having dark colored ends make your staff look faster
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~ Tiger, Tiger, burning bright... ~

I agree with the comment on making the grip too wide, the bigger the handle, the less comfortable I feel. Although this is using other's staffs and the Pure Flame 3 piece.

Any other comments guys???

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Charles (INFERNO)

I put thinly padded handles on all the staffs I make for a few reasons, probably the biggest of which is that most of the people in our group do a fair bit of throwing whilst we're staffing. This padding helps soften the shock to your hands when catching high throws with heavy (ie multi-wicked) staffs. It also helps to give an area to aim for when catching and helps centre your grip on the staff easily for when you resume spinning.

I also like the grip a handle gives when spinning fast, especially if there is fuel around. A handle absorbes any fuel on the staff and stops it getting too slippery.

Apart from that ... I just always have used staffs with handles, so I'd be lost without them.

A large part of my performance is based on speed so its good to know that dark or black ends help this to look even better.

What would happen if you had dark ends which were tipped with a bright colour? (Such as fire on the very tips but black soot covered aluminium right next to it).

Would this look better than just fire and shiny aluminium?

And Draevon, i'm caught in a bit of a conundrum, as I do a lot of high throws and sometimes do hurt my hands catching.

But I absolutely love deliberately putting fuel on the center of the staff (usually with burnoffs) so that my palm spins slide around really fast and keep spinning for ages.

Probably the biggest reason I've resisted handles is they all seem to make the staff roll of my handsduring palmspins instead of sliding around with out rolling...

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Charles (INFERNO)

Anyway,
All I have on my staff now is a peice of duct tape marking the center, and small wraps close to the ends to keep my hands from sliding into the wick during some of my more technical tricks. But that is really all I need at the moment since it about two degrees here and I have to spin in gloves to keep my fingers from falling off. Damn metal staff.

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If you love something, set it on fire.

Maybe those people are posting but you're not reading right.

obeeeedooobeeeeobeeeedoobeeoooooooo!

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Charles (INFERNO)

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We are all in the cosmic movie. That means the day you die you watch your whole life repeating for eternity. So you'd better have some good things happen in there and have a fitting climax. --Jim Morrison

Yes ... that is quite a pickle you have been presented with. Whilst the absorbing impact effect of padded handles is quite handy, it certainly would effect your ability to perform palm spins. I've never really done palm spins mainly for this reason.

Do you do any sort of palm spins with your tennis racquet grip Mr Josh?

Mr Charles, what is medical tape ? ... currently trying to build my fire staff and not quite pleased, however, bowing at Mr Draevon for the GREAT info on his website

I've a 3 peice staff (not the pure flame from the shop, but similar). After a while I put on a hockey stick handle grip on it (longer than tennis racquet stuff) because I was more comfortable to hold, gentler doing throws, and in winter cold metal is cold metal and I want little to do with it! The handle is now quite thick but as I have quite large hands this doesn't bother me much.

However on Tuesday I borrowed some lass' very thin but long staff (solid metal pole about half an inch thick) with electrical tape for handles. I actually had more fun than with my staff because it was light enough to throw and catch nicely, and so thin that I could easily twirl it through my fingers like a very long pen.

i prefer grip to bare staff because it marks center, as well as setting in my head where to hold it. i'm used to regular quarterstaff, where i use the whole staff for handholds. it'd be bad to grab the wick out of habit. other than that, grip helps me from ripping skin on bad botches...soft surface. friction burns stink.

The thinner the better for fingerspins and if the whole length is uniformly wide, then body rolls and wraps can be pushed much further.

But it still hurts when you catch it

Teine, for an object as thin as a staff, I think you are more liekly to get friction burns off a soft handle than a bare handle, but even then, I can't even think of a move that will last long enough and slide fast enough through hands to give a friction burn (no rude jokes people!!!).

Does that make sense or am I completely wrong?
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Charles (INFERNO)

newdolbel@hotmail.com
http://juggling.co.nz

I recon leather would be the one, but I havent tried it, should absorb impacts and fueal, be grippy but also slide around when you want (specially if its shiny side out).

Monsoir Charles, I got callouses between thumb and hand from stick, friction burns no prob.

Love,

black bandanas knotted in patterns on the ends

black tape

flourescent tape for blacklights

screwing eyerings into the ends of my staff and hooking up photons - haven't done this yet, haven't bought my photons, but i got everything else rearing to go...

but grip, i still just like electrical tape, it's slippery enough to slide and not thick enough to hinder anything... i've tried cushioned ones... just don't like them...

The rubber tubing is cheap (cost me AU$2 for two handles worth of tube). It doesn't easily get dirty, and since it is clear, I was thinking of painting some sort of design on the aluminium, and then pulling the rubber handle over it. Or you could just paint it a plain colour to act as a marker for centre.