Wooden handles on poi

I have an unusual set of wooden handles on my poi built by my crazy woman friend. Since then I've made some changes to them, rechaining, re-wicking... But the handles always remain

To this day I've never seen anyone selling poi with wooden handles anywhere on the net or otherwise... I figure this maybe because they aren't as good or something, but I've grown quite accustomed to my handles... But what do you think? Do they suck, are they better... and what are the pros, and cons of wooden handles on poi, compared to other grips?

If you mean the finger grips.....then I suggest leather..........No blisters..or at least less blister action involved. I've done too many preformances with bandaides on my fingers cause of the grips. If they work for you ...let us know..... Fire Mama

Here's what I've found with trying out differnt types of grips as of late in the past week or so:

Some more interesting ones were a big fat metal rings... That I find didn't work so well because the ring really hurt my fingers because I spin it so fast. The manuverablity was pretty good though and the all metal look to the poi made it look really cool. Plus I could drop them if needed

I've also tried 2 finger loops and 4 finger looped straps made outta some material that resembles a strap off of a back pack(I'm not sure what to call them). The disadvanages to those I find are when I sometimes tangle the poi behind my back (like doing a Behind the back Butterfly) I can't really untangle it that easy, meaning I can't just slip outta them. (that move needs more practice anyway!)

my handles are put together with a quicklink and a S_bolt (bolt with a circle end to attach a chain). They work well considering I'm working with a difference of a 90 degree angle compared to the other counterparts. Plus the swining motion isn't as smooth as the others just because of the quicklink/S-bolt set up. But I can do most tricks, like windmills, corkscrews, forward and backward weaves. I also find that I can sorta move against centrifical force and do other stuff a little easier than looped grips. Maybe I'm just on crack... what do you think?

When you say "wooden handles" do you mean like a sort of toggle grip/straight piece of wood to hold on to?
I would guess that as long as the wood was smooth, there's no reason to change them at all.

Handles with a bit of weight to them that you hold rather than wear are really nice, especially for things like throws or hand-swaps. They also have the advantage, as you mention, of being easily-"dropable" incase of a tangle (very important when using fire).

The only real disadvantage I can think of is that it will tire your hands more as you need to actively grip them - finger loops or wrist straps just stay on your hands. Also, if the wood isn't smooth or your hands are a bit sticky (?) you'll end up with blisters - but constant use will build up callouses so this won't be a factor after a while.

Ultimately - if it works for you...it works!

as you have guessed, yes the handles are basically a nice straight peice of wood... Fairly smooth to the touch and never get's sticky at all... It has a nice black tinge to it now from all the months spinning with kerosene. another thing I've been told, and seen first hand is straps tend to fray if not taken care of... The handles I got are friggin invincible! and since I only use handles I've gotten some pretty good grip strength now. The poi in general are amazingly versatile with the quicklinks I got... because I can swtich different sets of grips, rings, straps... you name it. I can take the handles off and hook the chains together to form meteor poi. (although I don't know any techniques on how to use it like that)... I need to get 2 different sets of chain lengths for them... I have long chains apparently (no way in hell I can spin them on the inside of my body like a bicycle wheel)... I'm just wondering if there's certain moves I can't do with handles... I guess that's my major concern really, that is whether I'm putting limits on what I can do.

[ 04. May 2003, 21:27: Message edited by: Canadian_guy ]

Not really - I can't think of any moves that you won't be able to do because of the handles... You might find some are harder perhaps but for alot of tricks it's more of an advantage.
I've already mentioned throws, but moving between 2 and 1 handed poi is easier with handles (as opposed to loops).

Some could argue that you lose a bit of "flow" without loops. It can look quite nice if all the poi is done with open-palms - you can sort of do some liquid effects with your hands - but this is lost in darkness anyway