Wick life with differen't fuels

I was posting in the diff wick thread descusing life spans of wick and this question came to me:

Has anyone noticed a differnce in wick life when different fuels are used? for example would a Kevlar wick last longer if you used Kero as aposed to Naptha.

if you cure the wick fully before twirling and soak it well straight after each burn and have the wick tucked under properly, pva glue to stop fraying. all that should stop the wick from burning and having only the fuel burn so your wick if looked after properly should last for years. well in an idea world anyway. ive found wick deteriorates quickest when twirling is done on hard surfaces without pva glue on the ends when the wick is cured properly

what Benjamen said...There is likely to a difference between the different fuels and how long the wicks last, BUT...

What really makes the difference is how the wicks are made, attached, cured (just PVA in my experience) and how you treat thenm afterwards.

The fuel difference is so minor, it's not really worth lookign at unless you are taking all th eother steps first.

In My Opinion of course

ok I wrap mine on farly tight and but white glue on the last 2 inches. Then I fold half an inch underand press the end down with more glue. Then I wrap in in tape and let it dry. after a drill through and attach the wick with a bolt. Hows that?
What am I suposted to soak it in?

im not sure exactly how kero and glue react when left soaking. i make my staffs soak them for 24hrs each end then light up each end and let it burn then smother it with a damp rag, repeat 5 times then i put the glue on the stick and then burn it. the glue then hardens and that way you dont have to worry how it reacts with the kero before it has been hardened.

another tip to get a nicer more even look to your wick is that fold the wick into a loop and put the ends on the inside of the roll

--------------------
| |
---------xx---------

so kinda like
---
/ ---\
///xx\\\
|||ss|||
|||ss|-
||\- |
\\ ||
\\-//
\--

but wrapped round more times it gives a really nice look to it and u dont have to worry about it fraying from the ends where the ends are the xxs.

If your making a metal stick then use self tapping screws so that they dont come undone bolts kinda do that and they also stick out so if u hit yourself u get a nasty bit of hot metal burn you.

you want to soak it in whatever fuel you are using. ive found that soaking in kero then using shellite and citronella oil doesnt burn well and vise versa try to stick with just one fuel.

hope that helps

hmmm my diagram attempt didnt work to well try to imagine some extra spaces in there

Ben-jam-in... I have absolutly no idea what that means, but I am intrigued, please, could you explain a little better?

And exactly how much glue do you use when you do this? 2 inches? Isn't that half the wick? I usually only glue down the fraying ends, not the WHOLE END like that... I wonder if maybe that would make my wicks last a lot longer... I burn almost every other night for an hour or two, so I need to conserve more if possible

End of Wick (bottom view)
______________________________________________
*******************
*******************
*******************
*******************
*******************
*******************
*******************
______________________________________________

* = glue

this is the end of a 2 foot piece or wick (about averge length for a piece of wick around here)

then fold a quarter of that over so it looks like this (side view):

______________________________________________
______________________________________________
|||||||
______

well sorta.

I'm making two staffs tomorrow so I'll take pics with my digital while I'm doing it and post them later.

So you are gluing them before you even put them on? I think I get it now. So this keeps it from fraying not on the ends (sides of the wick), but by the screws and where it folds under? Funny I never thought of doing that...

Me either! I've only ever cured the ends where it starts to visibly fray at the edges.

Suddenly I can't believe I didn't think of it myself.

Doh!

I experimented with gluing the whole fire head tonight... covered the whole thing in elmers glue and then let it dry and had a burn or two... seems to work ok, doesn't lower duration or anything...

ill give the ascii another try, ignore the fullstops they are to make up for the spaces being removed

in this first picture the x's represent the end of your wick so you just make a loop with your wick

--------------------
|................. |
---------xx---------


then you wrap you loop of wick on like you would normally wrap on the strip of wick with the ends joining in contact with the stick. so you then wrap the wick around

so kinda like
...---
./ ---\
///xx\\\
|||ss|||
|||ss|-
||\- |
\\ .||
.\\-//
..\--

hope that sort of makes it clearer, if not i can ask if i can write a section on it and upload it to the site.

the point of hte glue is so that when you drop the stick the ends dont fray. so you only need to put it on hte very very edge 2 inches is way way way to much you want it like

so your stick looks like
_____________
|............|___________________
|.................................
|.................................
|.................................
|............_____________________
|____________|

you want glue
x____________
x............|___________________
x.................................
x.................................
x.................................
x............_____________________
x____________|
x

there is no point putting it further along as it wont fray there when the stick is dropped

hope that is a little clearer

grrrrrr it looks so different, click to post a reply and copy my pictures into the message box and it will show up properly

ben-ja-men, if you put your diagrams within code tags ([ code ] and [ /code ]), they show up properly. Examples...

code:

---

  

...--- 
./ ---\ 
///xx\\\ 
|||ss|||
|||ss|- 
||\- |
\\ .|| 
.\\-// 
..\-- 

_____________
|............|___________________
|.................................
|.................................
|.................................
|............_____________________
|____________|



x____________
x............|___________________
x.................................
x.................................
x.................................
x............_____________________
x____________|
x

---

Ta da!

ahhhhh well wicked thanx for enlightening me

Graduate to "cathedral"-style wicks . The construction usually allows for all ends to be tucked under and glued. On another note, a gentleman who joined our performance group had tube-cores and they went out too fast and weren't that bright. The only "advantage" seemed to be that they were lighter and you could wrap more wick on mor easily.
I've only had one pair of wicks fray badly before 6-8 months or so, and that was because i did not leave enough wick tucked under in the "cathedral"-style.

MJ
Flamma Aeterna

cathedral is fine for poi but kinda hard to do with staff...

I saw some others talking about staves, but did not realize that was the main issue. Now that you mention it, it makes more sense.

I think the double-up and fold-under ideas are good. I personally prefer to double-up before wrapping, so it leaves a rounded edge.

MJ
Flamma Aeterna

Whe you say double-up, do you mean the just the final end of the wick like I do or do you fodl thwe whole length in half?

Suddenly I think i might start doing the whole length now too, as it might help prevent the wick from unwrapping when the qicking gets old.

The whole length is what I am talking about. Your attachment method is going to be more secure that way, than if you fold it just some inches. I've had good results folding 1/16" wick in half. I use a thicker/spongier kevlar blend that doesn't bend as well at 1/8", so I have not used that "doubled-up" on itself around a staff.

MJ
Flamma Aeterna