Question about my monkey fist heads...

I purchased some 2.5" monkey fists from HOP about two months ago and have since burned them for about 3 sessions, with an average of 6 or 7 burns per session. I was spinning them today, unlit, and noticed a lot of degredation on the rope near where the loop to connect it to my quick link. It's a tiny bit frayed, but what I'm most worried about is it changed from the normal blackened-char color to a metal-like silver with a bit of white cotton fray. I burned my tube cores 200+ times, and never experienced anything like that.

Anyone with monkey fists experienced this? I'm a bit worried they might be breaking or I'm doing something wrong, but I know I take care of my wicks very well. Heeeelp!

yeah wierd that, innit.. I had the exactly the same thing happen to me fire ropes and I came to the conclusion it was because I hadn't been soaking them in fuel properly... but after seeing this post it seems more likely that kevlar rope just cant hack it cause I only used them a few times over a month or so and they went a very shiny silver near the heads and broke up into fraying pieces I say we're being ripped off cause this kevlar rope sh:t int cheap

the same happened to my heads

I can't say for sure what's happening to you guys' heads, but I know my first set of cathedral heads are completely silver on the top from rubbing against the NPS ball chain. I don't know if your heads are ever rubbing against the chain or not, as i don't know your skill level, but that's my experience. As for the fraying, I have no idea if that's indicative of rapid deterioration or if they will last just as long.

Dark Poet seems to like the Monkey Fists, maybe he has an experience/observation to share about this.

The only way I could see my ballchain rubbing against my hads is during hyperloops and aurwraps, but they rarely actually touch the chain, that is only if I'm doing buzzsaw orbitals or something similar. I'm getting worried that after a few more months I won't be able to safely spin them with an audience

Any other crazy monkey fisters with insight?

What you should be experiencing here is damage to the rope wick due to the heat buildup in the metal hardware that touches it. This can be avoided by putting wick (insulation, essentially) around the hardware, but, then, that wick would need to be replaced eventually. This is normal, and I would not worry too much unless you are noticing damage to the fiberglass core of the rope. However, the "heat limit" of the fiberglass is much greater than that of the kevlar blend outer braid, so I do not think you should experience any problems.

MJ
Flamma Aeterna

holy sh|t i live in dallas too..oooh pm me m8..yeah all wicks will degrade over time, your supposed to replace them every 6 months or so
expensive habits no?
and yes...i love my monkies

Yeah, I don't burn terribly often, but I;ve been practicing like a madman lately, so my wicks are getting some wearon them they probably shouldn't, still haven't made the practice poi I keep telling myself I'm going to make.

On a side note, I've got some Monkies on the way from someone else in this thread myself I'm not worried about their longevity, I think that kevlar rope is probably pretty stout stuff. There may be some deterioration, but i doubt what you're experiencing will make them unsafe anytime soon.

And Darkpoet, check your PM's por favor.

i bought mine several months ago and the exact same thing happened. silver showing on the very top of the knot (not directly against the hardware). i think there could be chain wear, because i still tangle frequently and the heads rub as i disentangle. i guess the rope is just a different animal than the wicking.

I kill monkey fist wicks consistantly within a few weeks / months. Cores pull out, metal wire loops snap, they come undone for no reason. Oh and the wear on the top is universal. Mine actually burn through to that point fairly quickly, but not to worry, they will really last for a long time even frayed like that. Well, long for me anyway... Its never been the fraying that has killed a monkey's fist for me... always the other problems inherent in these wicks.

None the less, I hate cathedrals. Refuse to use them. They get all tangled up realy bad during air wraps and I hate that so much. Havn't tried tube core, think I'll have to give those a shot sometime.

Apparently, it's the metal loop itself that's wearing the kevlar down as it moves around during spinning.

According to this, the design's been changed - they've now got eyebolts instead of the wire loop.

Hmm... I'm glad I got mine before they changed design. Those metaly bits tend to get quite hot and burn during wraps, and prevent you from getting the nice "snap back" with the loops. I'm sure Malcolm was just getting too many returns with the old design, due to the wear? Oh well. I'm buying Cathedrals next time anyway.

I have been spinning for a little more than two years. In that time I have destroyed 8 sets of monkey fist heads. Three due to unwrapping, which has been fixed. Three due to the core pulling out, which may or may not have been fixed because the last two have died due to the attachment method failing. The first one was the steel wire. These break. I have broken them on monkeys fists, cathedrals, and multiple tennis ball practice poi I've made. The last one was one of the version offered here now. Broke the eye bolt on the FIRST NIGHT I used it.

I don't trust monkey fists anymore. I don't trust cathedrals anymore. I only trust tube core, and IMO they are better than the other logistically anyway.

My 2 cents...

Im a little disapointed..

I thought this thread was about Monks.

On the board overview it says
"Question about my monk.."

Same here, how you using these? I had the original HoP monkey fist design and the rope did fray around the metal and Malcolm's told me that they found a way to fix that. However, with quite a bit of use lit and unlit, and a lot of travelling, wraps and catches, mine lasted 8 months.

I do do a lot of wraps. In particular I do a lot of air wraps, which sometimes tangle and get pulled apart. But they still shouldn't be breaking like this. That's why I'm switching to tube core. I really am not all that hard on the things (at least not from my point of view). I used to just break ball chain, so I switched to dog chain. Havn't broke that yet, but I keep eating heads left and right. I mean I killed this last set in ONE NIGHT. That alone amazes me to no end.

When I spin, I SPIN (usually 10-15 burns a session), which I guess may be a bit excessive to some of you. I do tend to spin kinda fast and hard, with lots of wraps. I just don't feel that they should be breaking THAT fast though. I think pulling apart tangled air wraps would put the most stress on the things, but I'm not THAT rough on em.

the main reason I was gonna buy monkies was for doing multiple wraps - with them being round and non-metal youd have thought theyd be all about that..

Yes, I don't trust the eye bolts that are that small anymore either. The wire breaks off, actually, right where it enters the poi head (read: ya know that little crimpy thing that secures those wires together? Right underneith that thing). Even if you doubled it up, I'd think it would still wear through.

Here's the thing: I always thought that monkey fist knots worked by getting tighter as you pull on the rope that it is made out of. However, all of the designs I have seen rely on some kind of attachment to the CORE, not the rope. If there were a way to attach to the end of the ROPE a connector of sorts, I believe the design would be much more secure (IE it wouldn't pull apart or have the core pulled out of it, and the connector could be bigger and stronger). That being said, I've been trying to figure out a good way to do this with no ideas coming out of it yet.