Oval chain cords vs wire...

Hi there,
I just did a search, but most discussions were about ball chains...
I like to see your opinions. It´s time for a new pair of poi chains and I think of getting me wire instead of chain. Any experience with that? Anyone? What about SAFETY? Has anyone see a wire fail? (I´m gonna buy some here on this site! No more self-made experiments...too many kids around in the audience - and burnable tents ...!!)
The other one I like (thats about what I got now) is the 3mm twist oval chain cords. But mine aren´t welded, so I like the safety aspect of those I can get here
I don´t like ball chains, no matter how good they maybe are...but I don´t trust them . I can never be sure if there is no frizz inside a ball..and if it will make my poi fly off into the people... I can live pretty good with burning myself...but I don´t have the money or insurance to pay if others get burned or worse!
Hope to hear some ideas!!! Come on !!

Chains every time Wire is quite restrictive, in my opinion. Plus it kinks.. = bad

I'm only a fire-newbie (2 fire swings), so don't trust me... but I can't imagine my firepoi with something else than a steel cable.

It's 2mm thick, highly adjustable (just unscrew the 'clips'), strong (afaik) and VERY light.

My first set of fire poi were cable.
- Once they've kinked they never quite spin right.
- They tear out hair if you wrap somewhere like your arms
- It doesn't take much to break a strand of cable. When that happens you're spinning around a broken piece of wire with 2 very sharp bits that can quite easily slice bits of you open.

Since I've spun with chains, there's no way that I'm going back to any poi made with cables. Not even if they were free.

done both, use chains... for the love of god, use chains... had a bad experience with an airwrap...

ballchain is my pref

ball\oval chains are the best... in a few words...
WIRES SUCK!!
It's very hard to do hyperloops/airwraps with them... and you can't do wraps with them... hurts alot (it can cut your skin...)... and I think they transfer heat if you do buzzsaws

Ditto to what the others have said. Your first choice should be ball chain or twisted oval link chain. If you are concerned about safety and longevity then the welded twisted oval link chain is the answer. Ball chain will last for months of spinning but after that it's anyones guess as to when they will fail. Twisted oval link chain is slightly more difficult for hyperloops and does not swivel as well as ball chain. It's basically a tradeoff between performance and observable dependability. Either way (ball chain or oval link) you will have the best poi chains for the job.

Thankyou!! So I´ll go again with oval link chains!! ...welded this time! Actually I fell in love with some I´ve seen on here, although they´re more than $ 60!! But looks like they are worth it!!
Take care!!

Even though you're determined not to make your own, I've got dog choker chain collars on mine, comes in various sizes and still welded and strong.. I'd only spin ballchain on practice poi but thats just because I'm paranoid of catastrophic failure with fire. Stick with the curb chain

Ive had the same ball chain for over a year now. and its tiny. the balls are about 2mm big.

and they are strong.


yes, they have broken when ive been using them, but only after I have accidentally hit one of them on the floor hard.

I love ball chain, and I would go exactly with Bovril on not even using wire cahin even if it was free.

There is also one other thing.

Whatever material you could buy that home of poi endorse (i guess if they sell it they endorse it) wether it be wires or chain or balls.
its going to be good for poi and the rest is up to personal preference.

My personal choice is Stainless steel oval chain. its strong, looks good and is nice and heavy the way i like it.

But please please please use quality equipment especially when working with fire. thats all i will say. at my local spin there are some people that have home made poi with cheep hardware store thin tiny chains with fishing swivels and otherbudget items.

I cannot stress this enough. You are working with FIRE please use good quality equipment and really you cant go wrong

That's like going rock climbing with the keychain carabiners..... Stupid, but where theres a way, stupid people will find it.

stainless steel ball chain is the only way to go....size dependant on head size.