Staff-Weight-Contact

Hi.

This is my first posting in this forum. Sorry for my bad english; I'm German... ;-)

I began playing with a staff about three weeks ago.

Last week I made my own staff. I't an aluminium tube with wood inside. 14cm Kevlar on both sides (1,5m each side)

First my staff had a length of 1,7m (5,6feet) and it was just too heavy. (about 1,4kg= 3pound). Well today I cut about 30cm off and it still has 1,15kg (2,5Pound).

So, this seems just too heavy for a staff that's just 1,4m (4,6feet).

What weight do your staffs have?

I'm trying some contact right now and my staff seems way to heavy.

I'm thinking about buying a "professional" staff like this one:

http://www.mystec.de

(it's a three parts staff, that is cool for transportation. BTW do you think this construction is weak or might cause problems like instability?)

This mystec staff has a middle part that is thicker than the end parts. The thick middle part is about 50cm (1,6feet).

Ahm, quite stupid question but I don't have much experience:

Is it still possible or recommended to do contact with a staff that has a thicker middle part?

Well, that's an important question for me right now, because I don't want to spend 130 bugs for a staff I won't use because I get hooked on contact.

Thanks and regards from the snow covered Berlin
Fritz ;-)

First off, your english seems just fine to me!

Second, there is a slight flaw in your staff design which is making it too heavy. You dont need wood running through the whole thing. All you need is one piece in each end, about as long as your wicks are wide (14cm). This way, your staff ends are capped with wood but it leaves the middle hollow, reducing the weight. Doing that should get the weight to around 500 - 600 grams.

As for the staff youre looking to buy, it looks very nice. I cant speak from experience as Ive never used or even seen that type before. It looks expensive though and I would suggest working with what you have first before you go blowing a wad of dough on a fancy shmancy doohicky. Aluminum tubes have been used successfully for years, dont see why you would need a staff with a "glass fibre spine" In fact, I think the thick center part would hinder your contact work slightly.

Hi.

Thank you very much for your quick response.

This posting has two parts:

1. Some blubbering about my al staff
2. Request for further opinion about the mystec staff concerning contact


Part 1

Ok, I don't think the staff would become very lighter with wooden core just in the ends of both sides.

Perhaps I've used the wrong Aluminium.

I made some further measuring using spare parts for the calculations:

My 1,4m al staff with wooden core and wicks (kevlar) weights 1,15kg.

My 1,4m al staff with wooden core without wicks (kevlar) weights 820g.

(So the Wicks with screws etc. weight 320g.)

My 1,4m al staff without wooden core and without wicks weights 500g.

My 1,4m al staff with wooden core just at the ends (20cm) without wicks would weight 660g.

My 1,4m al staff with wooden core just at the ends with wicks would weight 980g.

(That seems to be right, because if I get rid of 1m wood I would save 200g)

So 980g is still too much (especially when spinning with fire, because it becomes even heavier with fuel)

OT:my new iPod Mini just arrived with TNT from Shanghai. Way cool. ;-)

Ok, well, I gave the al construction some thought and also looked for titanium tubes. A titanium tube (1,7m) would cost me 35 Euro. That's quite ok, but I read that Titanium is even heavier than Aluminium and doesn't stand temperature that well. (check wikipedia.org)

Part 2

Ok, why am I writing all this stuff:

I just need a staff without any further construction thinking, nights in front of the notebook reading articles about material and so on.

I anyone could tell me that the mystec staff will be ok for contact or at least might me modified (e.g. taping the staff so it becomes as thick as the middle part) to be ok it would be really nice. ahm ;-)

Thanks
Fritz

i've got really light contact staffs and really really heavy conact staffs and even a medium one.

try out a few different designs and one of them is bound to work for you.

nuthin wrong with a really heavy stick , even if its just for practise. think of yer muscles

and making them is much more fun than buying them

my faave sticks are

a pair of light 1,5m ali staffs. 20mm tube with a 1.5mm wall. Dowel in each end and about 2ft of 100mm wick at each end.

a heavy 1.5m stick made form 22mm tube with a 2mm wall and dowel running all the way through it.

all of my staffs have my favorite grip on it. which took me an age to find.

Hi.

What weight do your staffs have?

I used kitchen scales to weigh mine.

Kind Regards
Fritz

my staff is 3/4 in. diameter aluminum. its 5 ft long and has about 4 in. of wood in each end. i have 4 in. kevlar wicks on it and it cant weigh more than 2 pds. most staff spinners find it a little light. it works for me though. as far as contact with a raised center, ive never tried it. ive read that it can be a hinderance though. it catches and pushes or pulls the staff in irregular directions. makes sense i guess. my advice is to make a practice staff with a raised grip and try it. that way you havent layed down a bunch of dosh for something that isnt going to work for you.

Its an easy question. Not too heavy and not too light.

Mine is 1" aluminum (or maybe 3/4" I don't know...) with wood dowel through the whole thing and 8 inchs of wicking on each end (That is, two 4" wide strips on each end... about 1 foot per strip). Some consider it heavy. I think its perfect for contact. Anything heavier would be a little hard to swing around for some stuff (for me anyway). I don't know how heavy it is, but I would guess at a few pounds probably close to 2.5 lbs.

Hi.

Thank you for your response so far.

I'm in contact with the maker of the mystec staffs right now and he said he could make me a a special model.

Let's see.

BTW:

Here is an online metric calculator. (I know some better ones, but they are on german websites and you folks don't want to learn german, do you? )

http://www.metric-conversions.org/conversion-calculators.htm

Now you can convert my kg to your pounds

Cheers
Fritz