Sticky stick grips

That's such a cunning plan! The polycarbonate tube is actually the centre-shaft from my flowtoys staff (I hope sean doesn't mind!). So your friend sanded the staff first? That seems to suggest the staffs' lights weren't diffused enough with just the silicone on its own... i guess making the outer surface rough would help the silicon stick to the polycarb. How did your friend stop the silicon dripping out the bottom end of the tubes as the outer tube was pulled up? Thanks for the tip sandy!

(My previous idea before reading this thread was to enclose a lot of sharp sand inside the tube, and shake it lots, to get a uniform diffusion on the inside of the tube) ... kinda manual sandblasting!)

Silicone isnt that runny and if you pull the outer tube up slowly it will stick to the staff quite happily.

Happy building

Waaaaay back when I still was into casemodding I found this article on some kind of grip stuff. http://www.metku.net/index.html?path=mods/supergrip/index_eng

I have not been able to find it in a store.... Although a quick google search did turn up this page: http://www.classicint.nl/textned/plastidip.htm
I would love to try it out on my next staff. Sounds good.

For now, its innertubing wrapped around old bedsheets (like a condom, not hockeystick style), then tied off ends with leukoplast. This is a kindof bandaid tape sportspeople use, also called sportstape in Holland. Its white and you can buy it at sporting stores, people use it to tape off blisters or a sprung ankle and the kero doesn't disolve the glue as eaily as electrical tape in my experience.

Yeah I've got some plastidip. Hard to use, since it's very very bad for you if you breath it in. (Not only carcinogenic, oh no! also can cause damage to your unborn baby) Also, you would have to find a way to 'dip' the middle of your staff, or spray coat it many many times.

It's not particularly grippy I found... but I never got around to do many layers... I think it would be better to stick a layer of grit on the staff and then spray the rubber over the top. (many times) to add grip.

Many many years ago, and in a galaxy far away, a fire performer called Gora was said to use a rubber compound on the end of his staffs, right next to the wick, to insulate against the heat, so that he wouldn't be burned by the metal there. It burned off eventually, but he just replaced it. I don't know, I haven't tested the veracity of that story with Plasti Dip.

Also, Plasti Dip makes a product called "super grip" or spray on grip or something. I've got some of that too. Same toxicity. And yeah it is grippy. I used it on bare metal, just to test it out. It made it feel like you'd sprayed on glue and it was tack dry. But then you rubbed your hands and there wasn't any residue on them. Weird stuff. I'm not sure if it lasts or whatnot, cos I donated that staff to a friend shortly after. I definately think it's good stuff for use on top of other grips... to make them extra grippy for a short while. Grippy to the point of sticking to you.

had a look on the plasti dip site and the super grip stuff looks pretty awesome, may get some to experiment with and possibly add it to my concentrate staffs as they're not the grippiest things. May also try using it with some non-fire staffs to make them grippy all the way along.

Yeah be careful when you experiment. These are very toxic chemicals. You should use them only outdoors, away from people, and with a decent safety mask. When they say it can harm your unborn baby, and it's a carcinogen... it means it's pretty dangerous stuff.

Yeah, Will do, have a couple of masks I can use, Though may see about using the fume cupboards at college, they seem rather handy when dealing with carcinogens.

sounds tricky stuff.. although I don't think yoni will lose his baby unless he's been fibbing a lot the laast couple of years

Hey all.
I didn't want to pollute the boards with another New Topic... so I thought I'd post this here.

Bit of a silly question.

I've decided to purchase some hockeystick tape for the grip of my fire staff, as the tennis grip I have at the moment only covers a very small part of the staff - and this apparntly isn't good for contact.

But I don't know what stuff to get.

http://www.crazykennys.com/acatalog/Products_Stick_Tape_etc_70.html

At first I thought it was the "Stick Tape - Large"
But then I scrolled down and saw the last one; "Grip Tape - White"

You can see a difference in texture if you look closely, and so it left me a little confused as to which I should get!

What tape would you suggest?

The grip tape is that stuff which is kinda feathurey. Not very sticky, but it good for spinning. I.E good if you don't want to do contact too much.

I do want to do contact...
So I take it I get the "Stick Tape" ?

Thanks for your help.

no you don't.

That's ice hockey tape. I always refer to hockey tape to mean hockey tape, for hockey sticks. It's much fatter, more cushiony and more like squash / tennis / badminton racquet grip tape.

I've tried thin fabric like tape out that looks like some of the tapes on that site, but it wasn't great for contact. I was a noob back then thou, so I needed good grip on my staff.

Thou obviously I haven't tried specific ice hockey tape out as grip, so it could be magically good... In my opinion it would be better to get a couple of fat racguet tape grips and try them out for a while. Try out lots of grip's till you find one you like.

Okie dokie,
Thanks for clearing that up, I didn't realise there was a difference between ice-hockey stick tape, and just hockey stick tape.

I'll go around town and hunt down lots of grips to try out as you suggest.

And I'll also keep hunting for this fatter/cushiony hockey tape you speak of. :-\

it's like, hockey, on grass with shorter wooden sticks and a spherical ball. Y'know, that kinda hockey.

mr mattbassman has a 1cm wide strip of ice hockey grip on his aerotech and it's still sticky to the touch after about 2 years! I can actually do some nice contact with it as it's only a tiny strip in the middle it doesn't really block light as your hand blocks more

Field Hockey.


I dont think you can go wrong with tennis grip. Ive tried the expensive stuff and the cheap stuff. Cheap stuff doesnt last as long but other then that there isnt really a difference. also if you want cusionier(word?) grip some come with foam on the underside. i liek the tennis grip because its made to absord sweat and moisture.

why not just to use leather?
using it for both contact and doubles

ive used bike innertubes since i made my first stick 6 years ago, has always done me fine grip wise, am sorely temped by the firetoys gear though silicone is the way to go i reckon.
I coated a practice staff in silicone a few years ago, i found it was itrritant and peeled off really badly,
Ive seen Silicone stuck on the outside of aerotechs too, long time ago mind.

surf wax is good tho, a fine coating of Mr Zoggs on the grip and super sticky contact tricks literally stick to you skin (or shirt ect) greta for pulling off tricks, not so good for keeping you clothes not covered in wax!

the silicone grips rip the hair off your body.. and are quite hard not good for catching on the wrists from fishtail throws.

some moves require you to slide the center of your staff to a new position. Matrix propellors being one. If you have a staff that's so grippy it won't slide, it'll be very difficult to do the movements that require it. I wouldn't use something actually 'sticky' for a grip on a contact staff.