A different kind of spark

Ok, so everyone knows about Steel wool and all that stuff... and the inherrent dangers and such.

Well it's not good enough for small areas, or wraps, or other cool things we could be doing with it.

So I've been talking to some pyrotechniques guys about different alternative options. I thought about using some sort of fireworks, but have been told this might not be a good idea without significant;y more protective equipment than I was thinking.

Then someone suggested "Pine Charcoal". Rather easy to make: you take scraps of pine 2x4 or something and put it in a paintcan with some holes punched in the lid, and slap it on a grill until smoke stops coming out the holes. Ta-da, pine charcoal.

Which is used in making black powder and some stuff like that when combined in powder form and such... anyone want to get into pyrotechniques?

But we aren't doing that... Just using these lumps of charcoal in some kind of mesh cage as say poi, or on the ends of a staff, would create floating sparks that would be quite cool and wouldn't present NEARLY the damaging ability that Steel wool does, and would allow for wraps, exploding spark showers from sudden impacts, etc. that would still be relatively safe. It is also self burning from what I can gather thus far (we're in the baby-stages of development here). Though I suppose you might be able to add on some fuel if your really looking for some kind of flame... don't know...

I just thought I'd share.

I'm going to make some here very soon and try it. The one thing that I am NOT exactly sure of what to do is the fabrication of the mesh cage. You almost want a sack or bag with holes just big enough to allow for the charcoal to filter out, but isn't pointy or hard so you can do wraps, etc. I'm thinking of a steel mesh of some sort. I'll ask how big of holes would be necessary for this, but does anyone have any good ideas? Steel wool type contraptions might be able to be modified for this, but for the propper effect I'm looking for I don't think any kind of Steel wool contraptions I have SEEN will work as is...

The guy I'm working with tried it and sent me a video. Put the pine charcoal in a 1/4" steel mesh improvised bag on the end of a rope. The effect was quite a bit less extravegant than Steel wool, however still gives a similar effect. When it hits something (say a wrap) it sprays out an explosion of sparks.

I believe it is self burning. I will clear that up in my next correspondance with him. If the structure of the charcoal can be made to break up easier, it should give an effect closer to Steel wool, but things wont be shooting 50 feet. Maybe 10-20, and they are quite safe, meaning this stuff is great for areas that are more crowded than Steel wool will allow.

In ADDITION and I can't stress this enough, cause it's awsome, the danger of being burned is very much lower than Steel wool. You can wrap them. He sent me a video, where he tested it hitting his bare foot (bare skin). It seemed to be hot, but he said it was NOT that bad, probably very similar to our regular wraps. Combine that with some kind of clothing for basic skin protection, and these are bound to be real fun...

Concerning your cage...

How about modify the tube in a tube core poi head to be a cage...

Where the tube is normally open on the ends just insert some mesh material to keep it inside the tube. possible way to keep the mesh from flying off would be to join the mesh on either end of the tube with a length of wire. This wire would be under the kevlar of the poi head and could be hooked and unhooked from the mesh to allow refilling.

make sence?

Mmm... I see two problems...

1. there are screws going through there, and they screw into wood in the middle... or at least there are screws going through there

2. The charcoal itself burns, like a ball of fire. I believe this is necessary to spit out the sparks, as there is no excellerant (fuel) to do so otherwise.

I think I definitly need some kind of bag for this. Gonna try making some simple ones out of steel mesh. I am looking around right now for prefab mesh balls. Tea strainers, sort of, but with larger mesh, around 1/4" holes or so, should do...

----<Apologies for the edit, lets keep all ideas as safe as possible people... >---

---<edited by Charles>--- the safety equipment you need is: a gas mask (not very expensive), safety glasses or sunnies, and a beanie. It's best to not have much skin showing because the sparks can sting, but they won't kill you. You won't be able to do very technical moves though. Just tape the <edited> to the end of your staff.

Anyways your cage idea sounds interesting, let me know how it goes. I was thinking, it always look good after someone has finished twirling and just after the fire goes out they're twirling smoke for a few seconds. maybe you could make something that emits smoke?

The way i see it, if you're twirling in close proximity to others, fire does the trick just fine. If not, go all out with <edited>. There isn't really a need for anything in between.

Smoke grenades?

It's an effect though. How man I put this...

Have you ever lit both ends of a stick, a wooden stick, on fire and spun it? It gives off red hot embers that kind of float around you. It would be similar to this but more intense. No need for a gas mask, or even much protective clothing. I wouldn't even want to do Steel wool without protective clothing... and no nasty metal shavings in everything (the reason I wont do SW anymore).

The <edited> still sound cool though, and I was looking at something like that before this. I still want to play with it, too, but one thing at a time...

The <edited> method looks the bomb!

But this pine charcol souund awesome. Get some pics of it next chance you get

While it is dangerous, it has been done to awesome effect. See it here.

One of the comments in that gallery mentions that imakokode was the one who brought them. Before you do anything, I recomend PMing him for details and suchlike.

Actually, there was someone out of Seatle that I had contacted about fireworks for this... I forget who, but I have their message in my old PM list. They actually donned full fire protective suits (and jumping stilts!) and did it, which was pretty cool. But too much for me really.

I don't think anyone in my group would be stupid enough to do it without the gas mask, but they might do it without other protective clothing... but either way, that is not the effect we're going for right now. Maybe for 4th of July next year or something we'll monkey with that.

I will try and get pictures up once I do a test burn. I need to make some pine charcoal first. However, if you want to know what the effect looks like, go watch the Pa-li-tchi videos. I believe they are using the same stuff, as it looks identical in all respects to our tests thus far...

==

On a side note I made a few prototypes of containment cages. I used 1/4" steel mesh, which I bent into a tube, and sealed one end by cutting and bending the sides inward, and secured the whole thing together with some steel wire. I bent everything inward so that there are no sharp parts. They are pretty wicked actually, and I think would work for Steel wool, though once of my partners thinks otherwise... Another thing to test perhaps, and then Ill send along explicite directions with pictures of the basket construction.

Good to know. Ive been trying to figure out what Pa-li-tchi was using and I had a feeling it was some sort of charcoal but Im glad you got it pinned. Im gonna try to make some eventually.

I think if you made a tube cage out of some sturdy chicken wire type stuff you could make what I was talking about.

make a cylindrical cage 1-1.5" in diameter with a flap on the bottom that is secured by wire or something. Begin making the tube/core type poi but stitch one end to the cage itself, roll it up and stich the loose end back to the poi. use kevlar thread. Now you have normal poi with a cage in the middle. You can fill the cage with your pinecoal and any mild contact should send embers out the cage...

That might work, but is too complicated for the effect Im personally looking for. The burning charcoal gives off it's own flame that shouldn't require a regular poi head (I think... still gotta try this...). I know it flames up, just don't know how much / how bright, etc. I gotta get together some scrap wood and make some charcoal now...

Oh, a note too... don't use pressure treated pine for making charcoal. Nasty arsinic fuems and all that. It will stay on fire and give off flame itself without fuel.

whatever happend to this train of thought??? did it work?

wow it does work. made some chicken wire cages and filled em with quick lighting sheesha coals. as long as u give them time to light properly before "bashing" them that they work brilliantly. altho it does need to be pretty dark to get the full effect.

SWEEEET.

I'm now trying to find somewhere that sells BBQ coal in the middle of winter, or a large amount of sheesha coal.

im gona be taking them to a fire walking night to do a bit or informal performance. so will get some pics of what iv got.

SWEEEEEEET!!!!!!!!!!

chack that out. the first half is just coal and the second half is coal and fire wicks witch looks a lot nicer.

only did 3btweve and butterfly turns cos i was scared of hitting my self. but as ull see i hit the back of my leg anyway (lol) and my trousers are fine, not even black.

That looks amazing! So much nicer than Steel wool... Got any pictures of the heads?