Fire poi made completely out of kevlar

Picture of the new set, unburnt, in my gallery

Testing this weekend (weather permitting):

http://www.homeofpoi.com/gallery/showpho...=500&page=1

They're rather yummy, i look forward to playing with them

whats with the black handle bits? what are they made of?

Bit of sock with a ball in- sock could be white, balls could be glowy- they're big so they are nice and predictable for wibbles- the weight alos makes them a bit more forgiving and properly offsets the weight of the soaked wick.

hmmm, but when the inevitable happens and the handle is catches fire, it'll perish pretty fast.

i like the fact with the whole kevlar ones that if a handle goes up, you can just stomp on it a couple of times then pick it up and carry on spinning. But if there are socks then they'll be a bit smouldery and falling-aparty

yehas thats true- Its been a while and i haven't played with fire for ages, though i did wibble a tester one of these the other day and didn't have any probs, despite dropping them a few times.. I guess i could always get some kevlar wrist guards and use those as the sock...

How did you drop yours BTW? I know you don't throw (at least you never used to?)

they look really nice.
when i soak them how can i stop the fuel from travelling up the rope?

I was looking into that a while ago but never got around to properly testing out my plan (using kevlar string to help stop the fuel wicking up the rope).

At the moment though, you've just got to make sure you don't soak them for ages - just long enough to fill the heads with fuel but not long enough for it to wick up the rope as well.
Obviously only dipping the heads into the fuel helps with that, although it has been known for people to throw the whole lot into the fuel bucket - you've got to watch for that or someone's going to end up with warm hands

theorising wildly here, but aren't there flame retardent solutions (that set so you don't have to do it too regulally but don't solidify like glue stopping the rope moving), you could soak carefully into handles and let it flow up the rope a bit, stopping before the head obviously.
Then the rope would have hopefully hit it's absorbency limits and not take up too much fuel.

after short google, something like : http://www.natfire.com/flamex.html or http://www.dharmatrading.com/featured_products/frtqt.html

but you'd have to have separate handles, or covers, or maybe there's a version that's less of a skin irritant out there.

Certainly worth some more research,California banned PBDE's (Poly-Brominated Diphenyl Ethers, according to 2nd link) contained in some retardant liquids, so that's worth avoiding for a start I'm sure.

It may not have to be fire retardent, simply not flammable itself, as long as it helps prevent the rope soaking up the fuel, the kevlar itself is plenty retardant enough.

I'd search more but it's time for sleep

I did look into that a while back Yakumo- my concern was that it might make the ropes properties different and thus actually weaken the material as it was exposed to heat.

In other news, I had my first burn with them last night- a bit different to what I'm used to, but they felt absolutely brilliant- wibbles and throws were predictable and beautifullly weighted with the heads dipped and lit

Video was taken, so that should be up by the end of the weekend (like I'm going to edit in the day when the weather is like this! )

No, I never bother soaking them for ages before the first burn.
I'm not going to go into any detail because there are a fair few posts dotted around here that talk about it, but I've never found that it helps.

Soaking the other end in water probably would work, but then you'd end up with a very soggy pair of poi

I just tied a couple of knots in the end of mine, rather than making sock + ball handles and they work find for me. I don't throw or wibble mine though so I don't need perfectly balanced poi, I just want something to hold on to

First test spin vid is up, get it here:

http://www.homeofpoi.com/ubbthreads/show...ll/fpart/1/vc/1

No problems so far

ace vid
already said as much in it's own thread

fantastic looking poi, hope they last you a good long while, I've still got Bov's here, doh.

They the hangmans noose ones?
Those ones are *really* nice

Bov's ones? yeah, haven't been spinning them, wouldn't want them to deteriorate.

where can i find instructions on making that knot?

I don't know what it is called- I sort of made it up- its basically a single strand, laid in such a way so that yiou can then braid through it.

I'll show you at play if you bring some rope?

sure, thanks

I've just uploaded a pic of my new snakes (see gallery) although I must say I would have done it differently if I had seen yours first Chutney, very nice indeed. There are also some pics of my new monkey fists with rope handles, I need to shorten the chains slightly but they throw very nicely so far. Since taking those pics i have put copious amounts of PVA glue on the knots to stop them slipping.

Motley

I made a pair of all kevlar fire poi, there's a picture in my gallery

picture

Not bad

Maybe a little short? (hard to judge)
That knot you have is 2/3s the way to the one I tied I think- your way offsets it to one side, min makes the knot wide and flat- you pays ya money etc etc

Compare notes at Play then (and play safe in the meantime- don't store them dipped )

they are a little short, but I like it that way, i dont have to shorten them at all while spinning, and i can do buzzsaw throws.

How are they new toys working for you Poiboy? Good/ Bad experiences so far?