Making a set of Buugeng (s-staves)??? Please Help

Unless you're making it for profit I don't think there's any problem with trying to make your own props. If kev can't afford one then Dai isn't losing any potential profit, and as long as he doesn't try to produce them from profit himself I can't see anything wrong with that.

As has already been pointed out, depending on your woodworking skills they'll not be the same quality (or even vaguely similar in shape or profile) so you'll want to upgrade eventually anyway.

Hundreds of people make their own props, it means you can have something unique, that's exactly as you want it (or at least close), and not have to pay as much.

That said, anyone who can afford them should buy em, and much respect to Dai for the effort they must have taken.

I agree completly with GT04. If you're not planning on selling them, by all means make the things I say.

Yes making and designing your own similar set seems fine to me but asking for people to reveal the technical detail that were probably worked on for a long time and give instructions on a public forum isn't fair.

They look more like two grass-hooks nailed by handle, but for higher plant,
each one s-steve is from one piece wood sliced on half. They have two
flat magnets to lock the handles.

--------------------------------------------

This is not instruction how to, this is only and only
highlighting of technical improvement.

do not replicate buugeng,

:R

So I now seem to get the

Correct me if I'm wrong:

Buugeng are S-Staff and have the difference that they appear like two sickels, joined together at the handles. The major difference to S-Staffs is the blade-like appearance of the two ends...

Question to those with (professional) experience (and who had them in their hands already), like you George: What exactly - apart from the name - you reckon can legally be copyrighted on this one?

Don't get me wrong please, I'm all for intellectual property, licensing, etc. and I don't favour 1:1 copies. Out of my personal experience I know what it takes to make a good and solid toy: It takes so much work, time, expertise, material and quality tools, that by the time you copied/ made your own, you could have just as well purchased it from the (original) manufacturer.

The one reason why some are able to make a (small) margin on some products/ toys is that they have the routine to make good quality products, buy material in bulk or mass produce them cheaply in China...

You can copy ones design 1:1 and live with the knowledge that by doing so so just diminished some heroes chance to survive by his own means - but you made it yourself... great.

My suggestion is that you either: improve or alter the design to a degree that makes it ... a unique design, something new.

It's like... copying the name of this website and registering it on a different extension... = ethically questionable and bound to fail under the laws of Karma.

Hence I am very much for development. Like "open source" for Vista or MS Office...

And now, after viewing the vid: they are amazingly beautiful... Dai you did a great job! Congratulations

So let me get this right: Dai got inspired by Moschen to design Buugeng?

Is that what it is? Enlighten me...

Honestly I just took a two by four and drew the general shape on it. Jig saw and sand. And Buuneng are not really his idea. They've been in use far longer than all of us have been alive. Aboriginals, remember? He's the one to popularize the set. Also, I've seen a couple of sites selling the same style. If anything, you should get mad at them.

Where have you found other s-shaped staves for sale? I haven't seen any other than the Buugeng for sale. I love the folding design Dai has and am happy to wait for the restock, but Im always curious to see what other makers are coming up with.

Frozeninferno, I am interested - how pronounced are the curves on your s-staves?

I'm not certain that we're all on the same page here, mate. Growing up in Australia, I've never really read about indigenous Australians performing waistwraps with hinged s-staves.

The two-by-four wood that you took - how did you jigsaw an s-shape with a straight piece of wood?

I easily bored with the direction that many 'exotic' firetoys take - I'm of the belief that Dai's creation constitutes genuine innovation.

Even if he did take the idea from Aboriginals

I'm also curious about what aboriginal item is simialar to the Buugeng and used in the same way. It kinda looks slightly like two boomerang stuck together but they were used for throwing and would not work if you stuck two of them together.

Well - triple that curiosity on Aboriginal origins of Buugeng...

Anyway I do believe that Dai made a wonderful design - just by looking at the pictures. Beautiful curves. And this is where I see a unique development from the S-curved staff that Moschen was and the rest of us are using...

Whereas the 'traditional handling' has got nothing to do with anything, as IMO 'slide didjes' are a unique invention too - even though it's one of the oldest instruments known to man.


If Buugeng are collapsible and still stable then it's a very nice feature in addition. In the past, staff have been collapsible OR stable (after a few drops however).

And if Dai has blended S-curves and Boomerangs - THAT IS a unique and genuine invention... IMHO

Thus I feel - only from what I have heard so far - that Buugeng is unique and therefore should definitely not be copied for commercial resale - unless there is a significant, unique development from Dai's Buugeng...