Forums > Technical Discussion > Sparkly poi
Login/Join to Participatejourneyman
55 posts
Location: Cheltenham, England
Hello! Another new person!!
I wanted to thank Woody for his instructions on how to make the wire wool poi.
I made some on tuesday nite, and used them at our fire gathering. WOW!! i set lite to the sky!! V dangerous and v impressive!
Thank you!!!
ps sorry, i couldnt find the original thread.
99 posts
Location: Northampton, UK
hehe Thanks!
I can't find the thread I posted instructions in either. I have a digicamera now so I should really do some proper instuctions.....
Haven't been out for a wool burning for ages. Have been meaning to introduce the locals too it here in Northampton Just need the right occasion...
Keep burning that wire wool It's not (that) dangerous.
Luv and Lemons.WoodyMrs Jaypher said, 'It's saferIf you've lemons in your head;First to eat, a pound of meat,And then to go at once to bed.
6 posts
Location: Texas - US
Howdy Clarey x and woody!
I did find some past threads [no woody info though]. I would love your input to compare the info . Please Please Please
Would you mind sharing your method of construction?.
Here are the other posts with mention of directions for making:
https://www.homeofpoi.com/ubbcgi/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=7;t=000466
https://www.homeofpoi.com/ubbcgi/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=7;t=000174
I spent all morning drinking a pot of coffee running searchs just so peeps would not get annoyed with the sparkly issue coming up again.
How about an article being posted so that folks like me who want to build one of the silly things can refer to it.
GANKS
Dance is the symmetry of elegance in strength,
control in passion, and precision in motion
99 posts
Location: Northampton, UK
Hey surreal,
I've looked at both those threads, and I haven't yet tried the method of wrapping steel wool and some sort of wick together, I'll give it a try sometime soon to see what it's like. I have been using two chicken wire cages to hold the wire wool. I'll get a couple of photos tomorrow (I'm currently on night shifts until Tuesday). One burn uses about 250-500g of steel wool (I think... I just stuff it in..)
The best method I have found sofar for getting them lit is to use a staff. The nice big flame off the end is perfect for getting both the poi hot at the same time.
More details should follow tomorrow and I'll get some photos of the whole process next time I'm out burning.
Luv and Lemons.WoodyMrs Jaypher said, 'It's saferIf you've lemons in your head;First to eat, a pound of meat,And then to go at once to bed.
397 posts
Location: Brunswick, Ohio
Wow blast from the past.... Did I really write that?? Funny what 6 months of crappy weather can do.
Learned last night that airflow is a big part of what makes the steel wool burn. When wrapped around a wick the relase rate is slowed to nearly nothing because of the lack of air going though it. The more airflow the larger the display...
So by threading the pads onto a wire and twisting them up the air isn't slowed by anything and half of each pad is exposed to release quickly.
[ 15 April 2002, 13:41: Message edited by: Knagi ]
We are all in the cosmic movie. That means the day you die you watch your whole life repeating for eternity. So you'd better have some good things happen in there and have a fitting climax. --Jim MorrisonIt's going to come from a direction you didn't predict at a moment of chaos which you didn't see coming. -- NYC
63 posts
Location: Armidale, NSW, Australia
Ok,
Ive seen lots of pictures of sparkly stuff and never worked out how to construct them. Will normal steel wool do the job? And is it just tied down to my wicking with a bit of thin wire? Ive had bad experiences with wire holding down wicking so im a bit hesitant about using it...
Also, can I just wrap it on, dip in kero, then light up? is that all I need to do?
BAHOOGA! It's the penguin-people!Gertrude, get me my lollypop and we'll lick 'em to death..and?
journeyman
55 posts
Location: Cheltenham, England
Happy Monday everyone!
My spinners are a bit makeshift but they do work!!
I bought two wire birdfeeders from Wilkinsons, took the plastic bits off and made a wire bottom for each one. I put my chain chains on them linked with a key ring.
Wilkinsons also v handily sold wire wool! so im sure its just normal basic wool that you need.
the first time i lit up i soaked the feeders in parafin, it worked, but not as well as doing it without. You just need to wave a staff or something big underneath and using Woodys words 'when they start to glo red spin like mad' well..he said something like that!!
ps sorry if saying Wilkinsons is advertising x
99 posts
Location: Northampton, UK
Pics of my cages:
https://wood2.woodyland.org/pics/poi/steelwool-burners/page.shtml
lluhmas, normal steel wool is perfect, you can get several grades from super fine (grade 0000) up to very coarse (grade 4). The finer the grade the shorter the burn and the more sparks. The coarser the grade, the harder to light. I have tried a few experiments with mixes of several grades, but not found a perfect mix yet. I mainly just use fine or superfine. I need to make some bigger cages to be able to try mixing properly and to get a really long burn time.
MarkP and I tried a few other things like soaking the steel wool in boric acid to see if we could get some green sparks aswell, but it didn't really work.
In the bottom of the cages you can see some lumps of steel from previous burns. Usually you can bang out any lumps that are left when they have stopped glowing, but these have melted themselves to the cages. I though this might case the cages to melt through, but this hasn't happened yet, and it doesn't really matter because I can easily get some more chicken wire. It doesn't matter if they get squashed either as you can just bend them back into shape
darn I really need to reorganise my site...
Luv and Lemons.WoodyMrs Jaypher said, 'It's saferIf you've lemons in your head;First to eat, a pound of meat,And then to go at once to bed.
addict
669 posts
Location: Lancashire, UK
Woody Cheers for the info and inspiration to myself a set.
I've seen them in action before, but they were made with odds and endslying around, and a small amount of wire wool. Your pic is sweet.
Do you find yourself limited much to certain tricks?
Thanks again
99 posts
Location: Northampton, UK
Hi FireMorphster
Any move is possible with them, though the faster you go the more sparks you get. The cages don't fly quite as well as poi either, so I usually stick to simple moves, weaves work well as you send sparks in the most directions, and the burn time is quite short.
Though come to think of it I have never tried any btb stuff with them..... hitting yourself in the face would probably be a BIG MISTAKE I hit myself in the stomach doing a windmill once and got burnt though a thick shirt and a t-shirt.
Wear a hat, and stick to moves you arn't going to mess up. I have said this before, the sparks are molten steel at 1600C. Screwing up isn't an option.
Take care
Luv and Lemons.WoodyMrs Jaypher said, 'It's saferIf you've lemons in your head;First to eat, a pound of meat,And then to go at once to bed.
63 posts
Location: Armidale, NSW, Australia
Anyone know of anyobody who has pulled of this on a staff? You'd have to build a cage around the wicking wouldnt you? and If I did that, would the burning steel damage the kevlar?
Im keen to build one (a sparkly staff)...help?
BAHOOGA! It's the penguin-people!Gertrude, get me my lollypop and we'll lick 'em to death..and?
397 posts
Location: Brunswick, Ohio
Lol woody that's what a metal cage will get'ca I've hit myself on occasion with my design and nothin happens.
Staff won't allow enough air flow. I tried it. Sparks are few and far between. Plus it was nearly impossiable to burn up the steel wool.
We are all in the cosmic movie. That means the day you die you watch your whole life repeating for eternity. So you'd better have some good things happen in there and have a fitting climax. --Jim MorrisonIt's going to come from a direction you didn't predict at a moment of chaos which you didn't see coming. -- NYC
63 posts
Location: Armidale, NSW, Australia
Your right, the air needs to be flowing through the cage.
I found this out last night and today set to work on a specialised staff for sparkles only.
It is a staff with cages on the ends, the cages are affixed only by their very end allowing lots of airflow.
I Attached the cages after the wicking as (if this works):
staff wicking cage
/--------\
-------=====-]/ steel \
-------=====-]\ wool /
\--------/
Yeah. so even when all the sparks are gone, you have a wicking still alight. Looks good and even better, works. I tried it tonight.
Tomorrow I'm going to try building an egg whisk style cage of coat hanger metal with 5 mill chicken grid wire and see how that goes.
BAHOOGA! It's the penguin-people!Gertrude, get me my lollypop and we'll lick 'em to death..and?
397 posts
Location: Brunswick, Ohio
have fun... but cages are barbaric and don't work nearly as good as a threaded design
We are all in the cosmic movie. That means the day you die you watch your whole life repeating for eternity. So you'd better have some good things happen in there and have a fitting climax. --Jim MorrisonIt's going to come from a direction you didn't predict at a moment of chaos which you didn't see coming. -- NYC
63 posts
Location: Armidale, NSW, Australia
Explain the process of threading again pls?
How can I do it with a staff?
BAHOOGA! It's the penguin-people!Gertrude, get me my lollypop and we'll lick 'em to death..and?
99 posts
Location: Northampton, UK
What sort of pads are you using to thread Knagi? The only sorts I can find over here are brillo pads for washing up, and very small packs of steel wool for wood work of metal priming. Both cost more than twice as much per Kg as steelwool in a big pack.
Going to try threading some of the wool from a big pack onto some wire later, but I'm not sure it is going to hold together well enough. We shall see what happens...
Luv and Lemons.WoodyMrs Jaypher said, 'It's saferIf you've lemons in your head;First to eat, a pound of meat,And then to go at once to bed.
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