Forums > Technical Discussion > Help making a fire cross

Posted: 9th Jan 2002
almost all of my staffs are made of wood dowl. for my croses i cut a knotch wide enough, eg... my dowel are 3/4 inch thick. the knotches are this wide also. at center on both dowels so they fit together in a cross config. not too deep as this will make an obvious weak point. i use a saw an cut 3/4 inches apart and just under half way through, then chisel out the inbetweenie bit. the i glue together, drill a hole through center and put a small bolt. the tons of electrical tape to make a nice smooth seal. i tried using one of those metal 4way joiner thingies and ffound it heavy awquard and expensive. as per moves... go slow and fancyness will be sure to follow.see if you can keep a rotor going with one finger....hope i helped a bit

Posted: 9th Jan 2002
I went the metal cross way. It's so much easyer. It is quite abit heavy but you get used to it fast. When I started I was only able to practice it for 10 mins befor my arms couldn't hold it up anymore. Now I can wave it around for 30 mins and still have enough strength for my other toys.I started with strait galvinized steel tubbing and later found some of the same stuff that was alittle bit lighter. If you go this way make sure you pick up some pipe padding and tape that stuff to every part of the cross other then the handles. Also keep an eye on it because every time you drop it, it moves the padding up off the ends. It clocked me in the forhead once with bare metal. Not pleasant As for wicks I drilled a hole through each end then twisted up some strips of jeans and knotted them through it. Then wired the outside tight. It's tough to light but once it gets going it burns longer then any kevlar creation I've made.Smoothness will come with practice but I still don't have the strength to whip it around super fast. Also it is very cheap to make maybe 10 bucks tops.One finger rotor's just don't happen with this design. But for fun try throwing it higher then 5 feet up and catching it without breaking every bone in your hand. ------------------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 MorrisonMost Memerable crowd saying "Hey look that dude's gonna set himself on fire again!"

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

Posted: 21st Sep 2003
Ok, I'm jumpstarting this thread. I want to make a cross, and have been looking at ways to do it, as Knagi's cross got broken this weekend and now I want to use one...

Ideas:

1) Aluminum tube welded together. Probably not strong enough in cases of drops, even with dowel slipped through the tube.

2) A PVC fitting. With either the aluminum slipped inside or over it and secured with a screw. I'd think that this would make it hard to do some rolling moves, and would break the continuity of the spins since there would be a spot near the center where your hands would have to negotiate the PVC part...

3) Metal fiting. Same problems.

4) Wood cut / secured with aluminum sleeves on the end for the wicks. Ummm, I think the biggest disadvantage here would be LACK of weight. I got used to twirling an ugly, heavy lump of steel (hehe Knagi you sadistic bastard), and I think that the weight actually helped with a lot of the moves I learned. Then again, I havn't tried them with a light version, so I have nothing to compare to.

Now I know some of you have made these. I've seen em. Come on, share! Pretty please!

Posted: 21st Sep 2003
Mine are made out of aluminium

To join them - I cut a section in the middle of each tube, bashed the metal in so the tube ssit flush with eachother. Taped with tennis racket grip tape.

I love my crosses, but it's a LOT of fire when you do light up....

Posted: 10th Jan 2004
How big are the crosses that you are making (how long are the crossed pieces)?



How big are others making them?




EDITED_BY: Medici (1073890379)

Posted: 11th Jan 2004
Don't know if the question is actaully directed at me

but the arms on my cross are slightly shorter than my doubles

Posted: 20th Dec 2004
can you tig weld if so it shouldnt be to hard

SLEEP WITH ANGELS muckieha