Forums > Technical Discussion > More Shopping, plus amount of Kevlar :)

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KyrianDreamer
4,308 posts
Location: York, England


Posted:
First question.... who knows where i can buy aluminum tubing? what kinds of stores? and does Home depot sell dowel rods over 4ft? (there isn't one real real close to here, so i'd rather know first.)

secondly... how much kevlar does it generally take to make poi wicks? (the cylandrical ones) what about teh cathedral ones? How about staff wicks? answer in ft please, i have an awful time with metric thanks

Also, what types of screws do you guys use on your staffs? what works better?

And i did do a search... there was a semi-informative answer from adam, but i couldn't decipher what he was talking about....

Keep your dream alive
Dreamin is still how the strong survive

Shalom VeAhavah

New Hampshire has a point....


halfabikemember
55 posts
Location: canastota, ny usa


Posted:
hi!

as with anything with hardware stores that you dont want to drive to, you're probably best off just getting out the phonebook and making some calls...
you should be able to find aluminum pipe at home depot though
....

ive found using about a foot-a foot and a half of wicking for each end of the staff works pretty well...

i also use cadium screws to attach the wicking to the rods...oh yeah helpful hint: use scoth tape to stick the wick to the stick, then wrap wrap wrap, and then use the tape to hold the wick tightly wrapped until you can screw it in..then just peel the tape off...without any tape it is the biggest pain in the ass...

hope that helps...

excuse me, santa, have you seen half a bike?


Traceredmember
71 posts
Location: Salem, Oregon USA


Posted:
Poi, cathedral stacks: I use 4 ft of kevlar per wick, but everyone is going to give you a different answer, because everyone's preference is different. Most of the beginner's wicks I have seen use 2 ft or 3ft per stack, but I like the longer burn time and larger flame of the 4 footers. The more wick you use, the larger the flame and the longer the burn, but the weight increases as well. I've used some wicks with 8 ft. in each cathedral stack, and while the flame was large and burned forever, they were pretty heavy and used a lot more fuel.

good luck

An eye for an eye leaves the whole world blind - Mahatma Gandhi


gooblemember
71 posts
Location: Brisbane, Qld, Australia


Posted:
I must make a point that plain aluminium is not the best. It is soft and low tensile strength means that it will bend easily. You are best to get anodised aluminium for a number of reasons.
1. increase surface hardness increases tesile strength.
2. anodising is an oxide layer that helps reduce heat travel along the length
3. anodised finsishes are durable and will enable you to maintain your quipment longer ( ie keep clean, resistance to impact, lower heat tempering)

anodised aluminium is a little more expensive, but try getting a kink out of your staff, pooo.

plus anodising can come in so many pretty colours

Maximusmember
250 posts
Location: Upland, CA., USA


Posted:
I agree--four feet of two inch kevlar for each poi; three feet for staff.
I bought a bag of recycled galvinized steel tent posts at the thrift store for a couple bucks. I drill the ends before I wrap them, then work a hole through the kevlar with an awl. I use a bolt with big washers to secure it, and lately I've been sewing the final layer down with kevlar string so there is no metal exposed ("blind").
I've also been adding cotton balls in between the folds of a cathedral wick--works pretty good and the cotton does not scorch. I have one on my rope dart, which burns out faster than any other of my fire toys.

Maximus

Peregrinemember
428 posts
Location: Mystic, Ct. USA


Posted:
how much wick will also depend on where you get it...Dube wick is thinner than renegade juggling wick and so takes more to make the same size wick.
I have 4 ft (2 2' strips) cathedral renegade wick poi which works for me, the guys like 6' ones but i find them too heavy.

for a staff, 2 wicks per end dube wick, 2 ft per wick so total 8' per staff (I think, we just had a whole roll of it and used what seemed right)

also 5 feet or so of 3/8" kevlar string for fire fingers/eating torches (might be considered sort of big by some people but hey. we like fire)
2 feet or so of kevlar rope makes a good larger sized fire finger.

Pere

[ 24 April 2002, 04:10: Message edited by: Peregrine ]

Fire By Riz tmmember
212 posts
Location: tampa fl usa


Posted:
Kyrian try putting aluminum lathe stock into a search engine there is a online company that sells it cut fairly cheap i think it is metelonline.com T6061 aluminum seems to work the best i use it on some of my other fire toys with out any problem with a wll thickness of under .250
right now i am working on a carbon fiber stave
i will post the results soon

as for as cathedral wicks i use 4 ft for larger ones and 2 ft for my smaller ones

Maximus you might want to look into what happens to galvinized steel when it gets hot enough to burn off the zinc coating it makes a deadly gas i dont remeber the name of the gas but i got real sick from using torches on galvinized once

I have been cursed with the imagination to envision it all



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