dulce flamesmember
234 posts
Location: Oceanside, California USA


Posted:
I'm about to make my second set of fire wicks with Kevlar. My first ones lasted for under three months, but I think I can definately make them last longer....
quote:
PUT YOUR FIRE OUT WHEN IT IS A COUPLE OF INCHES ABOVE THE WICK.
Re-stoke the wick in fuel and off you go again.
.
Always keep the wick moist. Keep ends in sealed plastic bag/s

- I'm unclear as to what 2 inches above the wick means....From the top? From the sides??? Can anybody help clarify? I am also curious as to what you all use to keep the wicks moist when you store them.... Would you use your fuel and then just put them in the bags to help keep the moisture in??? I think with my first set I probably burnt them for too long on their first burns.... If anyone could share how they keep their poi in mint condition, it'd be great. I'd like to make mine last longer if possible....

thanx

adamricepoo-bah
1,015 posts
Location: Austin TX USA


Posted:
Well, the only way to keep your wicks in mint condition is to put them in a box and never take them out.

I never understood the logic behind keeping your wicks moist. What does that accomplish? But if you follow that rule, just use whatever your usual fuel is. If you use white gas (or any other high-volatility fuel), you don't want to keep your wicks in a plastic container, as the plastic will warp. This is why white gas is sold in metal cans.

I do understand the logic of extinguishing your wicks before they run out of fuel--when they're low on fuel, the wick itself starts burning, rather than just wicking fuel. If you follow this rule, I'd say put them out when the flame gets blue and thready.

Finally, length of time is not a very useful measure of wick durability. Number of burns makes more sense. I think you ought to be able to get at least 100 burns out of a decent pair of kevlar wicks.

Laugh while you can, monkey-boy


CharlesBRONZE Member
Corporate Circus Arts Entertainer
3,989 posts
Location: Auckland, New Zealand


Posted:
I completely agree with AdamRice on both issues.

What some people get confused about is that you should dunk your wicks back in the fuel after putting them out if they are still hot.

This allows the evaporating fuel to use up the heat, or even the fuel itself to cool down the wick. If there is a small amount of warm fuel left and it all evaporates off before the wick has cooled down, then the wick itself will start to burn away.

After the cool-down period, there's no need to keep the wick moist with fuel, except that it helps to keep other moisture out, such as water, which may affect the wicks performance.

I'm sure some people here will disagree with me, but this is how I treat my staffs which tend to get a lot of abrasion (drops on concrete) and they usually last me 100-300 burns with 1.5-3 feet of wick on each end.

Cheers

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Bender_the_OffenderGOLD Member
still can't believe it's not butter
6,978 posts
Location: Melbourne, Australia


Posted:
quote:
Originally posted by Charles (INFERNO):
with 1.5-3 feet of wick on each end.
amazing, that must scream an armageddon with every spin!! you could possibly drown out a dying giraffe and be bright enough to redirect low flying aircraft and conjugate the verb 'avere'!

Laugh Often, Smile Much, Post lolcats Always


CharlesBRONZE Member
Corporate Circus Arts Entertainer
3,989 posts
Location: Auckland, New Zealand


Posted:
hmm are you being sarcastic, Mr Bendy???

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Bender_the_OffenderGOLD Member
still can't believe it's not butter
6,978 posts
Location: Melbourne, Australia


Posted:
stoopid txt based miscommunications!
let me put that post into perspective - the most wick i on a regular basis is only 1 foot per end - and i find the roar of the fire to be loudish when spun fast - so i can only imagine the horrors of THREE FEET per end!!! the drag from the fire must become an issue at that flamage!!
It is the intrinsic shenaniganess that confuses me expression sometimes.
as a med length double staffer (1m) i find 4" (50cm x 3.2mm Cotton Kevlar) to be confortable but not spectacular amount of fire. as a member of the elite double longstaff krew, i guess you have the luxury of the extra staff real estate to wick up!
I put jokes in police statements.

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Bender_the_OffenderGOLD Member
still can't believe it's not butter
6,978 posts
Location: Melbourne, Australia


Posted:
also, Stone sez that PVA glue helps saves tips! My instructor @ naked Flame makes soft fluffy covers that prevent harm from befalling the wicks during non-fire practice.
If you can deal with a little extra danger, you could lower the wick so that it's no longer flush with the end of the pole...exposing the metal at the tips of the staff makes the staff bear some more of the impact of staff droppage, and minimises wick fraying from the droppage.
but it hurts!
to demonstrate, I'll bash me head against this monitor..
*BAP*!
..see?

Laugh Often, Smile Much, Post lolcats Always


CharlesBRONZE Member
Corporate Circus Arts Entertainer
3,989 posts
Location: Auckland, New Zealand


Posted:
Heh, no worries Bender. My 3 footers do make a lot of noise, however, my 1.4 metre preferred length means they are a lot less likely to burn you anyway.

I especially like the way my 3 footer (which has two lots of 1.5 feet side by side) seperates into four seperate fireballs whenever I do a burnoff with it. I don't know why that happens, as the wick is completely flush, but it does pretty cool.

But...it might pay to remember the wick I use is only 2 inches wide (5 cm), so the flames are about the same size as the standard wick on the innercore firestaff sold here inn the shop. I love that staff!!!!!!

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Bender_the_OffenderGOLD Member
still can't believe it's not butter
6,978 posts
Location: Melbourne, Australia


Posted:
burnoffs with that much wicking?!?!
ur crazy i tells ya
i have posted enuff about the joys of innercore to make myself out to be an innercore groupie (I always shake Callam Morgan's hand whenever i meet him!!! he's not worried...yet )
i find that with the heavier, more kevlar'd up toys tend to scald my hands and i consistently emit this really wussy yelp everytime the weight drags the toy down, causing the uncontrollable flames to flare up into my perpetually hairless hands. I'm sure it's quite amusing to watch/laugh at. sorta sounds like an 'arrrgh!' but faster and more paniced..

Laugh Often, Smile Much, Post lolcats Always


CharlesBRONZE Member
Corporate Circus Arts Entertainer
3,989 posts
Location: Auckland, New Zealand


Posted:
Get longer staffs...you'll burn yourself a lot less

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adamricepoo-bah
1,015 posts
Location: Austin TX USA


Posted:
Perhaps now is not the time to mention that my staff has 3" x 3' on each end...

Laugh while you can, monkey-boy


Shouden-CrDSILVER Member
Veteran Member
495 posts
Location: Tampa, FL, USA


Posted:
adam,

Do you have any pictures of your monster wicks on fire next to a set of your regular sized wicks?? I would love to see the difference in flame-size... (=

-=ÇrazyRaverÐude=-


CharlesBRONZE Member
Corporate Circus Arts Entertainer
3,989 posts
Location: Auckland, New Zealand


Posted:
Adam's wicks are more of a size that I would say are large.

However, this is just in terms of kevlar wicks.

There's a lot of people out there who use enormous towel-wicks for staff and poi that would make mine doublewickers look like candles...

No-where near as durable as kevlar, or as clean, and sometimes you do get the odd flying ember going ewverywhere, but toweling is definitley the choice of crazy monster staffers on this side of the world.

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DJ DantanaBRONZE Member
veteran
1,495 posts
Location: Stillwater, Ok. USA


Posted:
yea, like we once made some wicks out of a half a towel each, it burned for 15 minutes, the flame was SCARY, and when we finished there were no wicks left... just wire. (we might possibly have burned them just a little to long....MAYBE!!!)

[ 09 July 2002, 08:27: Message edited by: santanatwo ]

we eat and we drink and we smoke and we try!


dulce flamesmember
234 posts
Location: Oceanside, California USA


Posted:
thanks for the replies... I ordered enough kevlar to make myself a couple of new wicks... I think with the last ones I let them burn too long, spinning until they went out on their own... I definately see the logic in stopping the flame earlier, though I almost never feel like they've burnt long enough I started soaking the wicks in teh fuel instead of a damp towell the first night I used them, but since I had read about possible explosion, I was hesitant to dip them from teh start! Now I see that that was being overly cautious with negative results, but hey, it was my first time playing with fire and all my info came from what I'd read... better safe than sorry... I use lamp oil too, so I imagine explosion risks were quite low..... I think my new wicks will last longer and I will be happier (though of course my first home made set will always carry a special place in my heart).....
thanx again, and I'd like to see what a meter of kevlar burns like as well!

adamricepoo-bah
1,015 posts
Location: Austin TX USA


Posted:
CRD--
I don't have any side-by-side comparison of my monster wicks and my standard wicks burning, but my estimate is that the monsters put out 4-8x as much light (based on shutter speeds when photographing), and burn about 2x as long (roughly 10 min vs 5 min).

Charles--
I think CRD was referring to my poi wicks. I agree that people using towel wicks all around go for really big wicks.

Laugh while you can, monkey-boy


PeleBRONZE Member
the henna lady
6,193 posts
Location: WNY, USA


Posted:
I think towel wicks need to be bigger in order to comapre with Kevlar. I get the same amount of fire from Adam's standard poi head as I did from a 6" wide x 8" long towel wick. I've had well over 100 burns with that set of wicks and they are now only starting to show signs of wear and that is at the very top along the edge of the metal.

So this brings up another good question (well, to me it's good )..when do you know when to call it quits with a set of Kevlar wicks? With towels (which is what I started on) it was easy...they fried away completely, as Daniel said. However, Kevlar does not do that. So when do you throw in the Kevlar and break in a new set? Also, do you keep track of how many burns you have had on each set? I am beginning to in a book. That way I know what my laws of averages are. Also, when the outside frays, the inside is still not so bad. Any ideas what to do with the extra, used but not detroyed wicking?

BTW...Elmers White School glue makes an amazing sealant on wicks. It hardens in heat and seals the edges up to help keep from fraying when drops occur. This has to be reapplied every now and then though!

Pele
Higher, higher burning fire...making music like a choir
"Oooh look! A pub!" -exclaimed after recovering from a stupid fall
"And for the decadence of art, nothing beats a roaring fire." -TMK


[({PoiToi})]member
98 posts

Posted:
Humm..
Yes, pele is right about the elmers school glue, that stuff rocks!!
and i also think the construction of the wick has something to do with how long it lasts..
I have rediculously (sp?) large poi wicks (no firestaff for me yet!) that are made up in a loose cathedral fashion.. and they are starting to show a little bit of wear after 30 or 50 or so burns.. I also dont really keep track of how many burns i do.. but that seems right for 6 months..

but the looser the wick, the larger, and hotter the flame will be, thus wearing down the wick faster.. But as long as you dont let your poi burn for too long it's not that big of a problem i dont think..
anyone back me up on this?

---Formerly known as RaverRomantic---

AIM: RaverRomantic


adamricepoo-bah
1,015 posts
Location: Austin TX USA


Posted:
My rule is that you should retire kevlar wicks when
A) they get so skanky you can't stand to look at them any more; or
B) they give you unacceptably short burn times--which is a matter of personal taste; or
C) they're falling apart.

A few people seem to be unusually hard on their equipment, for no apparent reason, and they wear out a set of wicks in well under 100 burns. Other people go for hundreds of burns, with their wicks staying in pretty good shape. It's mysterious.

I don't keep records of how many burns I've got in a set of wicks, but I do know roughly how many burns I do in an average week, and how long I've had the wicks, so I can get a pretty good estimate.

Laugh while you can, monkey-boy


Maelstrommember
135 posts
Location: Akron, Ohio


Posted:
For the wicking I make, I use 3/4" Kevlar/Aramid reinfored fibergalss sleeve packing. Then I line the packing with Fiberglass rope packing (Braided). These two products are more like rope then they are ribbin. The Kevlar is rated at 650F, and the fiberglass is ranted at 1000f. That size is for my staff and mock fire knife. For my poi I use a 1/4" version, monkey fisted around a pair of cathedral wicks.

I can not out spin any of my toys, and with the tempater ratings even if I could spin through them, I'm not worried about burning the materials. I feel the real enemy is soot build up. BTW the flames on the fire knife are almost stupid big.

Nothing good ever comes from hanging out with normal people.



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