MrConfusedBRONZE Member
addict
529 posts
Location: I wish I knew, United Kingdom


Posted:
I just split my dowel shaft
Is there any particular wood that is maybe a little harder wearing, or do I just need to be less abusive to my staff?

J

If you're not confused, you're not thinking about things hard enough.


flash fireBRONZE Member
Sporadically Prodigal
2,758 posts
Location: Sydney, NSW, Australia


Posted:
*can't resist*

Awwww - your poor shaft! It's bad when boys' shafts break.

Are you capping your shaft with any sort of protective sheath? Perhaps this would help you from contracting further damage...

And maybe you should be a little more gentle - I do understand that in the heat of the moment it's all too easy to get caught up in a little fast and firmly furious manipulation of your shaft, but when your done it can often be less than ideal.

Got Wood? any wood is good wood....

(it's 1.30am and I've had a few bevvy's. Apologies for my flilthy ways)

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Maximusmember
250 posts
Location: Upland, CA., USA


Posted:
Red oak.

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


Posted:
I've been using ash--it's the same wood that baseball bats are made of, and I haven't had any problems yet.

Hickory is also a very hard wood--might be good.

Laugh while you can, monkey-boy


MrConfusedBRONZE Member
addict
529 posts
Location: I wish I knew, United Kingdom


Posted:
flash - Should have seen that coming, I guess.
Cheers for the suggestions. Ash does seem to be a good option, will have to investigate in future, but I decided I couldn't wait, and the only thing I could find was more dowel. It'll have to do, for now.

J

If you're not confused, you're not thinking about things hard enough.


[Nx?]BRONZE Member
Carpal \'Tunnel
3,749 posts
Location: Europe,Scotland,Both


Posted:
Hardwood is goodwood but bewarned,
heavywood is hardwood and sore,
if it cant be delt with by a few blows from six feet of solid oak its probibly immune to magic anyway.

Love

Nix?

This is a post by tom, all spelling is deleberate
-><- Kallisti


flash fireBRONZE Member
Sporadically Prodigal
2,758 posts
Location: Sydney, NSW, Australia


Posted:
AFAIK, there are 2 types of dowel in most hardware stores - pine plus another harder wood (not 100% sure what type).

I use metal (aluminium) piping with wood in each end to help balance and to act as an anchor for my wicking screws. Have never had any staves break on me.

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pozeeBRONZE Member
old hand
887 posts
Location: san diego, USA


Posted:
HAHAHA!!! roflmao!!

woman stop it i am crying. you put that so eloquently. ouch my side hurts...

try aluminum conduit with dowels in it like flash said. it is really cheap (like $1.50 for ten ft) and it works rather well...

oh yeah and i imagine if you could get it in dowel for, purple heart wood would be great seeing as how it is one of the strongest, if not THE strongest...

[ 30 September 2002, 19:46: Message edited by: pozee ]

anyone got a light?


Raphael96SILVER Member
old hand
899 posts
Location: New York City, USA


Posted:
Morning wood is the strongest.



Raph

Bram....member
1,551 posts
Location: the arms of the Ganja Goddess


Posted:
no ironwood is the strongest. Tho if wanna really get into which wood is truly the strongest. I would say petrified wood is the strongest

You. Its whats for dinner!

As time passes, you realise all the mistakes you amde and the ones you wish you never did make.

The wave crashing on the beach


flash fireBRONZE Member
Sporadically Prodigal
2,758 posts
Location: Sydney, NSW, Australia


Posted:
heheee, I could be wrong Bram but I think Raph was referring to ye olde Morning Glory; following along the lines of my previous insinuations.

Could be wrong though.

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Raphael96SILVER Member
old hand
899 posts
Location: New York City, USA


Posted:
You guys don't call it morning wood?



Raph

FireMikeZLaguna dude
1,438 posts
Location: Laguna, California, US


Posted:
yes, Bram prolly does too

molten cheers,

~ FireMike

FireMikeZ@yahoo.com (personal messages welcome, no promo spam, please!)
Laguna, California, US


Bram....member
1,551 posts
Location: the arms of the Ganja Goddess


Posted:
I take it you always get a visit from the morning wood fairy Raph.

Flash, moring glory is actually the name of a plant that is used for narcotics speaking of morning glory, i have to go, ahhh, trim mine, yes trim thats right. *gets out shears*

Mike, that was not cool, are you going for another punch.

You. Its whats for dinner!

As time passes, you realise all the mistakes you amde and the ones you wish you never did make.

The wave crashing on the beach


flash fireBRONZE Member
Sporadically Prodigal
2,758 posts
Location: Sydney, NSW, Australia


Posted:
hehehee - Bram, I know that!! Spent many a wistful bus ride to school thinking about that recipe.

I know this is getting off-topic *slaps own wrist* but in australia, we call the morning wood Morning Glory, Piss Fat (how crass!) plus a multitude of other things.

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Bram....member
1,551 posts
Location: the arms of the Ganja Goddess


Posted:
Flash is a drugged up hippie

You. Its whats for dinner!

As time passes, you realise all the mistakes you amde and the ones you wish you never did make.

The wave crashing on the beach


FireMikeZLaguna dude
1,438 posts
Location: Laguna, California, US


Posted:
it was too cool.

someone's a leaf-trimmin hippy drugger too. see the bits on the gardener's teeth?

i love red oak as a wood, but good ones can be damn heavy, adamrice's ash idea is prolly best, think it's used for high quality handles like for axes & long tools.

hey, anyone try any really kewl exotic woods which aren't heavier than lead, for a real custom beauty of a staff?

molten cheers,

~ FireMike

FireMikeZ@yahoo.com (personal messages welcome, no promo spam, please!)
Laguna, California, US


MrConfusedBRONZE Member
addict
529 posts
Location: I wish I knew, United Kingdom


Posted:
Just a quick warning - don't use wood that wasn't originally a single piece. The only length that I could get at short notice was two pieces joined together. It split
That's two shafts in 3 weeks.

J

If you're not confused, you're not thinking about things hard enough.


Bram....member
1,551 posts
Location: the arms of the Ganja Goddess


Posted:
too much friction mayhap

You. Its whats for dinner!

As time passes, you realise all the mistakes you amde and the ones you wish you never did make.

The wave crashing on the beach


jonathanenthusiast
210 posts
Location: new zealand


Posted:
im pretty sure that metrosideros is about the strongest and buttyiest wood. we call it pohutakawa in N.Z where its a native, but its found all through the pacific! but ya cant beat a good old bit of tea tree (manuka) for having a good time spinning round

N.Z. has the gruntest woods in the world!!!!!

i personally find that the oak staves are really good if you get a nice piece of wood, but most of the ones ive had tended to shatter. same sort of problems with jarrah, kwilla, bubingo (most of the african hardwoods are hard but brittle i think)
willow is good and can handle a lot of punishment, plus it is a bit soft so its nice to use

i have to say though, a good piece of american white ash will do the job everytime, not as stong or as hard as manuka or pohutakawa, but none the less commercially availiable (good for those among us concerned about chopping down trees!!!) and real nice. ive got several that have taken an incredible amount of damage, the damm things just wont die. i mean ive cut nearly half through them with swords, slashers and various other weaponries and i can still put one end on a seat and jump up and down on the bloody things without them breaking (fantastic!!!)

so yeah, that would be me pick for strength, ease of purchase (NZ $30 will get you 3 staffs) and ease of working, the down side is you cant get it ready made in staffs suitable for fire, (i dont think so anyway) you have to file them down from planks

FireMikeZLaguna dude
1,438 posts
Location: Laguna, California, US


Posted:
hey, IDEA for the fun of it: HoP uses the posts, is it too expensive for me to mail you a staff of some interesting American wood, say beech, if you get ash easily (used here for garden & work tool handles) & for you to send me shorter thin wands (i can specify size) of N.Z. wood?

quote:
Originally posted by jonathan:
im pretty sure that metrosideros is about the strongest and buttyiest wood. we call it pohutakawa in N.Z where its a native, but its found all through the pacific! but ya cant beat a good old bit of tea tree (manuka) for having a good time spinning round

N.Z. has the gruntest woods in the world!!!!!

hey, i'm expanding the toys in this thread to the gamma version i need to make of my signature fire glowstix.

jonathan, since you can get american woods in N.Z., any idea if it's hard to find tea tree (manuka) or metrosideros (pohutakawa) exported over here to the US? is it commonly used in dowel form for building/ home centers, or should i call the hardwood specialists i know (where it will probably shock you how much they sell it for as a rarity here)?

my needs are a little different from staffers, since i'm using short wands with fireheads at each end. i have to be careful, because even at best, they overheat, require heavy leather gloves to use. . .

any idea if either of your suggested woods is good insulator, and stands up to high heat well? how do they do near the fireheads on your staffs?

and what kind of weight do they have? mine will be too short to really appreciate any firmness or flexibility, whichever you like from them, in your long staffs.

would enjoy having a New Zealand wood in my key firetoys. tell me more, please, jonathan, & anyone who knows?

~ Mikie

[ 16 October 2002, 18:05: Message edited by: FíreMîke ]

molten cheers,

~ FireMike

FireMikeZ@yahoo.com (personal messages welcome, no promo spam, please!)
Laguna, California, US


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


Posted:
Although it doesn't seem to cover either of those woods, the following is a handy reference for wood qualities:
https://www.woodzone.com/properties.htm

Laugh while you can, monkey-boy


jonathanenthusiast
210 posts
Location: new zealand


Posted:
i dare say you wont be able to get any of those woods in america, mostly because they arent milled in N.Z as they are to difficult to work with (pohutakawa is protected and its hard to find a decent piece of manuka, plus they are known for doing things like destroying large industrial sized band saws)

but bear in mind that i only fire poi, my staffs are for more martial pursuits so they might not be what your after

how much would you need? id have to go bush with me saw and then spend a while going at them with a file before i sent them off

i dare say that there will be some quarintine issues that have to be dealt with before we could get anything organised,

i know that pohutakawa grows in hawaii where it is one of the larger forest trees, maybe timber specialists will know?

if your looking for something that dosent burn easily, maybe try and get hold of some jarrah, its a nice dark brown austrailian wood that shouldnt be too hard to get hold of

if you do manage to get hold of some tea tree, then heat and burning will be no problemo, ive had some manuka fire staffs that have basically been small trees with wick wrapped around the ends and no problems with the wood burning

good luck!

FireMikeZLaguna dude
1,438 posts
Location: Laguna, California, US


Posted:
jonathan,

i'll look next week for tea tree at some kinda local hardwood specialty dealers,

but if you're game to find me some in the bush, i only need two 13" lengths at 7/16" - 8/16=1/2" width (sorry they're inches, they fit brass tube in inches, i can convert to mm if you like) for a pair of fire glowstix. it would be a huge grinning thrill to have some in pohutakawa, and you know what? there's no reason they have to be perfectly smooth, straight or anything! why not? natural curve NZ rare wood glowstix, worth Nero's ransome!

i use them in hand like glowsticks without spinning them IN my hand (though i might teach myself that later), so they're just grasped, can be irregular, and i can MAKE the brass ends fit, file down any irregularities & such.

what kind of bark & is it hard to remove, or do i want to keep it, is it a kind which will flake off over time? is the naked wood good looking say for varnish?

now for martial arts staffs, you DO want something smooth, so i could see about finding something interesting. . . or if you have a use for a staff of irregular, natural shape, i gather California native woods after forest fires which cure them, usually to make wands & staffs for those with a mystic streak in them. . . do you have much of one? or maybe there's something else interesting i might find as a fun tit for tat, if not, something else entirely. . .

either way -- game for a bicontinental scavenger hunt? i am. & quarantine. . . would you like to be formal or informal about that?

[ 18 October 2002, 10:21: Message edited by: FíreMîke ]

molten cheers,

~ FireMike

FireMikeZ@yahoo.com (personal messages welcome, no promo spam, please!)
Laguna, California, US



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