Forums > Other Toys > fire devil stick

Posted: 15th Jul 2003
even if you use your big squeezey parrafin glove

What about a couple of small tsuba(sp?) type bits of metal just below the wicks?

or develop a neat new trick where you juggle everything and wipe the hand sticks and/or devil stick clean in the process I know you can do the first part.

The last vid of Smallboy's had some nice but short clips of fire devils and Evildman just put some up so I guess they are better equiped to answer you...

Posted: 16th Jul 2003
Hi Tempest,

No, even my big squeezy paraffin glove can't help!

I've spent all day messing with Premier, had to disect both my computers cos the CD writer won't read the CD's we did, so I'm having to switch the functional CD off old computer in and out.

Been productive though, just finished a 16 Mb meteor movie!

"You can't outrun Death forever.
But you can make the Bastard work for it."

--MAJOR KORGO KORGAR,
"Last of The Lancers"
AFC 32


Educate your self in the Hazards of Fire Breathing STAY SAFE!

Posted: 16th Jul 2003
Hi there, best solution to your problem is to dip your wicks, then shake of the excess, but make sure you do this after dipping each wick. Basically this stops any excess parafin dripping down the devilstick as you dip the other wick. Also when you start to play do some fast propellor spins and throws, to help get rid of any excess. Dont do burn offs! these just soak the stick! Well this is what i've been doing and dont get that many problems.

Have fun spinning

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(Oh and BTW tis me in the Smallboy vid )

Is that magnets!?

Posted: 17th Jul 2003
Sorry to hear about your cd hassles Dave, if you have any more probs then it would be my pleasure to help out. If you need space for hosting then I should be able to help out after the weekend

DsAds - Pretty please with sugar on top can we see some more footage of you devil skillz

erm, did I say please

Posted: 17th Jul 2003
You're having trouble with the devils sticks getting slippery with fuel?

That's bizarre! all of the fire devil sticks I've seen are made out of steel or aluminium on the main stick, and the hadn-sticks have rubber (usually bicycle inner-tube) wrapped around them, or more unusually, heat wrapped silicone.

Slippery fuel should not make any difference to the grip as long at the rubber/silicone is roughened up (worn in with use) enough prior to the burn.

Have you got some old sticks that have already been worn in? Perhaps try some of your devil sticks with them and see if it makes difference...

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Posted: 18th Jul 2003
Liam- the CD hassles are OK cos I've now had to learn how to swap CD drives from one machine to the other and it's useful to know this stuff.

Cheers for the hosting offer, I'm probably going to redo the meteor vid cos I'm learning more about Premier, I'll let u know when I get the final version done.

What're you working on at the moment?

"You can't outrun Death forever.
But you can make the Bastard work for it."

--MAJOR KORGO KORGAR,
"Last of The Lancers"
AFC 32


Educate your self in the Hazards of Fire Breathing STAY SAFE!

Posted: 18th Jul 2003
Charles,

Do you use them a lot? Are they OK for propellor type moves?

My experience has been for short periods with other peoples sticks and slippiness hsa been a problem.

What's the transition like between using normal sticks and using fire sticks at night i.e. is it like club juggling where doing fire in the dark is a lot harder than non fire in daylight, or more like poi where there's little extra difficulty in moving onto fire?

"You can't outrun Death forever.
But you can make the Bastard work for it."

--MAJOR KORGO KORGAR,
"Last of The Lancers"
AFC 32


Educate your self in the Hazards of Fire Breathing STAY SAFE!

Posted: 18th Jul 2003
Onewheeldave:
The change with Devilstick, from not lit to lit is quite substancial (this is also dependant on wick size), as the weight and the dragg is increased (so like your club analogy). Also coz the flames are close together due to the size of the stick, it can be really hard to see the centre of the stick. I found if you put some white tape in the centre with a thin strip of black in the middle of that it helps loads. As with all of these juggling things tho the best thing is practice! Getting used to fire is the most important, coz once your comfortable with the knowledge that even if you screw up you aint gonna be running round as a human torch, you can then consentrate on getting your tircks down!

Tempest:
Errm am kinda working on getting my act together on the vid front, keep an eye out for Smallboys next creation there should be some more footage of fire in there. Otherwise am gonna start messing around with some footage, but knowing me it's gonna take a long time to get off me arse and sort it out!

It'll happen eventually, but the alternative is to come to London for a play!

Play on

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Posted: 18th Jul 2003
DsAds,

If all goes to plan, I should be getting my arse down to London this summer, probably after the EJC (which i'm not going to) so I can meet NYC and abuse all the juicy new concepts and tricks that peeps picked up at the EJC.

If it comes off without a hitch then there may even be up to 4 or 5 of us that descend on you.If you havent doen it by then, I might just be following you aboot with a camera

Posted: 18th Jul 2003
Nice one!!!

Look foward to it

Some time soon then!

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Is that magnets!?

Posted: 18th Jul 2003
OneWheelDave.

I'm certainly no expert, but i have been playing with my devil stick for about 6 years now. I've used fire sticks about a dozen times on odd occassions, and never really had a problem.

Sure the weight feels wierd and it takes a while to get used to that...try borrowing one during the day and practice without fuel or fire for a while, then practice with fuel and no fire, finally go on to fire and then fire at night.

That's the best way to find out what the cause may be, as my experiences and the sticks i've borrowed are likely to be very different from yours.

Experimenting is the best way to find out...

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Posted: 18th Jul 2003
Well I guess I can add my two cents in here. I personally play with Todd Smith sticks, both for day and night.

My day sticks are the cloth covered sticks, which give me a pretty good grip wet or dry when I am using my silicone covered handsticks. I also practice with a straight wooden set of handsticks which have almost no grip. I actually recommend trying this once you think you are pretty good, as it definatly raises the bar. Once I have practiced with those for a while, my regular handsticks feel like they are glued to the devil.

My fire sticks are wood covered in a heavy aluminum tape, and are actually slightly lighter than my days sticks unfuelled, almost exactly the same when fuelled up, which is convenient.

As for doing burns. I use the following routine for every burn.

1. Soak wick (A) in Kero for 45-60 seconds.
2. Shake off well in a designated safe area.
3. Soak wick (B) in Kero for 45-60 seconds.
4. Shake off well in a designated safe area.
5. Wipe off the shaft of devil stick with a dry towel to remove any excess fuel. This is important to keep your stick from lighting out of control when you light it.
6. Light each wick, and enjoy 5-10 minutes of insanity.
7. Blow out each wick when flame burns low.
8. Wipe any soot off shaft with dry cloth.

By following this routine I get a minimum amount of soot on the shaft of the stick, and it doesn't effect my grip much at all. The most important thing I have found is keeping the Devil stick clean, this limits the amount of soot that can stick to your Devil stick.

Also practicing with the wooden handsticks wiithout grips tend to force you to become much better with the devil in general, and deal with some of the problems I have seen other people having both with fire and rain.

For pictures of my fire sticks, or me performaing see https://www.chainmailbuddha.com/fire

We are all atheists, some of us just believe in fewer gods than others. When you understand why you dismiss all the other possible gods, you will understand why I dismiss yours.
-Stephen F. Roberts

Posted: 21st Jul 2003
Does that help at all dave?

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* Will it build Goodwill and Better Friendships?
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Posted: 21st Jul 2003

quote:

---

Originally posted by Charles:
Does that help at all dave?

---

Yes, cheers for the advice and to everyone else who replied.

I think I need to get a fire stick and I'll probably make one myself using metal tubing; I'll let you know how it goes.

"You can't outrun Death forever.
But you can make the Bastard work for it."

--MAJOR KORGO KORGAR,
"Last of The Lancers"
AFC 32


Educate your self in the Hazards of Fire Breathing STAY SAFE!