Forums > Help! > probably stupid question but...

Posted: 21st Apr 2006
This is about wick care... should help you on

https://www.homeofpoi.com/articles/wick_care.php

"vices are like genitals - most are ugly to behold, and yet we find that our own are dear to us."
(G.W. Dahlquist)

Owner of Dragosani's left half

Posted: 23rd Apr 2006
directly answering your concerns-

 Written by:

It feels only about 6-7 minutes before the flames begin to go quite low and i get paranoid about charring the wick..or basically screwing up my staff by leaving it to burn too long.

although ive never timed it myself - 6-7 mins is actually quite long for a burn. ive seen smaller wicks that last for only about a minute.



charring the wick? well i never really bothered about the smoldering stuff that malcolm mentions in that link - i burn them at least once a week and my wicks always last over a year



hope that helps.
EDITED_BY: Dentrassi (1145839501)

"Here kitty kitty...." - Schroedinger.

Posted: 24th Apr 2006
xactly, short of using petrol on the wicks and killing yourself at the same time, there are very few ways to really damage the wicks. droping catches can result in a bent staff though.

"but have you considered there is more to life than your eyelids?"

jointly owned by Fire_Spinning_Angel and Blu_Valley

Posted: 24th Apr 2006

 Written by: Mr Majestik


droping catches can result in a bent staff though.

Or broken ones.

The existance of flamethrowers says that someone, somewhere, at sometime said "I need to set that thing on fire, but it's too far away."

Posted: 24th Apr 2006
so catch them more often then!

As Dentrassi said 6-7 minutes is a pretty good burn time, if you want more you'll have to find a way of storing more fuel without burning fuel quicker; ie get bigger fatter wicks but don't increase the surface area by as much as the volume of wick you've added....if that makes sense to you?

As for wick damage...I've used wicks for spinning, as a torch, dropped them in water, burnt until they eventually went out by themselves and never really had much of a problem. I would recomend blowing/stubbing them out before the flame gets too small but if you're not using them multiple times every day I doubt you'll ever notice any real degradation for quite some time.

Something you can do to help extrend their lives is 'paint' the end of the wick with PVA glue (you know the white glue that you get in schools and arts shops etc) and when it dries it forms a really nice clear cap to your wick that doesn't burn away. It really helps reduce the fraying you get at the end of the wicks and the more you burn it the harder it seems to get

Let's relight this forum

Posted: 26th Apr 2006
thanks so much i'm less paranoid now. i think i just have too much fun that 6 minutes felt short.

thanks for the advice, the PVA thing sounds worth a try too, oh and i'll keep the petrol warning in mind..i hope that knowledge wasn't from bitter experience, but if so, congratulations on staying alive..

Posted: 26th Apr 2006

 Written by: kmc


oh and i'll keep the petrol warning in mind..i hope that knowledge wasn't from bitter experience, but if so, congratulations on staying alive..

i have no hands anymore

petrols only good for making napalm.

"but have you considered there is more to life than your eyelids?"

jointly owned by Fire_Spinning_Angel and Blu_Valley