Forums > Social Chat > how to spin fire and stay clean?

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Alexandre_GaonachBRONZE Member
stranger
6 posts
Location: France


Posted:
Hi everyone,

I (re)discovered the art of spinning during a trip in Asia last spring and i got pretty addicted ever since. I bought a pair of medium cathedral poi in a small shop in Koh Phangan, in Thailand and i started practicing again. The fact is, being in a hurry for no reason (full moon) i bought a shitty pair of poi made with fake kevlar. After a couple of use, i noticed that the poi head wasn't yellow anymore, but white (i mean under the burned surface). Now, when i light it with regular poi fuel, it takes only 2 or 3 min to get the chains very black and dirty, which results in black hands and clothes after making any kind of wraps (or the smallest mistake). If i get a little bit sweaty and put my hand on my face to dry it up, i look like i just got out of the mines or something... This is not normal, right?

Here are my questions. Do you think it's because of the fake kevlar if my pois get so dirty? I already planned to change them anyway but i'd like to know if any of you experienced the same problems with bad or fake kevlar. Is it dangerous for my health?

Or do you think it could have been because my fuel that was a little bit old (like 2 months)? The bottle have maybe been left in the sun for a few hours or so...

Or is it just normal to get dirty when you do spiral wraps, leg wraps etc...? If it is normal then please give me an advice to clean myself fast and easy after a show in the street. Sitting with people when you are sweaty and paint in black is not a very good sensation... And no, i won't buy led pois!

Thx

Man_in_the_maskBRONZE Member
specializes in the potentially insane
130 posts
Location: California, USA


Posted:
I've had similar issues though the slight bit of soot i got on me wasnt as bad as it sounds here.
my heads where not kevlar wick, in fact they where cathedrals made of a fiberglass/cotton blend and i noticed the same yellow to white color change after a few burns.
if the soot is traveling up the chains then it would stand to reason that it is in fact a result of the flame and not your wick material.
this black build up is something ive not yet figured out how to avoid but what you could try is using a damp rag to wipe it off before/after you plan to light up*, this could help to reduce just how much grime your getting covered with by eliminating pre-existing build up. aside from that you could also keep an extra towel on hand dedicated to cleaning yourself back up.

*considering most chains i've seen for fire poi appear to be stainless steel id suggest avoiding the use of abrasives. if a simple damp rag isn't enough for caked on soot then you could always try mild soap and water

"We all wear masks, and the time comes when we cannot remove them without removing some of our own skin..."


Alexandre_GaonachBRONZE Member
stranger
6 posts
Location: France


Posted:

Well fiberglass/cotton blend is exactly what it lookslike. So i guess we have some similar material and mine must be even worse. You're obviously right when you say the soot is a result of the flame. But i thought that maybe the wick material could have something to do with the nature of the flame. You don't have the same flame when you burn some wood, a tire or some gas. I think it's not so different with differenr kind of wicks and it appears that we experienced the same shitty material. At least i hope so, because if large flame means lot of soot with everykind of wick it's pretty annoying. I bought some Kevlar monkeyfist there. I'll tell you if i see a significant difference with it.

In the meanwhile i'll try to have more discipline with the cleaning of my stuff. Thx for the advices.

Man_in_the_maskBRONZE Member
specializes in the potentially insane
130 posts
Location: California, USA


Posted:
yeah. no problem. hopefully i was at least somewhat helpful lol.

im interested in finding out if there's any significant change using kevlar. the longest time i thought i was the only one using fiberglass/cotton (my first set where home built. modified dog leashes, and a welding blanket rated well above the heats id be working with)

"We all wear masks, and the time comes when we cannot remove them without removing some of our own skin..."


MynciBRONZE Member
Macaque of all trades
8,738 posts
Location: wombling free..., United Kingdom


Posted:
the best way to spin fire and stay clean is to wear gloves long sleeves a hat and a mask. although you still get sweaty and the soot can get in any tiny little gaps.

If you want to stay clean spin glow wink

Kevlar last longer than other mediums as a wick if that helps at all.

A couple of balls short of a full cascade... or maybe a few cards short of a deck... we'll see how this all fans out.


Alexandre_GaonachBRONZE Member
stranger
6 posts
Location: France


Posted:
Yeah i thought about that too. A mask and long sleeves gloves is definitely the ultimate way to stay clean. Plus a badass mask could really kick ass under some circumstances. BUT cause there is always a but...I'm a big smoker and i have the physical training of an ashtmatic monk... soooo i guess i'll be suffocating under the mask pretty soon and that can't be really comfortable either.

Anyway, i received my new pois made with kevlar monkeyfist and this is nothing like my previous equipment. It generates really less soot and it's even a different kind of soot, way more easy to clean. I don't know what the hell my thai pois were made of. I just hope it wasn't too bad cause i breathed a lot of that stuff for the last months. By the way, i also had a very bad cough the last couple of months, spitting black stuff blablabla. I thought it was because of my smoking addiction or any other infection. But since i stopped using these pois i'm feeling better each and every day. I'm not sure there is a connection but mayyyybe...

I take this opportunity to remind anybody not to buy or use any non indicated or trustable material to spin fire. Even if it won't burn you, it can be dangerous in many ways.


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