2) Is it okay to redip a flaming tool in Kerosene?

3) Do wicks need to be kept wet with fuel?

4) What is does the "Flash Point" of a fuel mean?

5) Do poi need to have spinners?

6) What is the best way to detox from spinning/breathing?

7) Vegetable oil can protect against paraffin absorption.

8) Kero is safer to spin than White Gas.

9) Fire retardant = fire proof.

10) Can't travel with used tools.

"Care to confirm or deny my claim that it is the rough side of Duvetyne that is treated with fire proofing, not the fuzzy side." The process of flame treating fabric invariably includes fully dampening or even soaking the material in question with the flame treatment. The result is that the fibers of the material are treated, one side, the other side, inside and outside.

"Myth: it's okay to redip a hot or even flaming tool in Kerosene or lamp oil without igniting the bucket" If you dip quickly and you haven't re-dipped too many times (thus heating up the lamp oil), you absolutely *CAN* do that. However, changes in temperature (from doing this), pressure, and humidity can radically change the chances that this will literally blow up in your face.

"Also works, assuming all of your hardware is non-corrodible. That's how I stored my first set of wicks, which lasted well over 300 burns." Some people believe that either keeping your wicks soaking in fuel when not in use, or progressively increasing the burn time during the first burn can increase the life span of your wicks. However, very little comparative evidence exists. For example, two people with the same wicks, purchased or made from the same materials, with the same chain lengths and similar spin styles would have to treat their wicks differently to show some level of scientific data. Such data should factor out, as much as possible, the following: chain length, speed of spin, material differences, duration of each spin (burn out or put out), frequency of spin (once per night vs once per hour), fuel differences, etc.

The only fortuitous "testing" in this area so far came from a spinner who regularly performed progressive burns on new pairs of wicks. Immediately after breaking in one pair of wicks, one wick was lost and needed to be replaced. The replacement wick did not receive the usual break-in ritual and provided a very similar life span to the wick that had been broken in.
Status: Dubious

Flash point is "the temperature at which a substance produces enough volatile fumes to ignite in the presence of flame, in a closed environment, at sea level, (and in the case of liquids) from an open cup."

All liquids are constantly trying to convert to vapor. Only vapors can burn. Atmospheric pressures and temps keep them in a liquid state. Volatile fuels are constantly pushing a cloud of vapor against the atmosphere, and except in the case of low flash point fuels (like white gas), the atmosphere is enough to push it back into liquid...until you change something.

So, if any of the flash point conditions (room temp, sea level, etc) change, the volatile gas wins and a bubble of vapor forms or continues to grow. Put a feather in lamp oil and the extra surface pressure (open cup test is very low surface area) allows the lamp to act like white: creating clouds of flammable vapors at room temp. If you open the door of a closed room, you could decrease the local air pressure enough to produce a cloud from any fuel. Climb 3000 feet and the flash point drops (probably about 30 degrees). Combine elevation with a barometric shift and your kero could have a flash point half of normal. And when it starts at 125, that's below room temp.

High flashpoint fuels (like lamp oil) are more dangerous when vaporized because they migrate very slowly. White gas has such a high vapor pressure that its molecules disperse pretty quickly upon vaporization. Lamp oil tends to have its molecules stay in a cluster (like the smoke off a candle), these clusters (or bubbles, or whatever) are more readily ignited into a self-propagating flame than stray white gas molecules.

Welded chain doesn't need to have swivels, neither do bolts that have been hard twinked to prevent spin-off. However, people without spin relief are more likely to suffer other issues with their chains from accelerated gip wear to connector failure.

The physics of it are pretty simple. Your hands don't rotate while you spin, but your wicks are spinning (in relation to your hands) which creates rotational torque around the connection point to your hand. This torque has to go somewhere. If your chain doesn't have a swivel, then it causes your wicks to spin on axis where the chain connects. The weight of your wicks determines how much energy your chain has to apply to the second rotation of the wicks.

With unwelded chain, or any cheap grade, this rotational torque will twist and snap the chain, the connectors, or the grips. Someone using heavy chain and good connectors might not suffer this problem. However, the stress is still there and get applied to their grips instead. Another side effect of this is that any threaded device will tend to unscrew (eye bolts, quick links, etc) from being spun along the length of the chain.

Results: False, spinners are not required. They do, however, increase the life of your grips and decrease the probability of other failures.

Many remedies have been suggested from milk thistle, to grapeseeds, to charcoal. The best answer, of course, is to be good to your body and let it to the work itself.

Spinning. The toxic effects of fire spinning are all from inhaled petro-chemical by-products. By the time you feel any issues, you've already fully absorbed the toxins. "Blood purifiers" such as garlic and milk thistle have not been evaluated by the FDA as an effective method for removing toxins, however, some of the chemicals in milk thistle have been confirmed by the AMA to encourage the liver into full functioning.

Breathing. The biggest threats to fire breathers are accidentally ingesting fuel and unintentionally inhaling unburnt fuel. Depending on the fuel used, ingestion could have a variety of effects: drunkenness (ethanol), nausea (Isopropyl), Hemmoraging (toluene), diarrhea (lamp oil). Each problem should be treated differently. However, most emergency wards keep activated charcoal around to absorb or remove these toxins from the stomach. For inhalation, seek medical attention immediately.

False. In fact quite the reverse is true. In some tests with Mineral oil (same stuff slightly longer carbon chains), the addition of Olive oil was shown to increase the Mineral oil absorption from 2% to 65%. Since the body has no method of handling aliphatic hydrocarbons, the absorbed oils collected in little bubbles between cells and tissues. In the wrong area, these bubbles could interfere with normal bodily functions.

Some performers favor biodiesel right now for their breathing needs, however, the process of making biodiesel involves the residue of typically one of three things: Methanol (can cause blindness), high-normal acid (cellular destruction and oral burns), or vegetable oil. None of these are particularly favorable remnants.

False. It's really too much to go into here, so we've begun a separate section on some common performance fuels and safety.

• Flame retardant (OSHA) - a substance that will generally self extinguish in a vertical flame test or assist other materials in resisting flame effects.
• Fire retardant (Textile Ind) - Fabric that, without chemical additives, will inhibit the spread of fire (ie fail to ignite under most household instances and self extinguish under others)
• Flame retarded (NFPA)- non FR material that has been chemically treated to act like one.
• Fire resistant (textile) - fabric, treated or not, that will self- extinguish in horizontal burn but fails vertical test (think carpeting).
• Flame proof (NFPA) - material that is manufactured to a specific chemical state making it unable to produce a flame at any heat. (Such fabrics will generally disintegrate under high heat)
• =Fire proof (alchemical) - a mythological state of being impervious to fire. Recent studies of metallurgy, astronomy, and nuclear fusion have completely debunked this myth on all levels. Everything melts at SOME temperature.

Status - undecided
[Submitted by Q, 9/05]

the TSA is replacing the FAA in regards to the matter of personal travel. NTSA handles stuff when planes fall out of the sky. The FAA isn't part of the equation anymore.

however
* each airport has an elected official who handles the regulations of that airport, this is to say the regulations of each airport may be different.

* each airline has their own set of guidelines for what's hazardous, and what is not.

so every airline at every airport has a different set of rules, convenient huh?

The TSA could care less if you have fire tools on your body, in your carry on, in your checked baggage. Doesn't matter, they don't fit the profile of the materials they're looking for. The scanners do not alarm with fire tools - I put my own tools through the scanners when I was training TSA personnel on their equipment, and identifying components of IEDs. Fire tools to not bare any resemblance to any of the components of IEDs.

It's the airline you are trying to sweet talk into allowing you to travel with used fire tools. Really - it's better that they not see them with their eyeballs.

lay off the TSA, it's not the TSA, it's the airlines. Each airline is different, each airport is different.

disassemble your tools, pack them snuggly in your bag, check your bag. If and when asked, say you're a juggler.