Torches are juggling

Juggling

Juggling is a skill involving moving objects for entertainment or sport. The most recognizable form of juggling is toss juggling, in which the juggler throws objects up to catch and toss up again. This may be one object or many objects, at the same time with one or many hands. Jugglers often refer...

 props used in many toss juggling

Toss juggling

Toss juggling is the form of juggling which is most recognisable as 'juggling'. Toss juggling is at once: a performing art, a sport, a form of exercise and meditation, a recreational pursuit and often is a hobby....

 routines. Juggling torches are essentially a club

Juggling club

Juggling clubs, or simply clubs are a prop used by jugglers, as are other props such as balls or rings. A typical club is in the range of long, weighs between , is slim at the "handle" end, and has its center of balance nearer the wider "body" end...

 or stick on which the 'far' end is an attached wick.

Wicks

The two most common wicks used with juggling torches are:

• Kevlar
  Kevlar
  Kevlar is the registered trademark for a para-aramid synthetic fiber, related to other aramids such as Nomex and Technora. Developed at DuPont in 1965, this high strength material was first commercially used in the early 1970s as a replacement for steel in racing tires...
  
   para-aramid
• Cotton
  Cotton
  Cotton is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective capsule, around the seeds of cotton plants of the genus Gossypium. The fiber is almost pure cellulose. The botanical purpose of cotton fiber is to aid in seed dispersal....
  
  

Both materials come in reels of material ranging from 13mm to 180 mm wide and up to 100 m long. Around 40–80 cm of wick is wrapped onto each torch. In general, it is best to use hard limiting devices, such as nuts and bolts, to hold the wick onto the shaft of the torch.

Construction

The torch is usually constructed around a wooden dowel which runs the length of the torch from the knob (base) to the top. The lower portion is the fitted with a handle

Handle (grip)

A handle is a part of, or attachment to, an object that can be moved or used by hand. The design of each type of handle involves substantial ergonomic issues, even where these are dealt with intuitively or by following tradition...

, the 10–12 inch area of the body where the juggler holds the torch. The handle is usually made of spiral wound plastic or wood. The upper portion of the dowel is shrouded in aluminium and joins the handle at the thickest point of the torch, roughly halfway up. This join usually also contains a weight to obtain the correct balance. The wicks are usually wrapped around the top of the shaft several times and secured with washers and multiple screws driven through the wick and the aluminium and into the wooden core.

Torches as described are commercially available from all the main juggling/circus skills manufacturers such as Renegade Juggling (as pictured above), Dubé

Dubé

Dubé and Dube are surnames, and may refer to:-Places:* Dubé, Ethiopia, another transliteration for Doba, Ethiopia* Dube, Haiti, a town of about 3,000, 18 km east of Port-au-Prince, Haiti,...

, Beard

Beard

A beard is the collection of hair that grows on the chin, cheeks and neck of human beings. Usually, only pubescent or adult males are able to grow beards. However, women with hirsutism may develop a beard...

, Flames 'N Games, Mister Babache, Henrys, Play, Infinite Illusions and cost anywhere from around 15GBP to around 25GBP each. The Ivan's Torch by SupremeFire retail at up to 105GBP ($199.99 USD) per torch.

Fuels

The most common fuel used with juggling fire torches in the US is white gas

White gas

White gas is a common name for two flammable substances. In its most common modern usage, it is used as a generic name for camp stove and lantern fuel, usually naphtha....

, or Coleman fuel. Beginning torch jugglers usually use some form of lamp oil (like barbecue lighter fluid or kerosene) since it burns cooler than white gas and is easier on the club itself. Alcohol is generally not considered a good fuel for juggling torches.
In the UK fire jugglers almost exclusively use paraffin (kerosene) or lamp oil - treated paraffin that emits less smoke.

Balls

It is possible to buy flammable juggling balls. Gloves are often needed but not always; fyrefli juggling balls for example are designed so the flame sits a few centimeters above the hand. Ball juggling is easier than club juggling, and with juggling fire balls, any stage performances look impressive. However, juggling necessarily requires the hands to alternately grip the flaming balls for 1 or more 'juggling beats'(usually around 0.5 second), known as 'dwell time'. This restricts the size of flame and the duration of the burn to avoid overheating the hands, even with gloves. For these reasons all commercially available fire juggling balls use a smaller wick and flame than standard juggling torches. Some enthusiasts have attempted to overcome this problem using fuel-soaked balls of kevlar rope and welding gloves or similar, but have been unable to achieve more than 30 seconds of useful juggling before the gloves catch fire.

Other Images

External Links

• Looking after and using fire wicks