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Peter's Adventures in Fire Eating

Pics

Some pics.

Big Update

Well, I did it. I ate fire. After all of the research, preparation, and practice it was almost a let-down. I started out with everclear. It was a bright day, and the best way to tell it was burning was by the heat-haze shadow the torch cast on the ground. I "tasted" it a couple of times. Nothing to it. I took the swap most of the way into my mouth and puffed out. The flame died. Not pretty, but all of the elements were there.

Next I tried a 1:1 mixture of ultra-pure lamp (paraffin) oil and everclear. They didn't want to mix. The alcohol seemed to do a good job as an accelerant, aiding in lighting the torch, but it seemed to burn off quickly, leaving straight oil to burn. In any case the oil burned with a much better flame. The stunt wasn't any more difficult.

Finally, I tried white gas. The smoke with the oil was barely noticeable. The smoke from the gas was nearly black and far heavier. It seemed hotter and less willing to go out, but the stunt wasn't substantially more difficult.

I couldn't see myself, but my friend Jim gave me good feedback on each attempt. Each seemed better than the last. Jim "ate" the alcohol and alcohol/oil torches too!

I am very pleased to report that there were no problems at all, and that I have given myself worse burns with a slice of pizza!

It is clear to me now that the "trick" is in making the stunt look difficult and dangerous.

Leather shoelace and Gorilla Glue seemed to work fine for the handles. 1/8th inch round wick is definitely what you want for the swabs. Do yourself a favor and buy a spool of kevlar thread. The 1/8th inch wick does not want to stay put, regardless of what Garth says. Kevlar thread to tie down the wick is a necessity. Three layers of wick around the rod down 1 1/2 to 2 inches of the rod's length is the right size for the swab. This requires about 50 inches of wick.

Update

My design is more-or-less final. I have three 14 in. sections of 1/8 in. diameter steel rod. (That's 36cm x 3mm for those in the civilized world.) I threaded them on both ends with what I believe to be a 5-40 die. I need to find some leather thongs (i.e. shoelaces) for the handles. I believe Gorilla Glue is going to work. They claim that it is stable up to 338° F (170° C), so long as the materials don't expand and crack the joint. I've ordered a bunch of Kevlar from Dubé.

I'll try to track down a digital camera and put up some photos when they are complete.

I found a nice reference for machine screw threads. Might be handy for anyone trying to thread his own rod.

First Entry

Honestly, I don't find fire eating that exciting to watch. I certainly admire fire eaters for their bravery and showmanship, and for the burns I imagine they have sustained.

I am obsessed with learning the skill.

Since I don't know any fire eaters I'm left to teach myself. I purchased Benjamin Garth Mack's book Fire Eating: A Manual of Instruction.

The first requirement is obtaining fuel and torches. It seems that there is no such thing as an off-the-shelf fire eating torch. Making torches seems to be to fire eaters what making a light saber is to Jedi Knights. Mack's instructions leave something to be desired. Where can a guy get kevlar yarn? How thick is kevlar yarn? Who knows? Dubé sells 1/8th inch Fire Eating Cord. I'll report here whether that works or not.

The cord I found (500 pound test aramid cord from a model rocket vendor) is about 1/32nd inch thick. I used about 15 feet of it to make a torch, but it didn't want to stay lit.

He also glosses over securing the last couple of wraps of the cord. Using his whipping method leaves the last turn or two wanting to come loose. Still trying to figure out how to overcome that.

As to fuel, pure lamp oil seems the safest from a health point of view. With my inadequate torch it doesn't seem to work well. Once I build a proper torch I'll have to see if it will work. If not I'll probably switch to white gas (a.k.a. Coleman fuel).

I tried fire on hand with the lamp oil, but I couldn't get the flame to transfer. Possibly because the lamp oil isn't volatile enough. Possibly because I'm too much of a wuss to get the oil hot enough to burn.

I want to wrap my handles with a leather thong, but securing the ends is tricky. I'm planing to research heat-resistant glues that might help.

More to come once I've built new torches.

I make a t-shirt every day. Sometimes they're funny. Get the t-shirt feed.

One of my current projects is the Free Curriculum Project. It's slow going, but I have high hopes.

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What's up with those Amazon links?

Original text and images Copyright 2003–2006 Peter Hutnick. All rights reserved.
All other text and images Copyright their respective owners.