Contact & Fire Staff Guide

Contact Staff Guide

Staffs are the unique in the flow community,  If you like them, that’s all you flow with! So staffs can be broken down into two or more types. Let’s put LED and fire to the side for now. Non contact staffs are typically lightweight and spun similar to baton style. These staffs most often spun using arm and wrist movements. They build up momentum fast and are ideal for faster moves and tosses. 

Contact Staffs

This Staff Guide will focus on Contact staffs are weighted to slow down rotations and momentum. This makes balance easier for on-body contact moves and beginners. Instead of spinning the staff with just your hands, parts of your body like your neck, back and chest are utilized. 

Aluminum vs Carbon Fiber Staff

Staffs are commonly built with aluminum tubing, but more often carbon fiber staffs are hitting the market. Carbon Fiber staffs have a few benefits over aluminum staffs. Carbon fiber has a better chance of surviving a bad bending situation, because its composition is a little more elastic than aluminum. They also distribute their weight slightly more to the ends of the staff, rather than across the whole body. Carbon fiber also tends to be a little bouncier and responsive than aluminum. These benefits, along with the cost of the material tend to raise the price of carbon fiber staffs. Sacred Flow Art features a Carbon Fiber Staff starting at $129 (image below)!

When it comes to fire staffs, we there is one big debate on spines! The spine of the dragon staff is the attached end tube with a wick. Some say the spine of a dragon staff should be rigid because if they’re made to bend, they “wobble” while spinning. Others say that spines should be flexible, because when a spine is too rigid, it will break after hitting the ground too many times. This is a delicate balance. The Ultra LED Dragon Staff really shows how a proper middle ground can result in an awesome staff. See the durability video here!

Choose your next staff with confidence, and keep practicing! The Flow is within all of us, we just need to channel it! 

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