This article describes the simple process of how to make your own Devil Sticks. The only materials you need are wood dowels and hockey tape, and it should take well under an hour. MATERIALS: - Wooden dowels: 4 feet of 5/16" diameter and 2 feet of 1/2" - Hockey tape: one roll (more for colors) - A saw to cut the dowels.
Get this stuff at a hardware store (or maybe a sports store for the hockey tape if you don't live in Canada).
STEP 1: Saw vs Dowels Cut the thick dowel to be 2 feet long. This will be the middle devil stick.
You need to cut 2 pieces of the thinner dowel, the same length. Recommended: 20-24 inches long. (shown above - note I have 2 thick dowel pieces when only 1 is required).
STEP 2: Sticky Tubes
Pull down a long roll of tape (don't cut it).
Spin the roll so the tape rolls into a tube. Sticky-side out.
Wrap the sticky tube along the thick dowel as shown. Cut it off at the end.
Repeat this a second time, but reverse the direction so the 2 sticky tubes intersect regularly.
STEP 3: Exterior Tape Wrap the thick dowel with one big piece of tape, only cutting off at the end. You can still just stretch the tape away from its spool a little at a time.
STEP 4: End Weights Wrap some bulbs of extra tape on each end of the middle stick. This provides counter-weight for the devil stick in the air. You don't need too much, start small and test it out.
STEP 5: Hand Stick Exterior Tape Repeat the exterior tape step on both of the hand-sticks. EXCEPT make sure to make small bumps as you tape. Vary the angle you wrap around to get these. This gives you increased friction and better handling.
STEP 6: Rock your Devil Sticks Here's a grainy video of mine in action:
PS: Thanks to my bro for teaching me this years ago.
I'm starting a business teaching these sticks to kids and adults. I've been doing the sticks for about 13 years. I was wondering how long are each of the three sticks of yours? How much weight do you add to the ends? Right now I buy mine from a company that makes them and uses rubber.
Good luck with your business. I've found 2 feet long to be a good length for each stick, but you could play around with that. The hand sticks could be shortened somewhat and still be usable.
If you have some store bought ones you could measure their length also.
wicked..going to provide a juggling toys workshop at festivals in the uk next year as most of the stuff from the stalls are to exspensive to buy for the kids just to play about with. Soon they will be making they're own toys.GREAT
We are heading to the Medeival festival again this year and my boys wanted some last year and I didn't buy them (at $40 each almost) but making them ahead of time and taking them with us is a great idea! Thanks!
Just finished my first ones! Took me 3.5 hours, because I made flowersticks instead (those damn tassels were time-consuming). Anyway, thanks for the great idea! Around my parts, the devilsticks in shops cost around 40€.
When you bought the tap did it say hockey tap because i try looking up the tap online and nutting comes out for that kind of tap what does it say on the package?
You need to get some irregular bumps going in the way you wrap the tape around. Play around with some different angles/techniques. The goal is for it to NOT be smooth. My pictures don't show that very well.
cool, I just finished mine, but they took quite a while. About 2 hours... The tape I had kept on parting. If it hadn't a parted, I probably could a done it in less than 1.5 hrs... but thanks! Here they cost 30$ plus!
ok quick question cant find or get any hockey tape any one with good ideas of what i could use? i was thinking a type of duct tape cuz i know you can buy those in multi colors too which would be nice lol?
Hi, I am AMAZED at how great you play! My dad plays, too. He is teaching me how to play too. I can flip them in the air so far, but my devil sticks recently broke. But now, I will make my own, thanks to you! -Felix P.S. I am ten. P.S.S. Iam a girl!
Around America the tape is widely known as ATHLETIC TAPE. It is used in many sports, including Hockey, Football, Lacrosse, etc.
You can find this kind of tape at just about ANY ATHLETIC STORE and can come in large variety of colors for different custom looks.
SIZES:
The Middle Stick can be variety of sizes depending on the height of the individual. An average size of the middle stick can range from 18-24 inches and the 2 Handle Sticks should be roughly 2 inches shorter than the Middle Stick for better control and accuracy.
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Just some Added info that may help for some. Enjoy. BTW, Great Tutorial!
i started playing with devil sticks when i was 12 years old. there was a store on Marco Island, Florida called "marooned on marco" selling the brand "mysticks" ($25) which have a rubber exterior and slightly flexible fiberglass (hollow) interior. THOSE are the best variation of devil sticks. i am 25 now and have made my own out of wood and hockey tape/electrical tape... wood and rubber and duct tape. but over all the BEST are the Mysticks brand. only downside is to mysticks is that the rubber can get a little melty and sticky when temperatures outside are hot and you spin A LOT, and can come off in large chunks (peels away from the fiberglass) but Mysticks DOES sell replacement rubber to coil back over your sticks again!!!
read this link bout a year a go they work great but i play so much since then im like a devil stick god now. and they just dont have the grip to do real pro stuff. got any ideas how to perfect them?
If you are just learning to spin, use duct tape. One long strip wrapped lengthwise will do it. We also recycled a t-shirt to make poms for the ends. These sticks are soooo slow that my 7-year-old has figured it out. He says he's "The Master" (whatever that means.) Anyway, he loves 'em!
try useing rubber and sillicone tape from any diy shop and you paint the wood dowl with a desighn first then wrap it round its the same as sure grip on lunastix ps thanks the info ive been playing with flower stixs since i was 16 now im 25 lol keep the info coming also try aluminiom in the core instead of dowl
great idea man, good stuff. i heard tho that for the measurements of the hand sticks its from the crease in your elbow to the middle of the palm of ur hand, and then twice that for the flower stick itself. this is meant to give you a nice length specific to u. great job tho cheers!
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you guys are going about it all wrong. i use rubber tape to wrap my stix overlapping about an 1/8" all the way down. 1/4" fiberglass tent tent pole works really well for the main stick. wood for the other two. and i use a 2"x24" piece of leather w/ tassles cut in it. glue gun and colored elec. tape for flare. total cost(not including tent pole) $6.
what i meant to say was this is what works best for me. i've tried everything over a period of 20 yrs. I sell mine for $20-$30 depending on the tassel (upholstery fabric/leather) and main piece( wood/fiberglass). wood for the main piece is good too, but be careful when you kick it, they break easy. good for beginners.
I just made some for my little sister. They work perfect and really look the part! I did use some different stuff. I went to a bikeshop (I live in the netherlands, lots of those around!) and got old innertubes for free. Then I bought some thin, strong, PVS tubes and cut them to size. I wrapped the old cut-up tube around it and added tassels to the end. Than decorated the flowerstick with some colorful tape.....the endresult looks store bought! All the material cost me less than 10 euros and I got lots left to make more!
Great forum! I’m starting my own business as well so I really shouldn’t say anything but I use fiberglass rods for all 3 sticks, cut leather to form tribal designed ends, and a combination of glues, leather strips, silicone tape, and rope for frictional bases. If you are making true devil sticks, all you need is hardened dowel rods and tape of any kind. The tape needs to form an hourglass shape and the sticks themselves are more based on skill and less on friction. Flower sticks on the other hand are much easier to use but far harder to create. When most people think devil sticks, these are the ones that usually come to mind. The shafts can be straight but as others have stated, friction alone isn’t enough if you can’t afford to pick up surgical tubing to coat them. I have been searching for years to find another type of material but silicon tape used for tennis rackets, baseball bats, hockey sticks, etc is the cheapest and easiest to find. Duct or electric tape isn’t tacky enough to cause enough pull. Have fun and good luck.
Hi! Thank you so much for creating this How-To! Now I probably will not have to spend 45$ on Devil Sticks! I must say, you are quite talented! Keep on practicing, and I hope to see more of your How-To's!
EXTRA INFO: Hockey Tape in North America is widely known as Athletic tape and it can be found in every sports store. TIPS: Through trial and error, i found that the main devil stick was best at around 26 inches and best results came when quite a bit of weight was added at the end of the stick, not just a little. ALTERNATIVE:I found that the best homemade devil stick/flower stick was when I took a 24 inch dowel (7/16" diameter) and two 20 inch (5/16 diameter) and wrapped a cut up bike tube around all the stick. it had amazing grip. Then, I putmore weight on the end in the form of rubber flowers (hence the name Flower stick) there are tutorials online on how to do this. my first one came out amazing. All of this was essentially free (assuming you can get free old bike tubes at your local bike shop.) all i paid was 2 dollars for the dowels. Source: Youtube.com has a video names "Constuccion devilstick" look it up and follow the instruction>
wow..i had no idea you were so young! haha, i just mean you seem so experienced and skilled already to be only one year out of college. i am in school for design right now, with about a year and a half to go. thanks for the tips and insight!
Couldn't be written any better. Reading this post reminds me of my old room mate! He always kept talking about this. I will forward this article to him. Pretty sure he will have a good read. Thanks for sharing!
Hey guys I stumbled across this thread and felt like adding. I over the last 3-4 yrs have made close to 100 sets. These are addictive, fun and pretty much anyone can get the hang off making them and juggling them. like previously stated lenghts of the sticks are ones personal preference. You can use all sorts of different materials but texture for a bit of grip is crucial. A few suggestions that may work for someone building their first set 1 wrap double sided carpet tape around the sticks (warning- careful while handling at this stage and placing it down) 2 wrap twine arond like a candy cane from one end to the next and then again in opposite direction if done neatly you will get a daimond design 3 try some fabric over the twine and tape ( suede is one of my favs ) and go from there. Hope these tips can help. have fun everyone.
Great steps bro .. and for the film features negative nancy... I'm a festy regular and instead of paying 40$ at a show much better to spend less than 5 and make ur own... My step son uses bike innertubes and wraps the creased with elec tape.
I tried to purchase a large amount of flower sticks but there was no way to get them in time so I'm thinking about mas producing and selling them at block party's in ny on the weekends. I happen to like the silicone rubber tube that's being used on the sticks that I got from five below. My question is what type of tubing is it that there using is it heat shrink and if not how do they get the dowels in the tube
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