Yep, it’s due to the increased boundary layer. When it’s lit, you’re effectively doubling the cross sectional surface area exposed to the air. I’m looking for the thread, but you know how the search function goes. I’m interested to see what other people had to say, and why boundary layer wasn’t the decided upon answer.
How many beginning fire chain spinning students are there in your area?
Quite a few, and even more people who are way more advanced than I am. If you’re in town (Chicago), check out the firespinning at Foster Street Beach at the full moons. You might find me there.
Although, I’m saddened to say, firespinning seems to be losing popularity as glow-thing spinning is rising. Stupid ravers. 
This is my group. We’re about as organized as a herd of housecats, though, so the website is barely bare bones. I was not, I assure you, responsible for the “y” thing. :rolleyes:
I’m thinking the engine would impart more torque than the saw chain. Maybe not. The chain on most saws stops if you aren’t pulling on the throttle. Even with all the safety features, I suppose there are still sawyers called Stubby or Lefty.
There used to be a guy at Venice Beach (for you non-So. Californians, Venice is a magnet for bizarre street performers) who would juggle a running chain saw, an apple, and a peanut M&M. He would even wow the crowd by taking random bites out of the apple during his act. Funny thing was, his arms were full of long horrible looking scars…I presumed from the chain saw, but I’m not sure. Anyway, to answer the OP’s question, I don’t think any sane person is ever ready to start juggling running chain saws.
I’d vote “stage makeup.” What better way to ramp up the suspense than providing “evidence” that accidents have happened–and if it happened once or twice or a dozen times…
I think the best way to learn is just to jump in and give it a try
I’ve seen it, and I don’t think it’s faked. It’s just not that hard. And before he was half of P&T, Penn was a comedy juggler, and juggled knives and axes and other dangerous objects.
You must! They’re terrific! My best challenge object was an unwrapped copy of the Sunday Washington Post. (He took advantage of the modification clause to wrap it in tape, but still couldn’t juggle it.)
They used to live in my hometown (at least some of them) and they still come back to visit when they are on the Chatauqua. They’ve replaced some of their original member with young guys.
Heh. I can’t believe this didn’t pop into my head before.
Calvin: “Mom, where do we keep our chainsaws?”
Mom: “We don’t have any chainsaws, Calvin.”
Calvin: “Then how am I going to learn to juggle?”
Bill Watterson is a genius.
Thinking of mismatched items of different weight, I saw a guy years ago at Pier 31 (or 39?) by fisherman’s wharf in San Franscisco juggle an egg, a lit torch and a cast iron skillet. He ended by breaking the egg in the skillet and waving the torch under it asking if anybody wanted an omlette.
I quite agree that (a) this is reasonable speculation and (b) there are many things in magic and in juggling that look more dangerous than they really are. However, in this particular case, it’s pretty much unfaked. They are real glass bottles. Penn doesn’t know or care much how they are going to break. He can (and often does) end up with ‘bottles’ that are barely more than the neck and a nasty shard of glass. He sometimes really does have to cope with the fact that the ‘bottles’ he is juggling have different weights and may have very eccentric shapes. He can do this, and - to be perfectly fair - so can many other jugglers who have learned their skills and their trade on the streets.
The only ‘fakery’ involved is that it’s just not quite as dangerous as common intuition suggests. If you are doing this kind of juggling, with broken glass, the risk of actually sustaining a serious cut or gash is actually much lower than you might think. A competent three-ball juggler should be able, with a little practise, to make sure he only ever catches the solid neck of the bottle. If his hand does happen to touch the other parts of one of the bottles, where there is an exposed sharp edge, in 95% of cases the timing and the angle is going to be such that he’s risking nothing more than a scratch. A jagged piece of glass is really only dangerous when it is applied in a slicing or cutting motion with pressure behind it.
With all that having been said, there still is a slight but real risk of a serious cut, and Penn has to be a darned good juggler to perform the feat night after night.