Weight training for injury prevention by Steven Ragatz

Warming Up by Steven Ragatz

Visualization and Juggling by Steven Ragatz

Numbers Training by Steven Ragatz

How long is a piece of string ?

A good way to measure the length of your diablo string is to let the hand sticks drape loosely across your thumbs and extend your arms out. The string should be the length of your arm span. Although shorter strings can be desirable for two and three diablo tricks, I keep my strings this length.

Fritz and I have an entire spool of diablo string that we ordered from Dube. It was not very expensive and has enough string to last a LONG time. If you just want to buy string from a hardware store, look for mason's twine. You will want a twine that is woven, not twisted. Avoid cotton since it stretches and gets dirty easy. I try to keep my string replaced very often. It keeps the action of the diablo true.

A good way to thread you hand sticks is to counter sink the holes. The holes in my hand sticks are usually drilled about 1 cm from one end of the stick. The holes are usually about 4-5mm diam. Use a 7-8mm drill bit and drill on the outside of the stick half way in. This give the knot in the string some place to hide.

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                 | |    |   <--  Cross section of hand stick.
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Once the hole are drilled, thread the string and tie the knots to the desired length. Wrap the ends with some very thin gauge wire to finish the knots. Wedge the wire wrapped ends into the counter sunk holes. Viola! Smooth on both sides of the stick. No knot to catch when doing hand stick tricks. If you want to get really fancy, drop a dab of silicone epoxy on the hole to really smooth the stick.

- Steve