Advantages to ball chain:
- lighter
- built in swivels
- easier on your hands/skin
- doesn't hold as much heat (fewer burns & cools faster)
- doesn't tangle as easily
- untangles very easily
- you can slip out of it quickly if you accidently [lexicon]wrap[/lexicon] it around your arm or whatever (it rolls right off)
- much safer all around
Disadvantage:
- if you dunk your ball chain in the fuel by accident, the little balls hold fuel. Be sure to spin out REALLY well if this happens.
Use the stainless steel ball chain in 13 gauge or bigger. Aluminum or brass ball chain is weaker (aluminum is definitely too weak), and 10 gauge ball chain is borderline on being strong enough to handle the job - 13 gauge has twice the tensil strength of 10. Plus the larger the ball, the less likely it is to tangle and the easier it untangles.

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[lexicon]ballchain[/lexicon] has many many advantages over other types of chain or cable, but one minor and one major disadvantage:

minor: connectors need to be tightly crimped

major: heat fatigue. 13 gauge stainless steal (SS) will heat fatigue fairly quickly - count on about 50 burns maximum for 13 SS. when you start to see the spreading mentioned earlier, flip it over so that the heat fatigued and is now near the [lexicon]handles[/lexicon] and not the fire - this will give you another 30 to 50 burns or so.

15 gauge SS will last significantly longer - as long as 100 -200 burns per side, but it will eventually fail as well - it is important to keep an eye on it.

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stainless is stronger/more resistant to heat fatigue than nickle plated steel (NPS). furthermore, NPS has a nasty habit of eventually starting to shead its nickle plating, which can actually cause metal splinters to lodge in your skin. Also SS is significantly more corrosion resistant than NPS. SS cost something like 50-100% more than NPS, but it will last as much longer than to make it more than worth the investment.

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if you have really large wicks, I recomend even considering finding yourself 20 gauge [lexicon]ballchain[/lexicon]. I have never seen 20 gauge fail, but it is significantly heavier. you can use the same exact connectors with 20 guage as you use with 15 gauge BTW.

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never use anything besides steal for fire [lexicon]Poi[/lexicon], and nothing les than 13 gauge. for practice [lexicon]Poi[/lexicon], I have used 10 gauge brass balllchain for years and years without it ever failing, but put that on fire [lexicon]Poi[/lexicon] the same weight as those practice [lexicon]Poi[/lexicon] and it wouldn't last a couple burns. I once made the mistake of buying 13 gauge aluminum [lexicon]ballchain[/lexicon] thinking it would be pretty for practice [lexicon]Poi[/lexicon], but after about 15 minutes of spinning (witout fire) the aluminum fatigued and broke.

but even if you are not using [lexicon]ballchain[/lexicon], there is still a risk of failure from heat fatiuge - I have seen traditional link chain and quite sturdy looking swivels fail too. so ALWAYS cheack your equipment before and after a spin - [lexicon]handles[/lexicon], links, chain, wicks, bolts, everything!

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Ball-chain seems to be the chain of choice among most of the more-experienced twirlers here. My own ball-chains have been through at least 40 burns, and the worst thing that has happened to them is that the chrome has come off the couplers (which are made of brass). I haven't seen or heard of any breakdown problems with the stuff. In fact, the only failures I've ever seen with any [lexicon]Poi[/lexicon] equipment of any kind were in the grips, the wick, or the connector between the chain and the wick.

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Some of the individual balls near the hot end have separated slightly at the seam--not quite enough for me to stick a fingernail in, but enough to be visible. The brass connectors are definitely battered-looking (the bending you see is probably partly due to the original crimping and partly to subsequent tangles and the like), but don't seem in danger of breaking. I've been using my ball-chains for about 10 months, and I can imagine that I'll need to replace them at some point, but for now, they seem to be holding up.

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the party was three days long but the bulk of the burning was saturday night. It was amazing. I think the [lexicon]handles[/lexicon] took the biggest beating of all of the [lexicon]Poi[/lexicon] Adam donated (#13 ballchain). Like I said, if that ball chain could hold up to the 10 burns in a span of a few hours then I think it should hold really well through over 40, for certain.

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I'd just like to echo that carbiners and other "press in" links can be scary... I too lost practice balls twice before ... if you get the right twist on your chains, the can press in on the link as firmly as your finger...