Andrew and Zach,
Forget the flyback transformer; it just doesn't deliver enough current.
Leigh Lundin used to custom engineer Jacob's ladders for Terror on Church Street Frankenstein display and other 'haunted' projects. He used oil burner transformers in the 10K-20Kv range for wallop, but for ToCS he switched over to neon transformers which delivered less juice, but could run for hours.
Tip: Use steel rods, not copper.
Tip: Shield the rods from air current.
Andrew, perhaps consider for your electronic project a circuit that cycles an oil burner transformer on for 2 minutes and then off again.
Remember, you're dealing with hi-heat, hi-voltage, and hi-current.