Hey guys, I’m a beginner player and I have a few questions about things that were unclear to me:
First off, about lubing a yo yo - I have a DM, and I know that you are supposed to lube the bearing, but which part exactly? The bearing is sealed from both sides, and I wasn’t sure whether to lube the outside of the bearing connecting between it and the axle, or lube the side of the bearing and then turn it around a lot so the lube will sink in? Or something else?
The second problem - As I played I soon realized that the string is pretty much eroding my throw hand finger after a while…I’m currently trying to find something useful to pad the finger with to avoid that, any suggestions? And another problem I had with the same subject - I’ve been using the learning section of this site, and looked around at other places as well, and I see no other player who’s displaying tricks that uses any sort of padding, and I’m sure their throws and tricks are supposed to cause much more of that sort of harm…So why do I need to pad my finger and they don’t?
Well, as for the padding question it’s about your body. When I first started, the string just tore the crap out of my finger. As time goes on, your finger will begin to calluse and this will no longer happen.
You can apply you lube directly on top of the bearing. The lube will sink into the bearing, there might be other or better ways to do it but that is how Andre teaches you in his maintenance section.
This eroding in natural and pretty good. What is happening is your skin is forming a callus , Like Q said. This calluse is like hard skin, and once it is formed the string wont hurt your finger as much. If you start to get cuts just put a band-aid to help heal it. Other players dont use a pad because they have calluses, and it doesn’t really hurt them.
Hope I helped.
Anybody please correct me if I am wrong.
For the most part, Kei is correct.
Except when he says the top, he means the side that the strings don’t touch
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Right. Thanks Q.
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Anytime Kei
Yes. It’s along the same line as beginning guitarists needing to build up calluses on their fingers (I know from experience that pushing down on guitar strings, especially with your weak hand, can be unpleasant). The only reason I can see needing a barrier between the string and your finger is if you’re using a polyester sting and you happen to be allergic to polyester.
some people wear gloves, but that is more for the michel jackson look. for lubing, dont just squirt lube in the bearing. put a drop on a needle and then touch the needle to the side where there is no string.
Also some people will use something like athletic tape under the slip knot. But i think that that is more to make sure the loop stays on your finger, 'cause I know I have that problem every once in a while.
I think that this is more to avoid string burn while playing quickly.
First Problem- Just apply some lube on the side of the bearing. Put your yoyo together and do not put your string on yet! Wait like 5 minutes for it to dry and take you yoyo apart. Now put your string on and their you go!
Second Problem- The same thing happen to me when I started too. Ow… it hurts! Just use your other fingers to do string tricks. Eventually they cuts/wore down skin should start healing up. Your fingers should then start getting use to it.
When you play and your finger hurts, if you want to continue playing take a paper napkin. Cut a small piece, roll it gently on your finger and put the string were the napkin is on your finger.
I know you said that you understand but I want you to get the full spectrum of it all.
When lubing.
Some take the shields off to lube their bearing and that is not necessary. If you have never cleaned your bearing then putting the lube directly on the shield is the way to go. Not all of the lube will sink into the bearing and that’s fine. I’d let it sit on its side for about a minute before I wipe the excess off and reassemble the yoyo.
If you clean your bearing in mineral spirits or the many other solutions that are used and you want your yoyo completely unresponsive then you don’t want to put a full drop of lube in it. Like someone said before that’s when you just put the drip from a needle on two of the balls then spin it to get the lube throughout the bearing. This method will cause you to need to BIND to get the yoyo to return.
Now for your skin.
Gloves are primarily used for Clammy hands or high speed tricks like eli hops. The thing about gloves for me is that it’s a lot harder to “feel” your way through a trick with gloves on.
My suggestion is to lotion your hands every day and just yoyo a lot. You finger will grow a callous and it won’t hurt any more. The reason for the lotion is that your callous will get dry. It this happens then it will crack right where the string is and cut you. The lotion will keep the callous malleable and keep it from cracking.
Any other questions? Ask away. That’s why we are here!
Thanks again for the detailed response and for the welcoming
I recreated my account though, as you all may notice, since I was deeply impressed by the forum and the people, and of course I got hooked with yoyoing, so I wanted to be more active in the forum, and I also hope not to remain a beginner forever…
