Hey guys , i recently purchased a a fixed axle from BoiseWoodworks, and for the life of me, cant get it to perform the way i want to. Was curious if any of you guys were able to get it to work for you? I tried double looping and still cant get it to respond well. Anything you can recommend?
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Chapstick or Vaseline on the loop end of the string can help.
The Boise wood needs a bit of a thicker 100% cotton string. I believe type 10 cotton is pretty decent for them 100 Count - 100% Cotton - YoYoExpert String
However throw yo @rkalajian nectars are also fantastic on these
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I have yet to see this mentioned but I have been loving zipper wax on my No Jive
Not the exact brand I have been using (some JungleMart no name) but it works awesome. It’s just plain wax/ chapstick without the additives of regular chapstick. I use this with YYEs red and black string
I bought it originally for all the zippers on my Jeep (97 soft top with half doors: zippers everywhere) and it’s like magic.
Also, it should be noted: I am terrible at fixed axle but I do love them
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Brandon is right, after using type 10 cotton and a butt ton of Chapstick, it responds like normal. Be liberal with the chapstick.
I believe it’s a buy product of the gap size and axle size needing to be smaller. I spoke with owner and he said he would make them to a customers specs anytime. Real nice dude.
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Thank you so much guys. I will be trying these options out and will report my update. Trying to go wood for FAF. From what I hear, wood is good
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Yeah rich is a cool dude. He’s been getting better at making these.
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Apparently Tom Kuhn went through every material he could find including special polymers from NASA and concluded that birch wood is, in fact, the best axle material for a fixie. This was brought up in Doc Luckys interview of him for his podcast.
Here’s the part of the interview: https://youtu.be/8YYPCEZpi28?si=SOxJsb7_0XyUnDFf&t=31m46s
Interview starts at 18:15 if you wanna see the whole thing
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He asked me what an optimal size axle and gap would be. I told him I am dumb but that a Duncan Butterfly gap and axle works for me, but that I was unsure if a wooden able that small would hold up since the Butterfly has a metal axle.
Any advice appreciated
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This is where folks like @Eric_Newlin , @Glenacius_K , and even @TryCatchThrow probably know better than I
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Odd question, but is double wrapping the axle frowned upon during FAF? lol
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It’s harder for me to do it with a double wrap. If you can, that’s actually pretty cool
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The modern Butterfly axle is usually around 6mm diameter at the gap. If replacing it with a wood dowel you would use 1/4” (6.35mm). There are woods where 1/4” axle is fine.
I prefer 5/16” (8mm) axles for many throws as they are a bit more resilient.
Edit: For gap I like 2.6mm. It’s a hair smaller than a 2 cent gap (which is apparently 3mm).
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Sweet, thank you, I passed that one
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No it’s a preference thing.
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Double wrapping is fine. For metal axles in particular I prefer it for response adjustment to beeswax or other methods. I find for most wood axles, double wrapping will stop the throw from sleeping, which is usually undesirable.
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1/4” walnut axles are fairly common in fixies. It gives a nice long spin time, and walnut is fairly durable. Standard TMBR axles are 1/4” walnut. But I have had instances where a 1/4” walnut axle breaks. I don’t usually put throws with this thin of an axle in my pocket, for example - just in case.
I really like a 5/16” hickory axle. Hickory is really durable and that extra 1/16” also adds a surprising amount to the overall durability. This diameter does slightly reduce spin time, but I still find it great for modern fixed axle/0a. Unless Glen changed anything, all my Spinworthy axles are 8mm, which is basically 5/16”.
Maple also makes for a good axle, if you’re not throwing aggressively for massive spin times (which might burn a line in the wood). It has a pleasant responsiveness to it. Using hard maple would help avoid line burn issues. Jon Gates uses maple for his axles.
And like was said before, birch can be really good too. Although I think that the type of birch matters here. Yellow birch is slightly harder, more resilient, and less likely to get a burned line. White birch can sometimes be too soft. And birch is often not labeled in the US, which makes it extra confusing.
For gaps, I usually like 2.20-2.25mm for a yoyo with response holes. A higher wall yoyo could have a slightly wider gap.
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Passing this along as well, thank you so much. He said he will try to make some prototypes
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All of you guys are super heroes, thank you
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tbf nothing is really “frowned upon”. whatever you need/want to do to enjoy your toy is fine!
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I know Mr. Eric did several wood type experiments on my Bandaid Gnomad!
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