In November 2022, YoYoFriends released the first ever Damascus steel plus titanium rimmed yoyo. The yo-yo received positive feedback, highlighting the community’s support for innovation.
Creating the Damascus FS was a monumental task, especially sourcing 50mm+ diameter rods. Opting for a full-sized, 55mm+ bimetal design, YoYoFriends used a simplistic V shape to balance the dense Damascus steel while ensuring high performance. Choosing a 6mm axle allowed for optimal weight distribution, enhancing power and stability. A wider gap accommodated modern tricks and thicker strings, catering to players’ preferences.
After three months of design work, sourcing the materials proved challenging. Damascus steel, difficult to procure, required extensive efforts, including countless calls to knife factories. Once secured, manufacturing began, focusing on minimizing middle weight and maximizing rim weight. Initial tests with aluminum revealed issues, leading to adjustments in machine settings to perfect the design.
Manufacturing the Damascus FS involved overcoming the hurdles of working with larger, denser material. After successful tests and slight weight adjustments, the final 65.8g design emerged, offering exceptional agility and power. Player testing confirmed its ability to handle vertical and horizontal tricks, solidifying its performance.
The Damascus FS represents YoYoFriends’ commitment to innovation, blending traditional materials with modern design for a unique yo-yo experience.
Just had a thought; given the heterogeneity of the material, surely there’s no way they can ensure that every single yoyo is exactly 65.8g. At least I’d imagine their tolerances would be larger than compared to a mono-material yoyo. Though perhaps the steels are extremely close in density so it’s not that big of a deal.
That looks really awesome but at this point in my life, I draw the line at anything over $200. I try to not go over $150 but I have a few times. I honestly don’t think I will ever buy a $600 + yoyo, but If I was rich, I’d be happy to.
Honestly, I’d rather go with Enso metatrons cube because I think it just looks better than the yoyofriends Damascus. Even though I like the specs better on this yoyo I’m gonna have to pass on this price tag! Love the throw but it would probably sit in my case too much. Real steep price tag
Thank you guys for the questions and concerns. Yoyofriends and our parent company/ manufacturer FPM first made the yoyofriends Damascus in 2022. It is very hard to manufacture as making a yoyo spin smoothly with no vibe is very different than making a Damascus knife.
They told me they exhausted many resources to master the manufacturing of this material.
The Damascus FS is based on us mastering the manufacturing of the material. However we have to look everywhere to find steel rod that is larger in diameter so we can even have a chance to machine it.
We intend to push the limit of manufacturing with experiment and problem solving so it will benefit not just yoyofriends, but the entire yoyo community and other companies as well. The pricing is very expensive because of the hardship of the manufacturing and how hard it is to source the material. This is not a common occurance as yoyofriends is known for some of the best quality at a reasonable price in most of our lineup. We have a 50mm shortcut inspired yoyo at under 40USD probably later this year, shout out to yoyoexpert for testing it as well at WYYC. We will continue to experiment and redefine what is possible manufacturing wise in the yoyo community weather it’s a new material or extreme designs.
Also as for the material use. I have messaged the boss directly and I should have an answer soon.
In term of material of Timascus, as I recall YYFriends already had a release on Timascus Koi way back in WYYC 23 Osaka at their booth but there is not much info on specs or any global release date yet.
Just talked and the Damascus Steel we use are a single piece of steel rod that contains various levels of carbon steel etc. The density are similar and that is why we can manufacture it into yoyo with such tolerance. He also said it is very hard to manufacture as the material is extremely hard. It took us 45 days to manufacture this batch of Damascus FS.
At each density, the yoyo will play different. Since the full body is stainless steel, it’s got a unique stainless steel feel to it like how titanium has a unique feel as well. However pure performance wise (basically cramming as much rim weight as possible) personally I still think 7068 is the go to along with titanium if pushed enough. Stainless steel can be machined super thin like titanium but it is just super dense. That is why we have to resort to 6mm axle to minimize the wall of the center because it is so dense. Damascus FS does perform tho. I personally tested the prototype along with Tony Sung and Tomoki Toyama on team yoyofriends and green lit the project when we were happy with the performance. Yoyofriends will always have performance as one of our top priorities no matter how ambitious the project or what kind of material we are using. The yoyofriends player team with me as lead will make sure of that.
