First, I’ll introduce myself. I"m 37 years old now with 2 kids, but didn’t start yo-yoing until my 20’s. I have quite a collection and haven’t used them for a while so I’ve started reading about general maintenance and trying to restore some of them. So I have 2 questions.
I have a wooden fixed axle (axle also wooden) yo-yo and when I look inside it it seems that there is a string inside where the axle fits into the hole. It’s not the yo-yo string though. Is there a reason this is there? If not, can I get it out?
Another wooden fixed axle (axle also wooden) which seems to lack response. When I look inside at the axle is seems like there is a groove in the middle of the axle. I’ve tried putting a new string on it and got the same kind of response (or lack thereof).
I don’t think either yo-yo can be open or untwisted due to it being wooden.
1: It’s probably something that have ended up there from an old string…? Could you take a picture?
But if it doesn’t affects how the yoyo screws together it most wont likely do any harm either…
Without pictures it’s hard to say, it could just be an old broken string thats knotted on the axle. You can try to get it out with a paperclip or tweezers or something like that.
Wooden fixed axles don’t typically have response. As for the groove, this is pretty normal for a well played fixed axle yo-yo. The string wears a groove into the axle which can make it less responsive. You can try a thicker string but you will probably need to replace the axle. If you look through the modification and maintenance section I think there are some tutorials on how to replace a fixed axle with a wooden dowel cut down to size.
I just wanted to say thanks for the kind and prompt responses on here. I’ve had bad experiences with message boards and so many yo-yo message boards have 0 activity.
It would be too hard to get pictures, the yo-yo’s don’t unscrew so you’d probably just get a picture of the gap with darkness in between.
So in short, and after your responses, I’ve decided both yo-yo’s are ok enough, and I’ll continue working on the other ones. (Just had a yo-yo dropped off at my father’s to restore the paint job, he’s been painting models since he was 10 [and he turns 65 this year])
Try wetting the axle just a bit and let the water seeps into the wood, it helped in my case. Also try tightening the string, let the yoyo sit on the bottom then spin it clockwise (from your perspective).
