After experiencing the detrimental effects of humidity at a yoyo meet yesterday it’s gotten me quite paranoid.
Ever since yesterday outside (approx 65% humidity), every yoyo that I used has had serious issues with snagging. I swapped the string out on one and it fixed it, but the others I haven’t had such luck. I can’t remove this snaggy feel from the free-solo after cleaning the body, the bearing, replacing response pads and replacing the string.
Besides that, after doing some research it’s gotten me quite paranoid about my yoyo storage solution.
Sydney has a quite humid climate during the summer and I leave all my yoyos with strings on them in a g2 fov case in a room where I frequently open the window. I’ve heard the string can accumulate moisture and rust and ruin the bearing.
Should I worry about this and remove the strings from all my collector’s yoyos in storage? Or is it generally okay in the case?
What effects have you guys experienced from yoyoing and yoyo storage in humid climates?
Photography gear is often placed in dry cabinets. They are electronic dehumidifiers that are plugged into an outlet. I use a “rechargeable” desiccant in metal boxes that easily fit in gear cases. I put it an oven to re-dry it periodically. There are some you can plug in and it’ll dry itself. There are reusable silica packs but I don’t want to risk puncturing the bags next to gear.
With that said, bearings don’t cost much in bulk (do it once and never worry again) so it’s up to you how much effort you want to put in. Or switch to full ceramic bearings.
Funnily, nylon is hygroscopic, readily absorbing moisture. Polyester is more moisture-resistant, which is why it’s often used for wicking layers.
65% humidity is not particularly high when compared with Southeast Asia or the SE United States where humidity hovers in the 90%+ region in the summers. So many other things to worry about in this world.
I live in FL where it is 80 + % humidity on a daily basis and have never had a single issue, even with 15 + year old yo-yos. I think you’re okay lol. As tempura said, this is most likely in your head. Stickiness/snags are only an issue WHILE you’re playing outside in humidity.
That was just the example from that day, we’ve been getting in the 80%-90% range recently, I understand it’s worse on some places but don’t underestimate what coastal Australia is like
If you’re playing in humidity it’s gonna suck a bit. String swells a tad with high humidity and everything is more sticky.., coming from Va and living in Florida for a good while and most of the se us I’ve come to only yoyo outside in the spring in fall otherwise it’s way to cold and hurts or it’s sticky and just gross to play. AC is your friend.
I basically can’t play any of my wood fixed axle outside in August here cause humidity is too high and the wood and cotton absorb so much moisture things just snag instantly.
fradiger
(the world is a beautiful cat and i must meow meow meow)
11
I’ve only ever seen rust from strings like that with older cotton strings (polyester doesn’t hold that much water IIRC), but I still do it with the yoyos I don’t throw that often
Ive definitely seen rust on old yo-yos that were stored improperly.
It’s funny generally your yo-yos will be fine but the collector stuff can get slightly messy. Like leave it in a place that gets sun and the UV can mess fade the ano. Leave them on a stained wood shelf and the part touching the shelf could get tarnished over a long period. Leave a cotton string on a steel axle in humidity and it will eventually at least tarnish if not rust the axle.
I have a set of bearings I keep more as a reminder. I cleaned them out then in a glass vile but didn’t dry them enough and month later the race was rusty.. trash now but I keep them to remind myself make sure everything is dry.
Generally throws your messing with often or in a foam case in temperature controlled space like in your home will be fine for a long time though.
I learned the hard way plastic doesn’t fair well long term in a car here. The extreme heat and cold do a number on stuff like that .
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fradiger
(the world is a beautiful cat and i must meow meow meow)
15
goes to show that the best way to keep a yoyo long term is to throw it regularly
This is purely based on hearsay from others, but I’ve heard from people in humid regions that they struggle with response pads coming loose or outright falling out.
You could always try using silicone instead of pads and see if that helps you at all. Even if you don’t have issues with pad adhesion and the grip-level is just placebo, you could at least recess the response if you really wanted it to be less snaggy.
