Perhaps I wasn’t specific enough with my title, but generally, people assume you are speaking about wooden fixed axle yoyos when you are discussing wooden yoyos. Yes, there are a few exceptions.
Wooden unresponsive yoyos really aren’t all that great. I mean, they’re fine, but I’ve made a couple and in my opinion it’s just best to stick with metals or plastics.
And if you’re suggesting that the world has moved on from wooden yoyos, that isn’t entirely true as evidenced by some of the contributions here, not to mention the fact that they are still being released and sold.
Indeed, there would be many out there that are of the opinion that if it isn’t simple fixed axle responsive and made of wood, it isn’t really a yoyo.
I’m certainly not of that opinion, but it’s out there.
Wood is still good, but I’ve become so smitten with my Deep State, that I haven’t played with wood as much of late. I know they are not the same. I just am really enjoying responsive bearing right now, for my responsive “fix”.
When you flat out insult something that many people are passionate about they will react accordingly, don’t act like you’re taking some sort of high road here. If watching the Jensen and Ed videos posted above hasn’t changed your mind about how “terrible” fixed axle yo-yos are then nothing will. Maybe it’s just not for you.
For a wooden bearing yo-yo, try to get your hands on an A-RT Peon or Squib. They’re hard to come by, but they’re a lot of fun.
I think your analogy is actually close. Instead of horse and buggy vs car, think horse vs car. Yes cars can outperform horses in most ways, especially on the street, but try to take a car on a nice relaxed trail ride!
Horse vs. car is a fair comparison and they are very different experiences.
That said I would love to have a really good wood material yoyo with a modern slim C or C bearing in it… because I do agree that WOOD, the material, is quite cool
Well you could find an ART wood bearing yoyo, or I could make you one for a ridiculous price, haha.
But if vibe is something that makes you run for the hills, don’t buy a wood bearing yoyo. They are pretty smooth, but still far off as being as smooth as a metal yoyo.
I am trying to buy a Tom Kuhn RD1 but they are hard to find. If you know anyone that wants to sell one point them my way. That seems like another wood option that has a metal bearing… the Roller Woody is just super disappointing to me.
But jrodriguez specifically called him out; challenging him to do specific tricks in response to his post. Since when is doing a trick somehow backing up an argument? I think it is very disappointing that there was such an passionate, emotional response to what was clearly a posting intended to generate discussion. Instead, everyone just gobbled-up the bait and attacked.
Don’t like what codinghorror said? Tell him why wood is good. Challenging him to do tricks as part of the discussion; or to make a point, is ridiculous. Doing those tricks does not make wood good, its just doing tricks. The original point still stands; what is good about wood yo-yo’s? If they were so fabulous, why did the yo-yo die out in the first place? Why then did we invent unresponsive bearing yo-yo’s to replace them?
Personally, I cannot fathom why people want to play wood yo-yo’s in 2017. But I do not get emotional about it.
Wood is the bomb! It’s just a different style of play than unresponsive. But still awesome for what it is. You can’t expect to be doing unresponsive long string tricks with it because it simply can’t. But you can’t do stalls and kick flips with an edge . I throw mostly unresponsive but really enjoy wood when I’m not throwing unresponsive. It’s sorta like a 67 Pontiac GTO. Sure it’s not as fast as a Lamborghini but if your driving a gto is that really what you’re going for?
No call out intended. It isn’t possible to the tricks in that video with a modern, unresponsive bearing yoyo. Impossible, regardless of skill. That was simply a silly way (note the wink at the end of the post) of showing via a video and impossible to get reward that what you can do with fixed axle yoyos is different from what you can do with bearing yoyos.
Also, can you fathom it in 2018? See - that’s also not a call out. Just being silly, cuz this is yoyos and yoyos should be fun and silly in my book.
As a material, wood isn’t very dense - that’s why the TK wood bearing yoyos don’t stand up to the spin times of metal bearing yoyos, and that’s why the TKs have a metal weight ring to beef up their weight. If you can find one, the YoYoJam Jamboo is a wood yoyo with big metal weight rings. But frankly, if you want unresponsive play with long spin times, wood is not the material to go to. Where wood shines is in fixed axle play - metal yoyos struggle in this area because lighter tends to be better for fixed axle play where you’re doing regeneration tricks, stall, loops, etc. - there are a couple exceptions, like the Deep State and the Walter. A trick like shoot the moon with a 66 gram metal is kinda dangerous, and impossible to do with a modern, metal bearing yoyo set up for unresponsive play edit - for more than two or three swings. As others have said here, wood yoyos, which are mostly fixed axle, and modern, unresponsive, metal bearing yoyos are made for different kinds of tricks and play. If you watch the Ed Haponik video I posted, you’ll see what I mean. Most of those tricks simply can’t be done with a modern, unresponsive bearing yoyo.
I’ve seen Andre do a couple swings too - I meant to put “for more than a couple swings.” Edited. Thanks for the correction. And please do correct me if I’m wrong and someone has done more than that with a fully unresponsive modern bearing yoyo. I’d be impressed and interested to see someone who could keep it going indefinitely. Now that I think about it, I bet Elephark might be able to do it - especially if he was triple dog dared.
If you didn’t like the roller woody, you’re probably not going to like the RD1, you may like the Sleep Machine, but it’s really not all that great either :-\
Like has been said, at least 3-4 times, contact Jensen Kimmitt. You can message him on Instagram, Facebook and Reddit. He’s making the best wooden unresponsive yoyos right now. They’re $50-75 if I remember correctly. No need to search for a good wooden unresponsive yoyo, there is how you can get one
What? There are dense woods out there. Not metal obviously, but dense “enough”.
I have a Jamboo but it’s really mostly metal, the bamboo is there like the wood paneling on an old timey station wagon… decorative.
The Deep State might be my favorite all-time yoyo and I own (cough) hundreds.
But they could all easily be done on a Deep State… and it’d feel tons better. I guess I can kinda understand the “I wanna intentionally cripple myself to see how good I can be even with a terrible tool!” but… ugh.
I have a sleep machine and it’s also temperamental and cantankerous … it actively fights you rather than helps you. I just don’t get the attraction. That said still gonna get an RD1 one of these days, my budget is effectively infinite (you can look me up on Wikipedia if you are curious).
I plan to go to my grave without any kind of Facebook account, so that’s not an option for me. What’s his Reddit username, is it actually cool to just bother people about this stuff in PMs?
I think the real issue is that the same weight distributions can’t be achieved with wood, or least haven’t been yet to my knowledge.
I think you can certainly achieve a similar style with the Deep State, but I don’t think it’s quite accurate to say it’s all as easy on a Deep State. I don’t think people are necessarily wanting to just make things a challenge for themselves, either. I love the Deep State too, and I may even like it more than any wood yoyo myself, but there is a certain immediateness and feedback you get from wood, that you don’t even get with a fixed axle plastic. I think once you get used to it, you can gain a control and a connectedness that is superior to other materials. But hey, we’re all different, and that’s what makes things interesting.
One other point in response to the whole “it’s just inferior” sentiment. Sometimes imposing limitations can actually foster creativity.
That is the conclusion I have come to as well. The control, connectedness, response and weight are different. I’ve been trying the Moonshine, Deepstate, Alleycat and Gamer for fixed axle tricks and although they can be done it is not as nice as with wood. For me, these responsive bearing throws are a poor substitute for wood and fixed axle tricks.
;D
. I throw mostly unresponsive but really enjoy wood when I’m not throwing unresponsive. It’s sorta like a 67 Pontiac GTO. Sure it’s not as fast as a Lamborghini but if your driving a gto is that really what you’re going for?
