Is wood still good in 2018?

[Glenacius_K (Spinworthy Glen)]

@vegabomb

Wow! That may be the nicest bearing wooden yoyo I’ve ever seen.

Thanks, it plays surprisingly well too.

When I made it, I was expecting that it would turn out fairly wobbly and lacking power. It turns out it has plenty of power and stability with very low vibe considering its made of wood.

[TFForever]

@codinghorror

Well I’m gonna respectfully disagree with you there. Fixed axle is like playing with one, no, two hands tied behind your back. It’s a horse and buggy compared to a car. Now if we’re shooting for an Amish Paradise sort of thing, OK, fine… I guess? But for modern yoyo play they are uniformly terrible, every one I have tried.

I was hoping someone would recommend a good metal bearing wood yoyo I can try, I have two Roller Woodys and they just play so bizarre and cantankerous compared to any reasonable $15-$20 plastic yoyo. Is there ANYTHING other than the roller woody out there that offers metal bearing plus wood?

Because I do think wood, the actual material to make stuff out of, is cool! Convince me!

People still race horses even though we’ve built vehicles that have broken the sound barrier. Why? Because racing a horse is fun for a different reason. There is a different set of skills necessary which leads to a different kind of enjoyment.

[Glenacius_K (Spinworthy Glen)]

@TFForever

People still race horses even though we’ve built vehicles that have broken the sound barrier. Why? Because racing a horse is fun for a different reason. There is a different set of skills necessary which leads to a different kind of enjoyment.

Sound statement.

That sums up why people would play fixed axle well.

Modern fixed axle yoyoing is really quite an interesting thing to emerge. While yoyo technology has continued to increase over the decades to what it currently is today, fixed axle yoyoing all of a sudden received a fresh burst of life. Somehow, old technology became shiny and new again.

It’s like it was torn out of it’s timestream, given a thorough refurbish and then injected right back into the yoyo scene today.

That is very cool.

[Theolodger]

Same

[edhaponik]

“Singlefin: Yellow” was a small surf film produced in 2005 and centers around a traditional shaper who spent 15 years learning to design classic longboards from a bygone era before starting to refine/modernize his designs, all of which are like weird time capsules from an alternate reality. In the movie he crafts a longboard and then sequentially sends it out to 6 totally different surfers in different parts of the world. It’s probably my favorite surf film. There’s a quote by the shaper in which he says “I wanted to take my surfboard design back to a time back before the shortboard revolution, and then develop from there.”

That quote hit me right in the yo-yoing, because at the time I was almost exclusively throwing wood, and I wanted to explore the idea of playing traditional yo-yo’s in a way that was free of the ball-bearing/unresponsive influence. Now, that’s impossible (and frankly I would NEVER want to truly ignore the ridiculously innovative 1a/unresponsive yo-yoing out there)… but the idea of seeing fixed axle (and wood specifically) as having its own intrinsic advantages - albeit focused in a different direction - is kind of what’s driven me the last decade+.

And what’s happened now is that fixed axle has been plucked up from where it was gathering dust as a historical artifact and set down into an alternate timeline. Where once it was a quirky aspect of yo-yoing’s roots or a fun dare/challenge, now players are starting to explore it as its own vehicle and actually designing tricks around the specific feeling it provides. And I think we need to continue to be conscious of all that sets it apart and try to protect it.

… interesting side note: I actually totally stole the Singlefin idea and tried to do a yo-yo project around it called “No Jive Eternal” in which a bunch of my friends would film yo-yo parts with the same wooden yo-yo. It fizzled out, but I kinda still want to do it. This vid kind of encapsulates what I’m talking about (and I totally paraphrase/plagiarize that Tyler quote in it lol!)

No Jive Eternal

[MrBist (Ettore Ferro)]

You probably will hate me, but wood is too light to be used for a modern yoyo.
To reach the 55 grams, the only way is to make a solid imperial or a solid butterfly.
Both are not good items.
There are, for sure, some epic players, that can use a wood for modern trick, but that is due to their abilities, not to yoyo playiability.
Am I wrong?

[anon19434144]

I have the Legend (wing) and right now my skill level does not allow me to play such a light yoyo but that will change. It better, I ordered 70 cotton strings with it. Right now, I do not believe I will ever be able do my full front combos with it in the same way I could never use my Hyundai Accent to go off-roading.

[AaronW (aaron warren)]

@edhaponik

“Singlefin: Yellow” was a small surf film produced in 2005 and centers around a traditional shaper who spent 15 years learning to design classic longboards from a bygone era before starting to refine/modernize his designs, all of which are like weird time capsules from an alternate reality

LOVE that film. Got into Fly Fishing after seeing that video for similar reasons as you going to a fixed axle. Need to pull that DVD out again.

[Glenacius_K (Spinworthy Glen)]

@MrBist

You probably will hate me, but wood is too light to be used for a modern yoyo.
To reach the 55 grams, the only way is to make a solid imperial or a solid butterfly.
Both are not good items.
There are, for sure, some epic players, that can use a wood for modern trick, but that is due to their abilities, not to yoyo playiability.
Am I wrong?

Define ‘modern yoyo’. Are you referring to a ballbearing unresponsive yoyo? Recently made wooden fixed axles made by myself, TMBR, OUT, Hildy Bros. etc are modern fixed axle yoyos and both do modern styles of tricks.

How much wood have you worked with @MrBist? Different types of wood vary greatly in density. I make wooden fixed axle yoyos as well as wooden unresponsive yoyos, and they aren’t all ‘solid imperial or solid butterfly’ shapes.

This one is a W shaped yoyo I made at 56mm diameter and 44mm wide. It weighs in at 63g and plays well. It is neither solid imperial or butterfly in shape.

So yes, you are wrong.

[anon19434144]

That is a NICE looking yoyo!!!

[Glenacius_K (Spinworthy Glen)]

Thank you!

[photogeek]

@AaronW

Got into Fly Fishing after seeing that video for similar reasons as you going to a fixed axle.

Nice to know that someone else appreciates throwing both yoyos and flies around here.

[codinghorror]

@MrBist

To reach the 55 grams, the only way is to make a solid imperial or a solid butterfly.
Both are not good items.

Well… “good” is a relative thing… a lot of people have emotional attachment to the old timey ways

From my personal perspective metal and plastic are both significantly better materials than wood at making a good playing yo-yo, yes, but … that’s just, like… my opinion, man.

I do enjoy the feel and look of wood quite a bit! But when it’s time to truly shred and melt faces … I gotta GET FLIPPIN METAL

[photogeek]

@MrBist

You probably will hate me, but wood is too light to be used for a modern yoyo.

Ehhh, how are you defining “modern tricks” and “modern yoyo”? If you are trying to use wood to make a yoyo that will do the same things as a modern high end metal yoyo, then yeah, you are going to have a hard time.

But that’s not the point. Are all sailboats made out of carbon fiber? Of course not. Throwing wood is its own adventure in the same way that sailing a classic wooden dory is. Feel, soul, connection with the past, these are things that can’t be captured with modern materials and designs. It’s the same reason that people enjoy fountain pens, classic cars, and wood fired ovens.

The journey is the destination.

[anon19434144]

…and that I carry a pocket watch. Not as fast as looking at a wrist watch but I enjoy the process of pulling it out of my pocket and opening, looking, and closing, etc.

[Glenacius_K (Spinworthy Glen)]

@codinghorror

a lot of people have emotional attachment to the old timey ways

And by this I suppose you mean modern fixed axle yoyos.

[MrBist (Ettore Ferro)]

@Glenacius_K

How much wood have you worked with @MrBist? Different types of wood vary greatly in density. I make wooden fixed axle yoyos as well as wooden unresponsive yoyos, and they aren’t all ‘solid imperial or solid butterfly’ shapes.

I worked more wood than all other material. I know wood, believe me.

the principle is the same as titanium, how many athletes have you seen competing in a world championship with a wooden yoyo?
If it were similar to aluminum, or even better, you would have many players who use it.

[Glenacius_K (Spinworthy Glen)]

For someone who knows wood far better than I, I’m surprised you made your earlier statement.

Seriously, why say something that makes you sound ignorant on the matter?

[MrBist (Ettore Ferro)]

Wood is too light to put weight in a good way.
This is my opinion.
Unfortunatly I don’t have pics of the wood yoyos I made, but I can take some pics and post them tomorrow.

Look at the pic, the red zone is the part of the yoyo that slow the rotation and make the yoyo turn on the string.
The red part is the evil part of the yoyo.
In wood yoyo you can’t cut off that part, becaouse the weight.
You can do a good wood yoyo, only with metal rings.

EDIT: Found some pics

[Glenacius_K (Spinworthy Glen)]

Firstly, in your earlier statement you only suggested wood was too light to be used in a modern yoyo, not it’s suitability for use in competition. When you change what you are talking about after it has been argued against, it demolishes the conversation. I showed you a wooden yoyo that performs quite well and is not a solid butterfly or imperial shape or too light.

Now, to discuss your most recent post. You can (and I often do) cut away at that ‘evil part’ like the yoyo in the picture I posted without losing too much weight. You simply need to choose a very high density wood that allows you to do this while still maintaining a functional weight. Woods like ironbark, gidgee, spotted gum, purpleheart, wenge, crow’s ash… and the list goes on and on. If you’re going to try this with something like walnut or ash -forget about it.

You can also cut that part right away and replace it with a wood of much lower density which keeps it reduced slightly with a different aesthetic like in the purpleheart/sugar maple yoyo I made in the picture below.

How do you not know this as somebody both proficient at working with wood and has made your own wooden yoyos?

Now, it is definitely possible to get aluminium performance out of a wooden ball bearing yoyo. How?.. Make it big enough and it will offset the lower density of the material. A/RT were close in achieving this with their Woodboy model.

Myself as well as many others don’t necessarily find that red part (centre weight) all that evil because it can give a satisfying play feel in the right measure.

But if you’re the kind of person that must only have yoyos that spin for days and forgive your for your sloppy play, then yeah, centreweight is really bad.