Did I dream this… Or did I see someone posting pics of c size konkave wooden sleeves…
I think mrcnja did something like this but I could be wrong
Brandon Hodges posted a pick just 23 hours ago on Instagram.
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Funny because I just asked a wood turner today to make me some yoyos, and then suddenly thought about asking him to make me wood bearings.
Least I wasn’t dreaming… rizki_yoist if you do it I’d love to know how they play…
Yeah, Brandon Hodges posted it on Facebook, and probably Instagram as well. He throws for G2 and, I believe, makes their kendamas.
mrcnja has made some in the past (I own a few!) as have a few other manufacturers. Not sure what current availability is like.
It works as you would imagine! 
Your yoyo feels the same in terms of stability, but becomes responsive and spins for less time.
It’s a weird feeling doing a flyaway dismount with a 68g hunk of aluminum!
Feels like the 90’s!
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oh man!
way cool.
Next step - all wooden bearings. Wood balls/races would be ridiculous to do, but I love the idea of a completely organic yoyo.
A couple people have made them in the past. I have some d-size ones from Charles Schluer and some C-sized from Colin Leland.
The problem inherent to them is they can only be as thin as the yoyo’s bearing seat, which itself is wide for a fixed axle. They tend to loop down and lose spin all of a sudden. I’ve also toyed around with breaking a bearing and using the inner race by itself as a fixed axle. It works ok, but still too thick. The bottom line for me is that a yoyo designed to hold a bearing will never really out-perform a yoyo that’s truly designed to have a fixed wood axle (exception being maybe the TBB’s with interchangeable wood and brass axles). But still fun to mess with.
Even with my pretty amateur perspective, I can only agree with the above. It’s for giggles, not for dedicated fixed-axle learnin’ and playin’. 
Seeing what ed said I’m not really sure if it’s a good idea to do this anymore, or maybe I should…
What do you think would be the proper size for the wood axle? I designed it 6mm because I’m concerned if it breaks easily, but now it definitely seems that it’s too thick. Still have time to change the design before the machinist start doing the job… btw I’m using Teak (tectona grandis). (sorry for derailing the thread a bit)
tbb brass axles are thinnest - about 5mm. tmbr and no jive axles are about 6-7mm (the same thickness of most c-bearing yo-yo’s bearing seats). proyo2 and spintastics axles are about 8mm, and most “wooden kk’s” come in close to 10mm at the thinnest. that’s a lot more wood contacting the string. the thinner those inserts get at the center concave, the more fragile they become and the more the walls of the concave touch the string, slowing rotation.
https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5575/14805237199_fa7296bfc6_z.jpg
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I see, yes the C wood bearing is definitely a lot thicker.
How about using metal insert under the wood bearing, I mean the one like inner bearing race but the outer part is wood, this way we can push the concaved part to the limit.
I also had the same idea in the past, but can’t seem to think of a good design that is not crazy enough to make… until just now.
Let’s see if I can model it in 3d… this should work… yes this should.
Here is what I’m talking about. Basically the orange part is the bearing inner race combined as an axle, or you can just use the whole yoyo. The red rollers are holding the bearing outer race, since you will need something to hold the rollers onto its place, the blue roller holder used. The basic shape is the blue ring on the right, should be loose enough to get in between the outer and inner race, cut the ring into small roller holders and assemble everything together. There is no bearing shield.
Three rollers system might be better, but I can only assume…
That’s really neat. I wonder what the specific materials would have to be in order to avoid excessive friction and just locking up.
I think the major issue with this idea is the tolerances available with machining wood, as well as the expansion/shrinkage issues due to the environment.
Yeah… also it seems like the rollers will wear out pretty fast too… still curious if this design actually works or simply locks up. Wanna know how it plays, even if it will fail in less than a week.
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