Man, I’m sorry. I confused you for @andy569 somehow.
Regardless, I’ve seen a ton of your clips and you’re absolutely amazing to watch!
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If you play normally without throwing crazy hard sleeper all the time, wooden axles really should last years.
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How many years?
And won’t the inner walls get worn down over time from all the string friction? How does one maintain a consistent response? Fixies don’t use silicone response pads, right?
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It’s hard to say how many years without ever having worn one out. @edhaponik will be able to give you a better idea. But even if you played the yoyo everyday, I would be surprised if it lasted any less than 5 years. I would think that the ones I have would last that easily.
The inner walls will not wear down significantly, if at all. A properly made fixed axle yoyo will maintain their response throughout it’s life.
Ok. 
Response is all about friction. The yoyo needs a point of tactile grip so that when tugged the slack will catch and the rotational inertia will keep the yoyo turning as it climbs the string. But there were no yoyos with replaceable response before there were yoyos with low-friction transaxles/bearings. TK used Turbo Discs due to the issue of the SB-2 not responding. Around the same time you had Brake Pads, then Friction Stickers (and Takeshi’s Recess Mod), YYJ O-rings, and eventually flowable silicone. All of those were to balance the lower friction of bearings in a way that wouldn’t interfere with string tricks.
In a wood yoyo, there is already significantly increased friction at the axle, so as long as the gap isn’t too wide or the axle isn’t too smooth, you don’t NEED a response system besides “the yoyo”. The first wood yoyos with response system were runs of the laminated No Jive which had Turbo Discs to account for their increased weight/angular momentum. Years later you had Colin adding the holes drilled into TMBRs because he was using hard, thin, and smooth walnut axles. Likewise if you shim the gap of a No Jive, you might add a sticker to account for the friction you’ve lost in widening the gap.
As to your next question, I have never used a wood yoyo to the point of it being even slightly deformed or eroded through the friction associated with normal play. Axles WILL wear down - that’s actually how TK had the idea of the original No Jive take-apart system. But the side-walls of even a thin galled yoyo are not going to change in a significant structural way, even if you throw really hard for a decade +. Rough edges will get smoothed and the walls might get shiny, but that will be the extent of the wear. You are 1000x more likely to crush or overtighten a wood yoyo than you are to simply throw it until it erodes.
That’s said, or course metal and plastic can be made much more durable than wood (though I’ve had plenty of plastics which have broken down much faster than wood yoyos). I certainly have wood yoyos which I have played hard (sometimes almost exclusively) for years which still spin great today.
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Interesting.
At what price point do wood yoyos start to feature easily replaceable (wood) axles? The Legend Wing certainly doesn’t, but I wouldn’t expect it to at only $10.
I would think that as the axle starts to wear down the response changes, which probably isn’t really desirable. I mean, when a metal yoyo gets even a little slippy, you can just change out the pads to restore “factory fresh” response. If the wood axle is a major part of a wood fixie’s response behavior, then I’d think you’d want that to be easily replacable so as to easily restore the response feel you like.
And how do wood yoyos not face greater deterioration (than metal, for instance) from sweat and other oils in our hands? They are organic matter after all.
Oils and ambient moisture are GOOD for wood. Keeps it supple. Like keeping an instrument humidified. Not WET, of course, but closer to its natural moisture level.
TMBR threaded wood axles seem to be the best example of replaceable wooden axles. The purpleheart Irving I just received is a beauty, and I feel confident taking it places because of I sit on it I can just order another axle, lol.
I see that the TMBR Irving ranges in weight from 47g to 58g depending on the wood choice. What weight would be ideal for someone new to wood fixie play?
What’s more appealing to you- trying to Land 1a tricks on a fixie, or getting into a lot of fixie-specific stuff like stalls?
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I’m mostly interested in fixie-specific stuff because I already know what 1A is like and I’m curious to try a different yoyo experience. However, I’m hoping there’s more to fixie play than stalls because I just don’t care for stalls.
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I’d go lighter. Heavier is my personal preference, but… Banana hands. I’m not a delicate individual.
I would say somewhere in the low-50g range would be an ideal place to start for a high quality wood yo-yo. That will have enough oomph to get you into some responsive string tricks and be light enough to respond, regenerate, and flip pretty easily.
It’s been posted before, but in terms of trick content, here’s some of the stuff I’ve been a part of in effort to help people learn about throwing fixed/responsive. Hope some of it’s useful.
YYE Fixed Tutorials:
Bandalores:
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Fixie stuff: Slack and response management.
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Seems like magic
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I like the shape of the TMBR Morrow. Can anyone think of a reason I shouldn’t get that one?
Side question: does anyone ever stain their wood yoyos (say, something made from maple)? Would doing so cause any issues?
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The Morrow is awesome Fixed Axle Friday Throws.
You can stain wood, some of the rare TKs are stained, there was also a Denim stained TMBR Morrow release month or so ago that was killer looking
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The inner cup design of the Morrow looks perfect for staining it a different color from the rest of the yoyo, which could be pretty cool too.
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The Carlsons came with painted caps, Teal and Apricot.
Neat!
Wood yoyos present all kinds of interesting decorating possibilities. Like laser engraving logos and other graphics (ala the Basecamp Legend Wings).
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