I’ve done a fair bit of searching and I can’t find a definitive answer on this. Some say yes, some say no, some say it doesn’t matter. For example:
Some players like to apply chapstick, lip balm, or wax to the axle loop when putting the string on a wooden axle. This seems to help responsiveness sometimes, but opinions vary. Ed does not use it, but Jenson does.
Should you wax the wood axle of a wooden yo-yo so it spins longer / smoother / faster?
Is there some other substance that works better, or a specific type of wax that’s recommended? I’ve experimented a bit with using chapstick on the string loop. I am interested in max speed
I remember when I used to use it, and you’d over wax. That was miserable, not only because of how responsive it was, but you’d ruin your axle and need to save some money and find a ride to the mall to buy new axles.
I started using Burt’s Bees lip balm on my axles after seeing Jensen use it in a video.
Makes any fixed axle smooth and responsive with neutral string tension, meaning you can throw kickflips in the middle of stall combos without getting all twisted up. As for spin time, I would say it doesn’t make much of a difference.
I wouldn’t recommend chapstick though, or anything else for that matter. Burt’s Bees works really well but you shouldn’t really have to use anything on you’re axles unless you’re having serious problems getting your throw to respond properly.
But seeing as you’ve already used chapstick on your eh, I would definitely recommend giving this a try
I’ve tried straight bee’s wax as well, it kinda worked for me but was far too responsive and turned solid in cold weather. Burt’s Bees has the perfect ratio of bee’s wax and natural oils, it’s as if it were made for fixed axle!
A yoyo with a gap and axle species and diameter set up right shouldn’t need wax. It’s just best practise not to put anything on your axle. Wood can react significantly to this kind of treatment and usually not in a good way.
Doing a bit more research, I think the advice to use Burt’s Bees (main ingredient: beeswax) is correct, because it’s often recommended as a wood finish.
Chapstick (main ingredient: petrolatum) on the other hand, has some kinda oddball utility uses for wood (search for “vaseline wood” if you’re curious), but never as a finish for wood.
So far I’ve tried both, with poly strings, and nothing weird or bad has happened, though I’m not entirely sure if the axle got any smoother as a result. I need to test again with some other No Jives that haven’t been treated, or a replacement axle. My guess is this mostly improves longevity of the axle / string?
I always put a bit of chapstick on my cotton string, right where the string comes in contact with the axle. For me it seems to make the yo-yo more consistent with its response.
I believe if you buy an Orphan, it will have had wax on the axle, because Jensen puts in on the string when he tests them.
IMO, this is totally user preference.
I will say I think I may have ruined the response on couple of my fixed axle throws. My Play Simply No-Jive and my 2016 EH, don’t seem to respond very well. However, I have every axle for the EH, and I can’t seem to get it to work with any of them, wax or no wax. I’ll have to try a new axle in the No-Jive.
Maybe it’s best to try first without wax, and to try it if you’re not getting it to play the way you want?
See!? Soy is in freaking EVERYTHING! Why is soybean oil in chapstick? Why? My son has a soy allergy, so we have to read the labels on literally everything. Eating out is off limits for us as a family because it sucks having to be those people who ask about the ingredients in all our food. And even still, why risk it?
Okay I’m done ranting about soy. Carry on, you fine yoyo people
When I was young Duncan sold wax as one of the extras you could buy for your yoyo. Strings and wax. I’ve always wondered if it was a bit of a sales up sell gimmick. I’ve tried it in the past and noticed zero difference in anything.
I got another No Jive (black/grey painted finish) so I can test more. I was going to say “man this sleeps WAY less than my Clean Machine with the waxed axle” but then I weighed them
No Jive: 50g
Clean Machine: 55g
Pretty sure I was feeling the weight more than anything else. I’ll test using the same exact one since it came with spare axles.
OK! Using the same exact No Jive yo-yo and (cotton) string it came with, here’s my methodology
Throw 5 hard sleepers to break things in a little
Throw a very hard forward pass to reverse around the world (forward, over my head, then behind my back, then looping around to my front)
At the apex of the reverse around the world, when it’s facing me again and has completed one full circle, do a gravity pull
Repeat steps 2-3 five times.
I did this 5-10 times, granted there is some natural human variability here but I got a feel for it.
With the stock config: the NJ poops out before it can ‘snap’ back to my hand most of the time. I sometimes don’t even get a solid return, where the string can wind all the way back in.
After using Burt’s Bees on the string loop: the NJ always reliably returns to my hand, often with a very firm snap, depending on the throw.
So yeah, I’m concluding that the beeswax on the wood axle does work. It’s not a night and day difference, or anything (I mean how much spin are you really gonna get on a wood axle, regardless of how smooth it is), but it is a noticeable difference.
Before messing around with your axles, you should have quite a bit more experience under your belt.
It’s common that a new player to fixed axle yoyos has difficulty getting the yoyo return. But hand the same yoyo to an experienced fixed axle thrower and they usually have no difficulty getting it to return. You simply need to get used to them in many cases.
