so I have always wondered, why are most fixed axle yoyos wooden? now don’t get confused with modern responsive like the weekender, I mean fixed axle. such as the MOJO the Spectra and the legend wing. I mean, wouldn’t a metal one spin for enough time to do stop n go and brain scrambler? just curious.
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Spin time is not a prority for fixed axle yoyos. Response quality is a priority on fixed axle yoyos, and wood is a very, very good material for that.
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@EOS44, what do you look for in response on wood yoyos? what characteristics - physical, observable, play feedback? if you don’t mind…
are there things you like, and don’t like? etc.
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Reliable response is top priority, but only when it’s accompanied by other factors that make the yoyo playable as well.
You could make a yoyo with a horribly narrow gap and that would make it respond every time (reliably), but it would be a pain to play with. There’s a balance that needs to be met between reliable response, spintime, yoyo design and specs, etc.
To give an objective answer, I’d say a good fixie is one that can both sleep and respond everytime at any spin power situation without the need of having to tinker with string tension to achieve the level of response/sleeptime you want.
And for the things I don’t like, well, I don’t like exactly what described. Yoyos with badly designed response systems.
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solely speaking from a wood perspective-
have you found response systems you’ve preferred over others, (drilled hole vs. narrow gap for a simple example), or have you found that there are response systems better suited to certain yoyo designs and/or wood materials. a couple other examples, harder woods vs. softer woods… or higher walls vs. lower walls… and preferences for response systems.
i was just curious. thanks for your input. no worries if not man. your prior feedback was great, and appreciated:grin: 
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Oh man I would love to have all this answers but the reality is that I have not had the opportunity to try a lot of wood options for fixies. Tried european beech, canarywood, oak and teatree. All of those have been great, to the point that I don’t think it matters much as long as the yoyo is properly designed.
Drilled hole vs narrow gap is interesting, is basically Orphan vs Most fixie designs today. I’d say I prefer drilled holes, since those allow for more trick-friendly gap designs. Narrow gap also means suuuuper high walls, and those does not make varials easy (if the trick wasn’t hard enough to start with). Fallen44 had an interesting swirl response system that responded good, but the only yoyo I had from them was super wobbly so I couldn’t judge it properly.
higher walls vs lower walls is funny because fixed axle designs are already super deep into high wall territory (In order for them to properly work) that those adjectives mean a completely different thing. I’d say I don’t mind either way, just make sure the yoyo can both respond very well and not be infuriatingly narrow and impossible to catch on the string.
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thank you very much @EOS44! very helpful… i’ll probably pick your brain a bit more as i go along, but this info is very, very much appreciated!!
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Anytime man.
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Thank you @fatguysnacks247 for asking these questions and @EOS44 for giving thoughtful answers. It is always interesting to see how a player with mad fixed axle skill thinks about his toys. It gave me some joy to hear that a reliable response is high on your list as it is at the top of mine.
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Except for maybe narrow gap designs, I don’t think any fixed axle yoyo response system, wood or otherwise accomplishes that? String tension is just an integral part of fixed axle play. Really even with narrow gaps, just not to the same extent, and as you pointed out there’s a trade off.
Did you mean it should accomplish that with neutral tension, and to within reasonable degrees outside of neutral?
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Yes. This is exactly what i meant. Sorry lol.
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Because wood is an excellent material for fixed axle yoyos. Metal ones can be made but they need response pads to respond properly.
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Know how many Butterflies, Imperials, Russells and ProYos are out there? Pretty sure most fixed axle are plastic.
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Do Proyos count as only plastic? Don’t they have the wooden transaxle? Probably just splitting hairs - after all, if you are a car guy and you put a big block Chevy motor in a Dodge, the car is still a Dodge…
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Yeah I was just being silly. Russels are wood axle too.
I think I’ve probably droned on about why this or that regarding fixed axle over the past couple decades. I’ll go with “because wood is good”.
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Imo, a fixed-axle that doesn’t bind perfectly at neutral tension is practically useless for the stall-based 0A tricks I like doing most.
The only objective reason that I can pinpoint about why I like wood so much is it’s relatively much lower density compared with other materials that have been used. Subjectively however, it is just much nicer and more enjoyable to throw than plastic. Metal is simply much too dense, though I guess you could probably design a hollowed out design like the Sherpa, but its base specs put it at 63.9g, which imo is just way too heavy. Even the Weekender at its featherlight 46.68g plays heavier than a similarly weighted wood yoyo and feels much harsher on hard comebacks than wood. Id love to play with a hollowed out metal organic yoyo that weighs about the same as the Weekender with a bearing blank or wood axle sleeve. I am not sure if, given the density and strength of viable metal options, this is possible. And it would also introduce vibe, probably as much as with wood, which would defeat the purpose of higher precision machining.
Quite honestly, I think it would take something monumental to make a better fixed axle out of anything other than wood. Also there is just that IT factor about wood that makes it such a cool material; the way it feels, looks, was once an organic object, weathers with wear/love, etc. The more I think about it, even the scientist in me just wants to side with Ed’s neanderthal “wood is good” mentality when it comes to fixies. Maybe we are just old fashioned, which was why I created that ‘ideal responsive’ yoyo thread in the first place; it kind of confirmed to me that wood is still the best for straight fixies, though the consensus on tug responsive bearing yoyos (or opinions on them) was kind of lacking. I like my Daytona SB, but it aint a fixie and isn’t a replacement for one. Nor is the Weekender, but it, on the other hand, was the first metal yoyo ive ever played with that made me ponder whether a metal yoyo could actually make a good enough fixie to compete. After thinking about it, I doubt it. And plastic always just feels cheap to me.
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I have a Beater(?), a Spinworthy plastic with an aluminum fixed axle. It plays great and I love it! I responds predictably and well. It’s spins so nice and true. I enjoy it a LOT.
Still, if I had to choose only one material for fixed axles, I would choose wood.
Maybe it’s a bit like asking why so many people like leather couches and carseats. There are other fine materials to cover them, with tradeoffs of benefits and detractions. Many might argue that the other options are in fact superior. Leather just feels and looks good, and performs well.
BTW, I’m really glad I don’t have to choose only one material!
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Lot of pertinent info and dialog in this thread:
Not 100% dedicated to fixed axle but that’s the primary implication for most of it.
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hmmm… 