Hi again everyone,
What can you tell me about the differences/idiosyncrasies of wood with wood axle and plastic with metal axle yoyos?
Are there specific benefits and negatives to both that you know of?
They definitely wear differently. We’ve discussed wear and tear on a wood axle. You won’t have those problems with a steel axle, but then again the starbursts can wear out. Also, I’ve had steel axles oxidize after sitting for a while, and then they chew through the strings.
I’ve had many plastic models come apart, but I’ve had a wood one come with a bad axle that broke right away.
Plastics will give you a more consistent weight, though this can fluctuate over years in production. This would be true whether they had a steel or wood axle, however.
It’s hard for me to quantify differences in the play characteristics, as factors such as various weights, shapes, and gap sizes, play a part. However, wood seems superior to me. I enjoy my Duncan Butterfly(s) and Wheels, but overall wood seems more forgiving, predictable, and long spinning to me.
You missed the other alternative…
Plastic with a wood axle. The Spintastics manta ray came that way. They use a wood insert similar to the TK yoyos. You can also remove the caps and add weight rings. Plays very nice IMO. The proyos come the same way. Both of these generally outplay the duncans with the metal axle. The manta ray is a butterfly model and the proyo is an imperial shape. YYE sells the proyo.
Actually, the entire Spintastics line used the same shells and the axle parts were all interchangeable between them. The eclipse and the maelstrom used the same parts except that they had hard plastic caps.
Never cared for the metal axle at all. A few years back people were replacing the metal axle with a wood dowel. Basically you can twist/pry the yoyo apart to do that.
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Well I didn’t miss that! 
I have a Tiger Shark setup that way.
Another good one was the Team Losi Silver Series Cherry Bomb. It came with a wood axle sleeve and removable weight rings as well.
I like the Profly too.
Overall, I think you get more feel out of an all wood yoyo. I think the little inconsistencies of them allow you to feel them. My TMBR, Hildy and No Jives all have a pulse to them that you can feel, not in a bad vibe way, but you can feel them on the string. Where the plastic fixed axles I have with metal axles are real smooth, you don’t feel as much with them.
I don’t think there are any real benefits or negatives in the end, just preferences. I greatly prefer my all wood yoyos, but I do have a couple butterfly’s that play really good ;D
Yeah, if you end up liking fixed axle play, you’ll want some examples of each. 
My favorite is aluminum with a wooden axle. Silver Bullet ftw.
That is one fixed axle I’ve never played. Going to have to pick one up one of these days.
Mr yodel saidi it changed his life so I tracked one down and was hooked. Then a guy in England needed it and was willing to pay for it and I was bulletless until Deth gave me one for Christmas one year. Worth owning.
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