So I’ve noticed that some wooden yoyos have a few shallow circles cut with a spade bit around the axle. I believe OUT yoyos use this and also the HB Currier.
Is the purpose of this to enable consistent returns on wider gapped wooden yoyos? Are they necessary?
Pretty much. Negative space-response like that tends to tighten winds more than adding aggressive response, which is usually ideal for a wood yo-yo.
I’ve made some one piece fixed axles so it has no recessed holes for the response.
It was slippy on certain conditions.
