You can improve the performance of many traditional (fixed axle) wooden YoYos, but you need a simple tool and a supply item or two:
- a metal nail file, but smooth the rough edges (not the surfaces) with fine
emery paper
- fine sandpaper
- Carnauba furniture wax; beeswax or candle wax will work.
Take the string off the YoYo and inspect the axle carefully in good light. If you can detect rough wood on the inner surfaces of the sides or (worse) glue intruded in the gap at the axle, the YoYo needs a little work. The edge-dressed nail file is very effective at removing the hardened glue without damaging the axle, but use the file gently to avoid damaging the axle in any way. Rough wood or rough enamel on the inner surfaces can be taken down with the nail file, then smoothed out with the sandpaper folded into the gap. Again, use care to avoid damaging the axle. Use the sandpaper to smooth and round the edges of the gap at the rim, then finish those edges with a little wax; polish the wax with a soft cloth leaving no excess. These efforts, done with care, will improve the performance of the YoYo; done carelessly, the YoYo may be damaged.
When you perform "Loop the Loop", you may find that:
- A YoYo with a narrow (0.070" or less) gap will tend to "die"; i.e. head
for the floor as it comes over your wrist.
- A YoYo with wide (0.085" or greater) gap will tend to "fly"; head for the
ceiling as it comes over your wrist.
- YoYos with a gap between these limits tend to loop comfortably.
Unfortunately, when you buy a packaged wood YoYo with the sides glued to the axle, you have no way to know what the gap width and playability are until you've opened the package. With good luck, you get a good "looper". A gap too narrow can be opened with much careful and patient work with the sandpaper. Again, with a gap too narrow use as short a string as you can; the smaller the radius the string winds up to when the YoYo comes around your wrist, the less it will tend to "sink". The best you can do with a gap too wide is to use as long a string as you can. The larger the radius the string winds up to when the YoYo comes around your wrist, the less it will tend to "fly". The "take-apart" wood or plastic YoYos with replaceable wood axles give you more flexibility in adjusting the gap width using spacers at the end of the axle to widen the gap, or shortening the axle to narrow the gap.
If you own a "No-Jive" or "Silver Bullet", find a 1/8" and a 5/16" paper punch at your local office supply store (if the punches are not stocked, most stores will order them for you). Open up a manila paper envelope and punch a batch of 1/8" holes; then punch over those holes to produce 5/16" diameter spacers. Use those spacers to widen the gap of the "No-Jive" or "Silver Bullet"; the technique will work on some other "take-apart" YoYos as well. With this method, you can "tune" a narrow gap YoYo for your best performance in "Loop the the Loop" and in the complicated string tricks which require a suitably wide gap.
Is "tuning" the YoYo somehow considered cheating? Heck, No! We tune radios and TVs for best reception and adjust gunsights to hit our targets. Tuning your YoYo helps you to stay on the straight Path to the State of YO.