THE WOOD THREAD

[Brett 'The Brett' Hitchell]

Ah, well thank you my good friend... I will make sure to read through this thread in it's entirety right now.

[Crow]

Here are some old stall videos from Doctor Popular. The second one has a great set of responsive stalls.


http://doctorpopular.blogspot.com/2007_11_01_archive.html

http://doctorpopular.blogspot.com/2007_12_01_archive.html

[Brett 'The Brett' Hitchell]

Thanks crow. I'm loving my No-Jive sooo much! I spent about 3 hours working on stalls last night, My left index finger is a bit raw but once that heals into A callus all will be well... The same thing happened to my right index finger do to my odd throwing technique   

p.s. I hate that I have a new found love for Tim Kuhn's because it's just one more thing that I want to spend money on, and that's a bit difficult to do when you've been unemployed for a year and a half     

[Crow]

p.s. I hate that I have a new found love for Tim Kuhn's because it's just one more thing that I want to spend money on, and that's a bit difficult to do when you've been unemployed for a year and a half     

Fortunately, string and No-Jive wood axles are relatively cheap. 

[Brett 'The Brett' Hitchell]

p.s. I hate that I have a new found love for Tim Kuhn's because it's just one more thing that I want to spend money on, and that's a bit difficult to do when you've been unemployed for a year and a half     

Fortunately, string and No-Jive wood axles are relatively cheap. 

Exactly    I just ordered 40 100% cotton string for 2 dollars including shipping!... I had a coupon 

[wayne]

I finally got around to taking a few pics of some of my wood collection.
There's to many to show them all so here a few personal favorites

[oldyoyoguy]

Not too long ago I saw some of Glenn Godsey's (vermeer) carving work and was blown away.  It looked so much like the old Filipino demonstrator carvings it was uncanny.  Turns out Glenn learned his craft directly from Filipino demonstrators back in the 1940s.  I was so impressed I rustled up some old collectibles that might have the kind of finish Glenn was seeking for carving and sent them to him:





Wait a minute, you say, what's that Glow Imperial doing in there, that's a plastic and this is a wood thread!  Well, turns out the yo-yos I sent were just as frustrating for Glenn to carve as Duncan repros.  The paint seemed to chip under his spey blade and he wasn't getting the effect he wanted.  So he carved up a Glow Imperial and that shows the result Glenn was after, below.  However, I think the so-called sub-par versions are very nice as well:





BTW, the carving on the Imperial is amazing, it actually has texture, and I can only guess that the dark color comes from the steel blade.

[jblack]

Wayne - nice wood, you've got the standard Duncan variations covered!  That O-Boy is especially clean.

Anyone know the story behind Papa Jim's? I have a couple and recall they were a Dave's exclusive around 1998-2000.

[yoyodave]

Wayne - nice wood, you've got the standard Duncan variations covered!  That O-Boy is especially clean.

Anyone know the story behind Papa Jim's? I have a couple and recall they were a Dave's exclusive around 1998-2000.

Yeah, I think we started carrying them around 1998, but kept restocking until about 2004.  They were popular with the wood crowd.

Papa Jim was a wood craftsman and made all sorts for specialty wood items.  I wish I could remember the last name, but will look it up in the old emails.  He was an older fellow, retired, and did the wood crafts items to stay busy.  He travelled around to arts and crafts fairs, selling all his stuff.  Papa Jim sent me a box of samples, asking if I wanted to carry them at the store.   The yoyos were slightly oversized, had lots of individuality, and he used laminate woods that I hadn't seen before.  No two were alike, with different grooves and lathe lines.  Just a simple tung oil finish, that really added to the play in my opinion. Anyway, the problem was that these things had no logos.  I had a lot of "crafts" type vendors approach me over the years with pretty, but BLANK yo-yos.  I told Jim I'd try them, because I liked them so much, but he should think about adding a brand name or model name for them.  When the batch arrived, he had added logos.  Even if the logos were a little rough.

Somewhere in the depths, I also have a couple ball bearing models he made.  He wanted to try to add a ball bearing wood model about 5 years back.  Apparently the wood yoyos were not selling as well as they had in the past, and he thought they needed an update.  I sent him a bunch of parts and axle kits, and he came up with a design, and a new model name too. I special ordered him a bunch of the bearing axle parts he needed.  But I never got around to adding them to the store, and lost touch with Jim soon after.

David

[yoyodave]

This is a Thank You to my old friend Scarecrow.

I started playing yo-yos back in the mid 80s.  I started my museum, board, and store in the mid 90s. That grew into Skilltoys.net and all the related sites.  But all through the process, I loved yo-yos and yo-yoing.  I alternated between interest in playing and collecting, but yo-yos were always something that made me feel good.

Then, after 15 years of running the store and all the sites, I burnt out totally and completely.  I hated them.  I never wanted to see another one. The store and board kept me busy 24/7. I couldn't take a vacation longer that 3 days and hadn't in 15 years. The internet was more and more hostile.  Government harassment.  And the collection was so big that I couldn't turn around with tripping on a box.  I grew so tired of the constant influx and outflux of yo-yos and yo-yo crap.  And I began to lose interest in the products.  This might offend some of you, but I can't stand today's responseless metal yo-yos.  And it grew harder and harder to sell products that I didn't even like.  About 3 years before we closed, I stopped playing.  About 2 years before, I stopped collecting.  So I closed the door on all of it, and focused on my other business, engineering job, and my personal relationships.

Then one day my old friend Scarecrow surfaced here.  Started posting about the old wood.  I picked up a couple of old Tom Kuhn yo-yos about a week ago and started playing.  And I'm loving it again.  Wood is good.  No, wood is great !!!  Thank you Scarecrow for reminding me that without all the internet issues, collecting, and store baggage that yo-yoing is FUN.  Back to basics and my first love, WOOD.

A few nights ago, I raided my personal collection, and pulled a bunch of collectibles out of the boxes.  I never would have played with collectibles a few years ago.  But Here are my new playing yo-yos.  Not the greatest picture, but you'll get the idea.

David

[CaliBuddha]

Sick Dave! Please let us know when you sell some of your boxed stuff.

[Crow]

Holy cow!!!! Dave is playing with collectibles!!!!!  Somebody call the yo-yo police!!!!!!  


Hehehehehe... I do the same thing, just to drive myself crazy. I bet that many of us do. We just never admit it publicly. Whenever the collecting thing starts to go to my head, I pull out a really nice collectible wood yo-yo, and put on a show for my daughter. If she wants me to "Walk the Dog", I walk the dog. I have to tell myself that it's not like I'm ever going to run out of cool yo-yo's. I'd have to be immortal for that to happen. And having the experience of opening up a great new cool looking wood yo-yo, with a brand new white cotton string, and throwing that first trick is indescribable. It really roots you back to the ground.

Great choice on the yo-yos, by the way. No-Jives rule the world, of course, and you picked out some beauties. The Batik is super-cool. I've thrown one a few times, and it really does play very well. I even broke out an RD-1 the other day, and was very impressed, although I did try to convert it to a fixed axle.   . I've also been playing one of your Museum yos lately, and it just may be smoother than my favorite No-Jive. Knots are a -----, but man is it smooth. Even I have not partaken of a Trickster lately, You are indeed brave. Lightnings and Apollos are awesome. One of my first yo-yos was an old Apollo. I played the hell out of that yo-yo, while my wife threw a Rainbow. We spent a whole summer on those two yo-yo's, throwing them every day at a nearby park after work. I still dig out that Apollo every week or two, just to remember where I started.  

If anybody noticed, Dave grabbed a bunch of pairs. Unlike like me, Dave can actually do 2a. I have witnessed it. And bravo for only including a few butterflies. A real man throws imperial!!!!  

It's incredible what you can do with a wooden yo-yo. In an era of high tech aluminum, silicone and ball bearings, it's easy to lose sight of what a simple piece of wood can accomplish. I have to thank Ed for much of that realization. Although my thirst for wood arrived independently of his, it was his posts and videos that truly opened my eyes to what could be accomplished with wood, and got me to post here. So maybe the chain of events here will spawn a new love for wood, and bring more people back to the natural stuff. Somebody will see Dave's post, and be inspired to grab some wood, and so on.

I must say that we truly live in a privileged time. Back 30 years ago, all you could find was a plastic Duncan with a steel axle, and no spare strings at Woolworth. Tom Kuhn was making yo-yos, but there was no way for me to know that. There was no Internet to research this stuff. Then back 20 years ago, people like Stu Crump are putting out yo-yo newsletters, and I still had no way of knowing this, and still all I can find is a steel axle Duncan. Yo-yoing was like a secret society. Going back 10 years ago, everybody is playing with yo-yo's, but everybody is fighting, trying to put their stake in the ground. Today it is smooth sailing. Nice collectible wooden yo-yo's seem to be ridiculously cheap on Ebay. I can email fellow yo-yoers, post on web boards, and watch trick videos. I can order a yo-yo online, and have it arrive just a couple days later. Back when I was a kid, if you mail ordered something, one month was the standard for receiving what you purchased!!!  It is great to be a yo-yoer today!!!!!

As an aside, I've been working on learning stalls this week. My knuckles are killing me!!! I've finally gotten the forward pass style of stall down to a science, and am starting on honing the trapeze stall. But Lunar Landing is bruising the heck out of my hands!!!!   I'm ready to start wearing gauntlets. I found it much easier to learn stalls with a Spintastics Manta Ray than with a No-Jive. The Manta Ray is just amazingly stable, even after the yo-yo stops spinning. And wow does a Manta Ray spin forever on a Slick6 string!!!!

Thanks for the great post, Dave. It was the best birthday present I'll get today.

[MetalMilitia]

Well Happy Birthday Matt!  And Dave I have to say it is great to see you getting back into yo-yos.  Sometimes that's all we need is a little time.  Don't worry about playing with those collectibles, they were built to play!    Awesome posts boys!

[ed]

... it was his posts and videos that truly opened my eyes to what could be accomplished with wood, and got me to post here.

from you, matt, that means a ton. thanks.

It is great to be a yo-yoer today!!!!!

right frickin' on!

I picked up a couple of old Tom Kuhn yo-yos about a week ago and started playing.  And I'm loving it again.

having bought my 1st no jive from you, i cannot tell you how amped i am that you're back on it!

[GlowDoug]

Welcome back to yo-yoing Dave.    I enjoy reading yours and Crow's posts about yo-yoing's not too distant past.  I very much enjoy seeing photos of the great wood collections too.   I've become much more interested in wooden yoyos of all types.   I have to say that I keep kicking myself every time one of you guys posts pictures of your nice collections.  For instance, I kept putting off ordering some of the wood yo-yos a couple years ago, such as the Museum of YoYo History models and then the unthinkable happened... Dave closed up shop.  I did the same thing with the painted white No-Jive Special and that European shop.  I even emailed Ed about goig in together on an order to save on the international shipping but I think he found what he was looking for a little closer to home.  I put off ordering the white Special and he closed up shop for a while for personal family reasons.  I watched as the three he had in stock just sat there for months while he was closed.  By the time I realized he was back open, somone had grabbed the available stock.  So the next best thing for me is seeing great photos of great collections.  Thanks again guys and keep them coming.

And Dave, I still wouldn't mind rooting through that room of yours looking for glow in the dark models.  

[ed]

here's some clean machine tricks for you guys. just 'cause.

<a href="http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=10102892&amp;server=vimeo.com&amp;fullscreen=1&amp;show_title=1&amp;show_byline=1&amp;show_portrait=0&amp;color=01AAEA" target="_blank">http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=10102892&amp;server=vimeo.com&amp;fullscreen=1&amp;show_title=1&amp;show_byline=1&amp;show_portrait=0&amp;color=01AAEA</a>

[Brett 'The Brett' Hitchell]

ed, I've decided that not only are you pretty much the best responsive players I've ever seen, But you also have AMAZING taste in music...

That is all

[Crow]

ed, I've decided that not only are you pretty much the best responsive players I've ever seen, But you also have AMAZING taste in music...

That is all

Quite true. Ed is definitely the best fixed axle player i've ever come across. Well..... "best" may be the wrong word. I particularly like string tricks, and ed seems to have made an art form out of fixed axle string play, where others have always chosen to mainly loop. So Ed seems to have placed himself in a class all by himself. 

As for the music, I quite agree. It is not often that we have the pleasure of watching a yo-yo video and listening to acoustical music simultaneously. I've kind of had enough of speed metal yo-yo videos. 

[wayne]

Oh yes! it really doesn't get any better than that, I only wish I had a little of the skill you have ed.
Nice work fella

[ed]

lol - i ended up forgetting about a stu crump trick i filmed. had to go back to editing and stick it in!

thanks for the high outlandish praise guys. it goes without saying that all the crap i do stands on the shoulders of the real explorers. without guys like rule, oliver, kuhn, crump, alton, and brown, throwing fixed axle would feel utterly impossible and obscure to me. their work (and others of bygone eras) really translates to a gift that i could never repay. ever.