Monday, July 27, 2009

Some questions are better left un-asked.

GA States 2009.

The contest is over. Everyone is hanging out in the courtyard, trading tricks, talking shit, Samm Scott is hating on everyone, etc. Typical yoyo contest scenario. The little group of people who are crashing at Randy's house for the weekend (including myself, Randy, Scott, Brynn, Chuck, Gordo, Andrew, etc) are hanging out, so I walked up to enjoy the awesome currently in progress. Chuck is throwing this beautiful small bearing eight8eight that he had custom anodized black with green and yellow splash by Gruntbull. I overheard someone mention "Hammer of Thor" and I innocently ask "What the hell is Hammer of Thor?"

Big mistake.

Chuck takes a step back and says "Check this out!" and before I know it, my ears are filled with the loudest ding on a metal yoyo that I have ever heard in my entire life.

Holy shit!
What the fuck?!
Have you lost your fucking mind?!
What the hell was that?!

Those are just a few of the mumblings and shouts I heard after the immediate silence that this ding created. Chuck had done a trick that resembled a plastic whip, followed by raising his throwhand in the air as if in victory of some glorious prize, a slight jump into the air, and brought this eight8eight thundering down onto the concrete with all his might.

2 seconds of shock brought on some serious laughter. This is one of the funniest things I've seen someone do to a yoyo and just about everyone else felt the same way. Especially Chuck. He winds the yoyo back up for a test throw and it's wobbling worse than any Buzzon I've ever seen. Responsive to the point that you'd think there was a triple knot around the bearing.

He takes it apart and the axle is bent at about a 30 degree angle, the bearing seat is visibly warped, and the bearing is deshielded and busted to hell and back. Once the bearing is out of the yoyo, it falls completely apart.

He asked if there was anything I could do to it. Originally I wanted to try fixing the bearing seat and keeping it like it originally was. This proved to be impossible, for me anyways. So I stored it away in my office and figured I'd get around to it when I had the chance.

Recently, that chance happened. I knocked the center out of it and replaced it with white FH2 hubs (yes, white!). Then I cut those hubs to accept plastic Grind machine spacers and highwalled it.

It's got a little vibe to it, but that's likely the result of the Hammer. Definitely playable, it's just not as smooth as an eight8eight should be. And it's damned pretty if I do say so myself. No more Hammer of Thor for this one please, Chuck.

More pics on my Flickr

1 comment:

  1. God that was freaking hilarious dude! I can't believe he just smashed the yo-yo into the floor is he crazy?! Haha great story man :)

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