So, is it fine if your Kendama gets soaked? Is water going to like, ruin it or something? Specifically, I have the Kaizen Verawood Kendama. Just wondering, because of rain and stuff.
Getting wet should be fine, but you mentioned getting soaked because of rain. If it sat in the rain and laid in a puddle overnight or all day, you'll like get it warped while it dries. You could try to separate sarado and ken during the dry to see if you get lucky.
Adding to this, you might wanna leave the ken and sarado separated and in an upright position. Leave no chance to gravity.
I know that verawood is pretty brittle and dense. I would def. Try to keep it away from moisture (besides sweat and junk) as much as you could. But otherwise these other suggestions are helpful.
@azleonhart I was thinking about this. I wonder how much of a difference it makes: upright (standing on the base cup) vs. UPSIDE DOWN (airing out the base cup). I would think exposing the base cup would help. Most importantly DO NOT leave it in the direct sunlight!! That will cause swelling and warping. Lots of ventilation (near an open window) should be safe.
I had an f3 and my brother put it in water...then i did big cup and my sarado broke...but i super glued it and now I don't even see the crack )
Water and humidity resistance is one of the reasons I've been using a finishing compound on my kens lately.
My friend chucked his kendama into a lake, and it cracked when it dried. Also, another friend found a waterlogged ken in a gutter - the wood has cracks throughout It's entirety, and the color has changed to grey. A little water from rain or such won't hurt, but soaking the kendama will damage it.
my slate got swept up in the ocean and my friend grabbed it. But it was soaked through with salt water. I think I got lucky because he only side affect was that sweet ocean smell.
Didn't Sweets make reclaimed Elm kendama from waterlogged trees a while back? I wonder how they kept the wood from cracking.
When wood absorbs moisture, it will expand. It expands different amounts in different dimensions, so if you soak a kendama, you'll likely find that it will egg out. A little water is okay (playing in the rain, sweat, etc), but I wouldn't let a ken soak or it'll likely get ruined. Vera is a very dense & oily wood, so my guess is it will not absorb water as readily as other species. In general, I would aim to keep it safe and dry, grab a cheaper beech ken for some wet dama destruction!
The waterlogged trees would have been milled and properly dried (hopefully, anyways) before being turned into kendamas. So any outright damage from the water would have likely been discarded as scrap wood. The main issue with a kendama vs water is the chance of it egging out and staying that way once it is dry. If the whole reclaimed elm log 'egged out', dried, and then was turned, you would find no issue with the final product (the wood was stable by the time it was turned). Hope that makes sense