Hey guys, I'm new here but I have been playing kendama for a while. Recently, I bought a mini lathe to try my hand at making my own kens. A few of my friends have expressed interest in buying some kendamas from me but I don't even wanna think about how much work it would take to try and make a tama on a lathe (without special equipment). I know some companies (like Sweets) sell blank tamas but since I'd be selling them I don't want to use another companies tama. Does anyone know of a place to get some pre-made spheres (in the right size) that I could make into tamas?
This video shows making a Tama. If you are looking to pick up some spheres @Ben Lowe might know where to get them. he made a cryptic post about potentially having some a while back...
I actually just watched that video the other day. I feel like I could do it but I just wanted to see if there was another option in case I couldn't. I only asked because the employees at the woodworking store I go to were pretty adamant that it would probably be too hard without special equipment.
Word. That's so cool you have a lathe though! I'm jealous! BTW I don't think there is anything wrong with throwing a random other company's tama on your hand turned kens. @htimSxelA often drops his kusa pro mod Tama on his Terra hand turned masterpieces.
Hey, still haven't tried making a tama yet but I thought I'd share my progress on my ken prototype, since you asked for pics lol. Here it is, cups are huge, slip stop is too wide, spike's kinda fat and all the holes are poorly drilled/slightly off. Still, it plays surprisingly well considering. Let me know what you think!
Looks like a lunar beast!! That's pretty damn good. My question is what makes people drill the sarado with grain going horizontal vs vertical? Most companies do "vertical" (your case), but stodd mod, Rwb, and terra skateply show different "horizontal" pattern.
Thanks man! I appreciate it. It IS a lunar beast. It almost feels like cheating, it's so easy haha. As to your question, I don't know why it's so common for the sarado to have the grain vertical. Truthfully, I pretty much only did it that way cause I know that it's the common way to do it. I do think it shows off the grain patterns really nicely that way. If you do it horizontally, all the cool patterns are pretty much hidden under the tama or on the underside of the sarado.
I don't know the answer but I have a guess. Wood tends to split with the grain. Tops bottoms of the cups tend to get the most abuse. (Think stall points, insta lunars, catching the Tama hard with the big cup, or even the Ken hitting the concrete when it is spinning). Keeping the grain vertical might add some structural stability to the top and bottom of the cups. I'm sure there's pros and cons though. I could see horizontal grain catching better for lunars...
True, but I feel like the player sees it more during play from the top. It's interesting to see only the sarado was done in that fashion for my RWB. The skateply has both pieces "rotated."
Hmm interesting... I find that I prefer horizontal plywood (at least for the cups) because it is hard for my eye to track the spike when everything is vertical
I dunno, I feel like I'm worse at a lot of tricks on them. I also find that I have to rely on muscle memory a lot more than tracking and lighting is more important.
I can't necessarily speak for other manufacturer's reasoning, but I think it is mainly aesthetics. The two most 'classic' examples are OG mugens (sarado grain vertical) and Ozoras (sarado grain horizontal). I don't think I've ever seen a single kendama made by either manufacture deviate from this. Mugens alway vertical, ozoras always horizontal. Here is why I don't think it is structurally relevant: have you ever seen a sarado from either brand (or any other brand, really) split in half right in the centre? Even if one grain orientation is stronger than the other, both seem more than strong enough for the abuse of kendama play, so the decision must be made based on something else. My guess is looks. I've always made Terra handturneds have horizontal grain in the sarado. I'm not sure there are any exceptions.
I remembered coming across wood spheres (not sure if spheres or eggy) at my local Daiso. Will buy one in a couple of days and measure to see if it's JKA-sized out of the box. They cost a measly $1.50.
This is a total guess, but I would imagine dollar-store wood products will be a lightweight birchwood at best, or maybe even a harder softwood (some type of pine?). Check the weight on it too!