I've been a fan of gt's raw ash. But who isn't. There hickory is great too. And I like dwi natty tamas. There is a bunch more i like but those are the best in my opinion.
Raw ash and raw hickory are great natty tamas as mentioned above. They already have that bite in the natural grain to grip the cups and when broken in just get even better. Beech breaks in super good for pretty much everything. Once you have a well broken in beech tama, it'll slay for days.
Dude I really want to try hickory, I saw on your IG a hickory rez that looks amazing. What about the weight on it? Is hickory heavy and similar to maple or light and similar to ash?
I got my GT hickory tama from their unbranded tama selection before they came out with the raw hickory GT-1.5 Just $15 on their site before shipping.
@Aric Bukiri We already had a few similar threads so I merged yours so the previous replies could be seen as well.
White Oak: Janka 1360, tough, tight grained, good sound. Have a Red Oak setup but it's not a natty tama, looks good but doesn't feel as dense.
I second this. If you are really into kendama, you need to have a grain theory in some point of your life. With their amazing playability, you dont need paint to carry you. All of their shapes slay, but my personal fave is the GTKA
Of the ones available online right now, I’d say Kaizen Selects. Good variety (ash, beech, birch, and maple), weight matched, 2.0 shape. Can’t go wrong with an Ozora either. The natty keyaki will take a while to break in, same with the new natty maple. There should be another thread on here somewhere about natty damas.
I definitely recommend a RWB natty. It's from the same guys who make GTs so you know the quality is top notch plus, I really like their classic shape Also, you can never go wrong with any JKA natties. Also, for natty november, I was jamming a full ash Pineapple dama and it was SO nice kenditioned and all :3 ash is definitely my favorite wood for natties.