There was a thread with a similar topic, but I remember that Alex Smith said to put the ken in the freezer to slightly shrink the wood. I would leave it in there for about 10-20 minutes and then try to take the cups off once I take it back out of the freezer.
@z.kendama, @James Hoang is correct. There was a previous thread on this topic so yours has been merged so that the previous replies may be seen.
You might try the freezer idea followed by a hair dryer on the sarado to try and differentially expand the wood. It might take several cycles.
Yea I would agree with @goenKendama . The freezer hack has always worked for me and is harmless to your kendama unless you leave it in there for a long time. I would say maybe just leave it in there for 10-20 minutes depending on how cold it is and it should be good to take off.
I actually woke up with bruises on my hands from trying to get the sarado unstuck. Ive tried the freezer/hair dryer cycles at least 15 times and theres no budge
Well I had to mix rubbing alcohol with dry ice, then wrap my kendama in tinfoil with a string poking out, submerge it into the cyrofluid for ten seconds, then wiggle it loose as quick as possible to prevent the wood from sticking to my hands.
@Derek We already had a thread so your question has been merged. Have a look at the previous replies for more info.
So I kinda went into extreme "I'm getting this shit unstuck mode." I took a cooking pot and then filled it with isopropyl alcohol and then added dry ice. This makes cryofluid, which is about -100 degrees. I then tied a string around the sarado and laid the string out onto the ground. I then tightly packed aluminum foil around the kendama so it was completely sealed off from the cryofluid. I then had an aluminum foil kendama hanging on a string so I could submerge it into the cryofluid. I held it in the cryofluid for about 15 seconds then took it out and ripped off the aluminium foil with paper towels in my hands, then removed the sarado as fast as I could. Dama hack of the year?