I searched and searched this on the site, but couldn't find anything, so I hope this is original... So... I like a long spike, but most damas come with a relitively short spike, so I was wondereing what the best way is to push down the sarado in order to "create" a longer spike. I've seen Bryson lee's trick, where you put in airplane and then drop it on the floor. I've also just seen a lot of people just putting their full weight on the sarado, but neither of these have worked very well for me, unfortunately. I actually used a knife to sort of carve out the sarado hole of a few damas, and it worked, but I certainly don't want to do this to all of my damas. So how do you push the sarado down? how effective is it?
A lot of people advise taking sandpaper and sanding down the spike where the sarado sits on it. I found that wrapping and taping the sandpaper around a pencil or something so it'll be thick enough to slip into the sarado about half way and then sanding the inside works a bit better and faster. I've used around 120-180 grit sandpaper. Tape the bottom half (I suggest masking or duct tape) of the sandpaper so the top half sands down the inside of the sarado. Managed to get the sarado for my TK16s down to a preferable height this way.
I saw one person jam his cups down upside down so the smaller side is on the bottom and it opens it up more then puts it’s on right side up. I’m not sure if it’s good for it though
I do the same thing as Keegan, sandpaper is your friend. Sometimes when you take the cups off a fresh ken, you'll notice sort of a raised groove where the cups were, and that the wood has been indented from the cups (can't take pics to show cause I have no damas like that rn). I try to sand that part down to match the rest of the sword so that the cups can go lower. Yeah generally I wouldn't recommend doing this method. I feel like it ends up just making the top side of the hole all wonky. I've never used this method though so if it works then I guess it works!
The easiest way for me is using it in cold weather or freezing it because the wood contracts, and the cups just slide down. It works really well with most woods, but occasionally the sword has too steep of an angle, and it is just easiest to sand it.
How do I make my TJ pro model spike larger? The spike was pretty good when I first got it but I had to change the string because it was too short. It was hard to remove the cups. Now that I changed it I couldn't get the spike length back. It's an Ash so it's going to take a really long time to wear the cups down from normal seshing. Got any tips?
There is a similar thread @goenKendama but as for your question, I use sandpaper to sand down the sword.
Push the cups down with your shoes on. Sit on a chair and push the cups down. I don't know, but it works for me.
Lol is this an OG kaizen, or a 2.0? If it's an OG kaizen, just keep jamming it! It'll work its way down eventually.
@JayOldfashionDama as mentioned by @Carlos Habbenero we did indeed have a related thread so yours has been merged with that one so all the previous replies may be seen.
Well, bryson's hack is only to make the sarado being pushed to make it nice & tight. The most common thing is either sesh your waytill the sarado completely press down or just sand the body of the ken or the sarado hole...