Me again with more questions! Haha. Thanks to everyone who replied to my keyaki question. Stripped the paint off of my peeling sweets prime tama and paired it with a locally made ken to make a nice little natty. Put a bit of coconut oil and beeswax on it but it ended up pretty slippery. Playing it also doesn't seem to be making a dent. Any tips on making it playable? it's also 10g off, will that mess with its playability? ken is 76g, tama is 86g. I'm guessing i just need to really play with it a bit more, but looking to hear your thoughts.
Ten grams off isnt that bad. If you are fairly new to kendama you probably won't notice it too much until you start to do more aerial string tricks. As for the slippery factor, there may be several options here. You could get the finest grit sandpaper you can find and lightly, and I mean lightly, hit up some of the icy areas. Or, you could put a very small amount of rubbing alcohol onto a paper towel or rag and apply that to the ken. Do this a couple times over a few days and it may slighten up the ice a bit. But, in all honesty, seshing a ken A LOT is the best option. Sometimes an icy ken is a good thing. Many people on here started with old-school TK-16s or Ozoras with solid smooth paint, these tamas really tested your patience but in a lot of ways are totally worth it.
Yes, the closed photo is with the kendama in it. The lid is touching the tama but it has a bit of give and I've closed a Prefect in it too. I got it in Tokyo. There are 4 colors (red, blue, heather grey, black).