A lot of players talk about how a Dama (particularly the paint) "slays" right out of the package. Recently I saw a post complaining about how silk paint slays from day one, but then tends to lose grip/tack over time. A week ago I opened the Shin Fuji pictured above as my jammer for the month [my focus (goal) for the month is to be able to (on command) pass the JKA Level 1 Dan]. Lighthouses on DAY ONE were near impossible on the icy - almost glacial - tama. Total focus and concentration occasionally overcame the slick surface and I felt total joy just like my first Lighthouses almost a year ago. Each day now I've played about an hour - sometimes two or three - focusing on the Dan Test beating out hundreds of moshi kame, around the world, birds, etc. and struggling with Lighthouses. I found I could really super focus and catch and hold the Lighthouses even though they were a true struggle. Of all the tricks they were my nemesis. Yesterday, after about a half hour of play, I pulled up a lighthouse and [insert meaningful musical motif here] it STUCK! All of that beating and play had brought out some tack on the tama! Still not necessarily as tacky as any of the paint options players seek for out of the box slayage, but a revealed tackiness released by beating the paint. Lunars (not on the Dan Test but I still practice everything) also popped up and caught much easier. So... My question, what I'd like to hear a discussion on, is the idea of OUT OF THE BOX PLAYABILITY VS NATURALLY BREAKING IN PAINT on tamas. It's your turn now people... Go!
I have some neat reviews. I am new to kendama and within the past two months I have been playing with 4 different Kendamas. I started on the duncan komoto and basically I dont want to talk about it. It's junk. The translucent KUSA tribute is also something I stay away from. In fact I have played with two KUSA tributes and they have both chipped on the first day. Now I'm just talking about tackiness. Neither was fun even with getting beat. Now, I had a Sweets atack and it was bomb. Broken in they play even better. My jammer right now is a cushion prime custom. The best I had ever played right out of the box. Tackiness is on point, but honestly it is too tacky causing my lighthouses to kind of stick and topple over. My ozora though! It is the best of all. It slips out of the box but has this magic tackiness and the paint isn't matte. It's super light and idk, but it's undescribable. My favorite kendama so far. I havent tried and pro clear or prime yet so who knows it might change my opinion.
I prefer breaking in the Tama. I usually only have one kendama that I play at a time, until it wears out to a certain point, then I get a new one. The good thing about being patient with the Tama to get grippiness is that it results in the perfect ratio of grip/slip for your playstyle. I think it is fun to jam tacky or grippy kendamas out of the box occasionally, but I generally go by the long method with my own kendamas. I definitely think that is important to be able to play to your best level with or without grippy paint. It shows that you can adapt.
I like how you think. Yeah, it's definitely been honing my skills dealing with the initially slick tama. I grabbed a few grippy OTB damas this morning to test, and I was tossing up tricks super easy on those after fighting with the other. I think I am going to be following your routine in the future. Thanks for sharing!
honestly no matter what the paint, you can make anything tacky by breaking it in. by that it is best to play that same dama everyday so it doesn't lose its grip
I too have been sticking to my slicker set ups. I occasionally grab my cusion clear setup to joke around with some harder tricks. It helps me learn the initial technique, then I can hone in on consistency with the slicker ones.
As lighthouses are my favorite tricks, I prefer paints that have a bit of tack to them, but not too much that adjusts will tilt off. Accordingly, my favorite paint of all time is the Sweets Pro Clear paint since it starts out glossy, but breaks in to the absolute perfect slip, stick ratio. I think I'm in full support of all types of paint, because they all function for different tricks better, serve their different purposes, and will work best amongst different players in accordance to the types of tricks they like/their personal style. Certainly some paints fade over time/are only durable to an extent, but ideally, the best paint types come out of box nice, but break in even nicer. TLDR below; Here's been my experience with a # of different paints: ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Gloss: -JKA Ozoras & TK - ICY (particularly the TK), but break in nicely when they do. The Ozora premiums are fantastically tacky, but lose their tack over time. -OG Zen - Glossy and icy, but have a nice eventual break in. -Sweets Proclear - Similar to the zens, but break in much tackier. -Girr - Not actually gloss, but has a matte/hardcoat finish. Plays amazingggg out of box, but then goes through a horrible slippery phase. Breaks in nicely after the slippery phase. Apparently are durable beyond belief - I'd buy that claim. My girr has had some paint fading, but no outright chipping. Matte/Rubber: -KUSA Silks - Nice and tacky with actually a decent amount of slip ratio for lighthouses, but chip and peel notably over time. Some worse than others depending on paint color and pure luck. -Krom Rubber - Plays just like the KUSA Silks but tend to be more durable. -Sweets Cushion - Ridiculously tacky. Probably the tackiest/grippiest of all of the rubbery/matte paints. Almost too tacky for my taste - has a tilting problem. Much better cleared on the natties and the new pro models than the first painted cushion releases. Pretty damn durable. -Yumu Superpaint - Same feel as the KUSA and Kroms, but is slightly tackier over time. DURABLE - never seen it chip ever. Probably the best of all these finishes (IMO). Sticky: -Sweets aTacks - Perfect amount of tack in the beginning, but gets stickier and tiltier over time until it becomes one of the stickiest paints available, ever. (On a hot day, you can push an aTack tama onto the ken and have it stick there while holding the ken upside down.) -Sourmash - Sticky out the gate, and sticky as you break it in. Sticky Gloss: -Sweets Primes - Perfect slip/stick ratio out of the box but fades over time. Has been incredibly durable in my experience. (Once dama raged and chucked it against a brick wall close quarters and the paint literally all dented in with the tama. Only signs of chipping around the bevel.) -Krom Slaydawgs - Very similar, almost the same feel as the Primes. Feels a bit stickier, but I've heard the stickiness fades a bit faster. -Ronin NeoTokyo - Plays almost the same as the above. All of these sticky factory clears are probably from the same source and place. I'd bet the new Analog ETs, Sol Pioneers, etc all play this way. -KUSA Trib Sticky/TJ Kolesnik Mod Sticky - Again, sticky factory clear typical. In my experience of playing with others', it seems to fade a bit quicker than the other sticky clears. -Kendamadrama Avid - THE tackiest tama I have ever run across, EVER. So ridiculously tacky that the tama will literally catch lunars with 0 effort and cause lighthouses to become leanhouses in no time. Pretty durable as well - hasn't lost its tack at all, even with play. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ And ^ this is why collecting kendama is fun. This, plus the different types of wood and ken shapes. All of these play so differently and cause for a different but equally fun experience IMO. Just subject to everyone's personal preference. I just am particularly fond of kendamas that break in better than they start out. So Pro Clear and Yumu Superpaint are my favorites. I'll also note that the new Sweets Pro Mods seem to have modded Cush paint, and are much preferable to the first run of Cush Clear. I'm very fond of my Norx Mod paint.
Im all for honing in a regular glossy Ozora or any natty tama for that matter. Once you get them broken in, landing those more difficult balance tricks is extremely satisfying. Any more difficult tricks that I can land on my KUSA silk, Sweets cushion or Kayadama I will always try to transfer onto a regular Ozora, a bite with varying degrees of success! By the way great post @Jenny Cho ! Heres a few I've worked on over the last couple of years Light Blue Ozora (Not OG but not the recent ones)-Honed Natty Ozora (Rasta Beeswaxed Tama)- Extremely honed Old white stripe zen-Honed Green Royal Kendama-Honed (First lunar on this bad boy)
Oh yeah, and its not just the Tama. The cups too! Especially beech kens. They contribute a lot to the grip slip of the whole set up!
mabye you broke it in wrong. just do alot of spike tricks and cup tricks to break in the cups and break in the paint. taps are good too
I just have to ask, how to you break-in a kendama wrong? I'm being serious. Beating it against the concrete or sanding it or whatever I can see as a bit extreme but is there a type of play that messes up (or improves) the way a specific paint breaks-in?
I have this insane theory that kendamas never break in, but rather the player itself which breaks in to the kendama! With this reasoning, i can never place my damas at fault, as it should be.
I agree Kendamas are user friendly and any errors should be directed to the operator whom inputs such forces upon discovery of said error. Troubleshoot and repeat until error has been resolved.