@Radson My Turquoise has been pretty good to me. It was on a 2.0 beech ken which gave up first and is now on an Ozora ken. Been jamming it for about 9mths now(not exclusively though). Also a maple half split 2.0 which I’ve been playing for about 2months. Kusa silk paint and Kroms Pop paint are the ones for me.
Yeah my silk kaizen pauduk paint peeled right off the second day I got it I thought it was a knock off since I got it from Amazon but I guess it's just the kendama. I was surprised since kendama USA quality has been good to me
New Kaizen Slim and Shift have a newer paint formula for the SILK paint. I tried one and they are super honed. Really grippy
So I searched around and didn’t find what I was looking for, but feel free to point me in the right direction. There is a lot of talk about clear coats and cushion clear (which I have had experience with both) as well as natty and other paints like pro clear. But what I want to know is if I can get more clarification on rubber and silk paints. I saw a post from KUSA and Analogue that make it appear their silk/rubber paints are grippy. I have used a prime dot burst which is a tad slippy and northern which was very slippy and a krom which feels a bit different to both (thicker? Maybe a bit more grip). Just want to try some of these new mods and damas coming out, but want to have more understanding before making choices between sticky and silk/rubber. I know that sticky will be stickier always lol, but just wondered if there was some big differences between companies silks/rubbers amongst themselves and not compared to sticky or cushion clear. Thanks
I'm actually pretty curious about this as well. Like there's a pretty stark difference between say the Kaizen berry tama and a dot burst. The berry is straight up rubber. Like it has a noticeable give to it when I do taps and is super grippy. The dot burst on the other hand is super inconsistent and feels pretty noticeably not grippy. That said, I've also gotten Krom pops for example that are like either of the above paints. My forest green pop is super rubbery but both my light blue ones are more like a dot burst.
The difference in manufacturers marks the quality. Though Sweets gets their product from the Honrui factory, I cannot say for certain if the Target exclusives are also from Honrui but it is most likely the case. That said, Kendama USA has put in a lot of work and time to make their silk/rubber paint as good as it is over the last 4ish years, which would make it (imo) far above the Sweets Dot Burst which is made for those who want a cheap and affordable kendama to start with (which is why it is sold at Targets exclusively). Not to say that the Sweets Dot Burst is a bad dama, but that the quality that KUSA puts into a kendama worth now $30 is better. I would make a similar statement about Analog's satin coating. Knowing and following the owner of Analog, he puts in A LOT of time and effort into the products that he sells. The shape, the woods, even down to the colors (follow @notbaldo on instagram and you'll see in his stories how he works) so it's safe to assume he puts in as much work into the coats he chooses. I have one satin and one ET (the sticky clear coating) Blue Mind each (both for sale btw find my DS Exchange post lol) and the paints on both are definitely on par with Kendama USA's. To take this on a little side note, how many players notice a difference in playability and durability between a fully painted tama with a rubber or sticky coat (ex. Bishoff pro mod tama and Lyndon Whalen pro mod tama) vs an unpainted, or partially painted tama with the same coating (ex. Krom's Nihon Slaydawg tama and Sol Vibe Pink Lemonade tama). Personally, I've found that a fully painted tama with silk/rubber/satin/etc coating plays better and breaks in better than a tama that has the same coating on the wood directly, and vice versa for sticky clears preferring tamas like the KD mod tama and Nihon ash Slaydawg tama over fully painted tamas with sticky clear on top.
This is all great info. Thanks. Exactly what I’m looking for. So for someone who doesn’t love slippery and doesn’t do enough to really punish a dama to break it in like the crazy post on @honedbevel on Instagram, which companies (obviously other than KUSA and Analogue talked about above) would you say have some good options in this paint type? I know sometimes the only option for some great damas are in rubber/silk so would be great to know if I may enjoy it or not.
I've had a few DWI silks and they've all been great. My v1 Jarod is a silk that is maybe my most played dama and the paint has help up like a champ. Plus they're pretty grippy to begin with in most cases. My V3 is a silk greyscale and the paint is honestly perfect.