Is it me or the number of kendama brands has been exploding lately? I can barely follow all the different ones that are there (not discontinued)
I was thinking of doing a list:
* Ozora
* TK16
* Shin Fuji
* Mugen (musou)
* SunRise
* Play
* Sweets
* Krom
* Croix
* KendamaUSA
* Kaizen (kind of KendamaUSA too, but different seal)
* Girr
* Clack
* Grain Theory
* Monk
And I am sure I'm missing some.
Isn't this a bit too much?
If you include custom brands there are more than people could think of.
Some more brands:
*Dragon
*Homegrown (a type of sweets but different model[nb]well you included kaizen ;)[/nb]
*Ultra
*Sourmash (he's got his own kens too!) & the Stove
*Deal With It
*PAW (very little created but probably classed as a brand I guess)
*Trojka (from kendama.cz)
*CWCS
*Terra
*Folken
*Hajimeteno (red JKA seal)
*Grip
*Steeze
I agree there is a lot, but then again each company have there strengths, I like to see new company's emerge but then it can be a bit annoying if they don't live up to expectations. That's why I personally go for larger ones. As I know I won't be disappointed
-Rob
Zoot (another czech kendamas, available on kendama.cz)
Homegrown and Kaizen count as models, not brands. We'd be here forever if you listed all models.
- Roots
- Catchy
- Yomega
- Bahama
Yumu
Friday (from Hongkong)
Some names I missed
* Fuji
* Sakura
* Shin Sakura
* yumu kendama
* BLK kendama
* nova kendama (from the netherlands)
* Extreme
* Bandai (KDX)
- Lunar Kendama (Indonesia)
- KendamaSG (Singapore)
- Styles from Beyond Kendama (Singapore)
- Woofmeow Kendama (Singapore)
- Morning Wood Kendama (Thailand)
- Kendama Madness (Malaysia)
- Yoyoskeel (Malaysia)
- Japan Technology (Japan)
- sOMEThING (Japan)
- Caribou Lodge Yoyo Works (Canada)
- Duncan (USA)
- Kaleb Kendama (USA)
- Yoyofficer (China)
Spinworkx from Singapore also produced small runs of tama with varying weights.
Also currently trying out a prototype kendama from Kendama Vietnam. No name yet, though.
Catchy is a Yoyofactory (USA) subdivision of sorts.
Deal with it SF. Nice paint jobs!
Apparently we also have Royal Kendama now, and it is BKA Approved!
For better Reading i put togfether and sorted it and put out doubles.
Ozora
Bahama
BLK kendama
Caribou Lodge Yoyo Works (Canada)
Catchy
Clack
Croix
CWCS
Deal With It
Dragon
Duncan (USA)
Folken
Friday (from Hongkong)
Girr
Grain Theory
Grip
Hajimeteno (red JKA seal)
Homegrown (a type of sweets but different model[1]
Japan Technology (Japan)
Kaizen (kind of KendamaUSA too, but different seal)
Kaleb Kendama (USA)
KendamaSG (Singapore)
KendamaUSA
Krom
Lunar Kendama (Indonesia)
Madness Kendama(Malaysia)
Monk
Morning Wood Kendama (Thailand)
Mugen (musou)
nova kendama (from the netherlands)
PAW (very little created but probably classed as a brand I guess)
Play
Roots
Royal Kendama
Sakura
Shin Fuji
Shin Sakura
sOMEThING (Japan)
Sourmash (he's got his own kens too!) & the Stove
Steeze
Styles from Beyond Kendama (Singapore)
SunRise
Sweets
Terra
TK16
Trojka (from kendama.cz)
Ultra
Woofmeow Kendama (Singapore)
Yomega
Yoyofficer (China)
Yoyoskeel (Malaysia)
Yumu
Zoot (another czech kendamas, available on kendama.cz)
Just heard of a kendama brand called Lion Head.
No idea where they are from.
(http://i.imgur.com/ROU4qUp.jpg)
Lion Head Kendama (Ogden, Utah, USA)
There is also the Tiger Kendama although cheap it is still quite decent.
Some brands I missed in the list:
Pak Fuk Kendamas (Hong Kong)
Bear Paw Kendamas (USA)
Kendama Co (USA - Zen, Shenzhu etc,...)
Sol Kendamas (USA)
Shukar Kendama (Romania)
Tortoise (Japan)
Nice idea to try and make a list! There have been popping up brands here and there. However, I suspect that some brands come from the same factory manufacturer, only changing in logo or paint job. However recovering this information could prove to be rather difficult. Maybe a distinction in hand-turned and factory made?
Do you have link to Tiger Kendama? I only find a Store Brand named Tiger, but no Kendama Brand
Actual kendama Brand List
http://www.kaskaderos.com/documents/kendama/Kendama-Brand-Marken.pdf (http://www.kaskaderos.com/documents/kendama/Kendama-Brand-Marken.pdf)
Maybe a distinction in hand-turned and factory made?
What is hand-turned and what is Facktory made?
Made in a house named Facktory, or if they make more than 10 Kendamas per day, than its facktory made?
All kendama are made on a turning lathe (Drechselbank), its always a maschin, where a person cut with his hands.
may be they can use a mask, espacially for dama made, but its still hand-turned.
Only cnc-maschin will be not hand turned.
We have Zerohouse Kendama from Vietnam :D
There is also a brand called Eagle kendama :D
And a small danish brand called ultra kendama.
ultrakendama.dk
Been playing theese a lot, really sticky paint and good balance.
kiv's?
http://kivskendama.tictail.com/ (http://kivskendama.tictail.com/)
Wizerd Kendamas:
http://www.wizerdkendamas.com/ (http://www.wizerdkendamas.com/)
Atlantic Kendamas:
http://atlantickendamas.com/ (http://atlantickendamas.com/)
Both look very nice!
Quote from: kaskaderos.com on 08 January, 2015, 12:57:27
Maybe a distinction in hand-turned and factory made?
What is hand-turned and what is Facktory made?
Made in a house named Facktory, or if they make more than 10 Kendamas per day, than its facktory made?
All kendama are made on a turning lathe (Drechselbank), its always a maschin, where a person cut with his hands.
may be they can use a mask, espacially for dama made, but its still hand-turned.
Only cnc-maschin will be not hand turned.
Probably every company on the list above will say 'handmade' to describe their product, which isn't really a lie, since there are a lot of hands-on tasks associated with kendama-making. There are a few different ways to actually turn the pieces though:
- Free-hand: holding a chisel of some sort, carving out the ken
- Tracer: A jig is mounted on the lathe, which acts as a perfect guide for a tool to cut out the shape
- Knife-mould: a wide knife blade that is milled to be the shape of a kendama is used to cut the piece
- CNC lathe: a computer-controlled cutter-head cuts out the shape.
From what I know, there are very very few companies that actually turn kens free-hand. Terra is the longest running, others include: some Croix kendamas, Zoot (I think), some Trojka kendamas, Kendama custom kreations (KCK), Uptown Joe (affiliated with Sweets), PAW. Apologies to anyone I've missed. Most of the names on this list are hobbyists that run a small company on the side, rather than being their main gig.
There are also some people who turn tamas (like Aaron from HI), but I'm pretty sure they all just use circle-cutting jigs. (which isn't bad, if you use it right you can get great results. I prefer to do it by hand though).