Sticky Kendamas

[mahkryan]

hey guys just want to know which kendamas u feel are the stickiest. I've purchased the sourmash rasta from kendamaco and its by far the stickiest that i played with.  I also have the baby blue oozora and its also stickier than my standard red oozora. I just want to know when it comes to oozoras which color u feel is the stickiest and/or if any of you had any other brands/colors that you experienced that  felt were stickier than others please let me know, thanks guys.

btw i was thinking about picking up UV series sunrise (pink).  I've heard a lot of people considered that pretty sticky as well. thanks in advance

[Adam K]

I've got a first generation Sweets Focus custom kendama with a matte finish (black with 2 purple lines and 1 white line) that feels ridiculously sticky, birds and lighthouses just happen much more easily, and messy birds aren't a big problem. Both are MUCH harder with the second generation focus with a marble finish, but that's probably more a function of how much time I've played with it than anything.

[KourageDama]

I've been playing kendama for about 8 months and I have to say that the Yellow Oozora is the stickiest I've ever played with. I do have a UV pink sunrise. It is sticky, but IMO the Yellow Oozora is stickier. Although I do find that the new Oozoras are sticker than the ones before them. I have a Baby Blue Oozora and its pretty slippery for a Oozora.

[mahkryan]

do you have the 2011 yellow? or previous model

[The Void]

I find the standard colour Sunrises to have a touch more grip than the UV. (Sample range: 2&1)
I've heard good things about the grippiness of the new Ozoras, but I haven't played with mine yet (so far I'm keeping it pristine).
New kid on the block Play seems pretty good so far, but it's too early days for me to really judge on that.

Anyway, surely we should all be playing with the slipperiest kds we can find, just to improve our technique! 

[HansNickmans]

Maybe not what you're looking for but the cheese kendama is great for lighthouse! Something about the matte paint makes it that much stickier.

[AlexSmith]

No one ever has any love for the non sticky damas. I just got a Play and I love it.

A sticky dama is great and all, but trust me there's a point where poppin lunars all day just looses it's appeal. There's an an infinite number of other tricks

[Thorny]

Amen, Alex.

Although, on topic...

My old 2010 Oozoras (Sky Blue, Pink and Green) were stickier than my 2011 models of the same colour... until a little wearing in, they're now almost the same, except my newer Sky Blue Oozora is showing signs of vast improvement.

Also, my Red Shin-Sakura and Wine Mugen are rather sticky.

Shin-Fuji's are slippery at first but soon become nice and sticky too, in my experience. The ones which don't are the Rokurosens, again, in my own experience.

I've got around a million new kendamas to pay for over the next month... looks like I'll be having a few for Christmas!

[Peter]

Hey Folks,

two ideas regarding this issue:

1) slippery is improving your skills, not sticky :-) ... I love Kendalex' Aluminium, because it allows me to make a lighthouse walk across the room for hours ;-) No, not true, after some training I am able to keep it in balance after some seconds by now. Further, really painfull, is my combination of a Deathray Dama (made from resin) with an Enju Ken. Sick, my catch-rate for lighthouse is 50 times lower than for my shin fuji, but I like it.

2) in case you just want to catch the trick, use resin (the non harded version of course, such as handball players use). Within your next edit, nobody will see the difference. Yet, I would call this cheating. Or, a bit more sporty: it could be understandable, that for your next edit you want to wash your equipment, to make it look clean, of course. Thus, lay it in a bowl of water for an hour before using. BTW: wet wood has a higher frictional coefficient than dry one has ;-) For battles on the stage, just give your beloved Ken a very wet kiss, or keep it in your trouser pocket together with a wet sponge. Looks embarrassing, well, you need to decide yourself 

   

[Anthony A]

My 2011 Yellow Oozora is sooooooooo slippery. The thing is an oil slick. I've been playing with it for a while and still no improvement.

I'm starting to think that it's me. Do I just have naturally oily hands or something? Anyone know if that can be a factor to kendama stickiness? A few people I spoke to said that tama stickiness can be hit or miss. I guess I just missed with mine... and my Sweets UV green... sigh... Maybe I'll try a Sunrise or Kendama USA or a Sweets Naked next time.

[Benjugglin]

The ideal kendama if you're looking for sticky is one of the Sweets frost kendamas. Unfortunately, the frost coating wears off pretty quickly and that can leave 'em pretty slick. Right out of the box though...amazing!
My old Oozora used to be great for lunars and lighthouses and such and then suddenly...it wasn't. I've tried the new Oozoras, but they're nothing like my old one (no matter how much play they've seen).
My friend uses a Sunrise and it's pretty sticky, but that's mostly because he's beaten the life out of it. It's the only kendama any one of my friends has that ever had the paint chip away. It's practically natural at this point, but the dirty, dented, chipped ball has a nice sticky feel. The ken is absolutely horrendous for lunars, but it does a pretty good lighthouse and crazy good birds.
No TK-16 I have used has felt stickier than wet ice.
I've had a Shin Fuji for a day now so I can't speak to it's long run feel, but it isn't very sticky at all now.
I used to have one of the kendama USA pro models, but I gave it away because it was practically unusable. The ball was small and heavy and (on topic) the surface was slippery and plastic-y.
I have played (only a little bit) with one of the newer kendama USA models (a really well used one). It certainly wasn't sticky, but it didn't make me want to throw it away in disgust like the original pro model.

[AlexSmith]

The new KenUSA tributes are something you'll want to watch out for if you're looking for sticky. The first two runs of them used a completely different paint then the next run will be. I have some of the prototype 2012 tributes and they are by far the stickiest damas I've ever played with, it's insane. Due to the allergen problems the paint mixture will change slightly for the public release, but rest assured it'll still come out on point. Tama grip lovers rejoice

[Oase]

For me ..the stickiest kendama i think it is the KCN Battle !!! i can not find them anymore ...also the stickiest kendama right now that i have is the Frost SweetsKendamas !!..and i`m not saying that because i`m sponsored by them..but is stick as hell ..After a while of playing you wont find the same amount of stickines... here is a little demo that i did first day a got them !!!

[Anthony A]

The new KenUSA tributes are something you'll want to watch out for if you're looking for sticky. The first two runs of them used a completely different paint then the next run will be. I have some of the prototype 2012 tributes and they are by far the stickiest damas I've ever played with, it's insane. Due to the allergen problems the paint mixture will change slightly for the public release, but rest assured it'll still come out on point. Tama grip lovers rejoice

I'll have to look out for that. Thanks for the heads up. I'm still getting some good use out of my yellow oozora though. Doing lots of 2 and 3 turn airplanes, ufo, spacewalks and fast throw stuff.

The only kendama that has been really sticky for me was my white Sweets Focus 1.0. All the rest have been slippery. In a way it's good though because it will just make things easier for me when I find the right one.

Oase: I do like the frost. A friend of mine has one and it's nice. I hit a 2 turn lighthouse on my 5th or so try. Pretty good for me. I'm going to be getting a frosted biggie soon so I'll see how I like it then.