News:

English-language friendly kendama forum open for everyone worldwide. Welcome!

Main Menu

String keep popping up during lighthouses?

Started by br4d24, 06 March, 2013, 02:16:59

Previous topic - Next topic

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

br4d24

Hey guys, Im not sure how common this issue is with players. But whenever i would go to do a lighthouse on any of my three kendamas, the string would come up out of the hole and the ken would land on it, making lighthouses inconsistant and frustrating. At first i would glue the bead into the tama hole but it wouldn't allow the string to move freely and would get tangled - Plus it wouldnt last for long until it came out again.

But alas i have found a great solution that is fairly simple:

Make sure you have some slack on end of the tama side knot before starting - then if you want to change the tama you can use some needle nose plyers to pull it back through and undo the knot.

1. With your string pulled tight make a mark on the string where it goes into the tama, just something small enough that you can identify it.
2. grab the tama side knot and let the tama go up towards the ken so you can tie a new knot.
3. Where you had placed your mark on the string tie a knot, dont worry that it is on the hole side of the tama.
4. Carefully pull the single knot back through the tama hole (shouldn't bee too hard) and you will have a knot on both sides of the tama hole!

There you have it. This will prevent the string from coming out, and if tied properly will still sit within the bevel of your tama hole so it wont interfere with play. This also allows for the string to move freely, preventing annoying tangles and having to spin your tama to straighten the string.

happygoat

Good tip, but the info was already on the setup page http://kendama.co.uk/setup.html  :P

I hate making the knot above the tama, so when practising I just place my ring finger below the tama, and gently touch the string. This is probably not allowed in competition play, but for practising it works fine!

BKA

Yep, it's a known issue. As happygoat says, gently touching the string with your ring finger can also stop the "bead pop". (That's not a problem in BKA-run competitions, by the way.)

We would caution against tying the knot on the bead side and then pulling through. After all, if the knot was thin enough to be pulled through the hole in one direction, there's no reason why it couldn't slip back through again the other way. We'd say tie the knot above the ball. (Tie it very loosely, and gently work it down into place before pulling tightly.)

Just added the "touch" alternative to the setup page. Thanks happygoat.

HansNickmans

I've been using the same technique as happygoat. I always wondered if using this 'touch' alternative was considered as foul play and would cause you to fail a dan exam (BKA or JKA)?

Kendama Belgium!

BKA

To be honest, I think it would be almost impossible to notice whether someone was doing that or not. We certainly consider it no more "cheating" than tying a knot is, so it's absolutely fine with us.

br4d24

#5
Quote from: BKA on 06 March, 2013, 11:44:30
Yep, it's a known issue. As happygoat says, gently touching the string with your ring finger can also stop the "bead pop". (That's not a problem in BKA-run competitions, by the way.)

We would caution against tying the knot on the bead side and then pulling through. After all, if the knot was thin enough to be pulled through the hole in one direction, there's no reason why it couldn't slip back through again the other way. We'd say tie the knot above the ball. (Tie it very loosely, and gently work it down into place before pulling tightly.)

Just added the "touch" alternative to the setup page. Thanks happygoat.

I tried this method but the knot was impossible to get into the cross sunk (bevel'ed) hole, which would result in a knot between the tama and cup occasionally. Although the knot is small enough to pull through the hole, i promise from experience it will not come through doing airplanes (Edit: Lighthouses :o ) :) and it allows for the knot to be in a position that doest obstruct play.

LarsVegas

Actually I'm not that unhappy if the ken lands on the string. The friction is much higher than on the ball. I'd say my catch ratio is higher that way. It just doesn't look that good.
EKO 2012 - European Beginner Champion