My kendama journey started with a green JKA stickered TK16 Master and for a long time I thought that the hole size on it was "normal." The first time I played an Ozora I thought it was defective because the tama hole was so big. With the last few years bringing bigger everything including tama holes what do you guys think, have the holes gotten too big or are they about right? Here are some measurements checked at their largest diameter (right at the opening). TK16 17mm Catchy Air 18mm Meijin Takumi 20mm Ozora Taisei 20mm Decade mod 21.5mm Prefect 21.5mm Pop 21.5mm Slaydawg OG 21.5mm Ozora Reshape 22mm Active 22mm Viking 22mm Pineapple pro 24mm
I played a Krom 8yr Bday, and the bevel was monstrous. I wish I had it to give the measurements, but I gave it away only after a couple weeks of playing with it. The bevel was so large that it affected the play dramatically. Muscle memory for even simple tricks like earth turns could not be trusted. It was impossible to go back and forth between other tamas without an adjustment period.
This thread was generated as a result of me ignoring my own rule: check it first. The only kendama I picked up at NAKO was a Sol bamboo ken and a Pineapple pro tama. I can't do one of my favorite tricks at all; slip grip special (ring stall). At 24mm it swallows the Sol slip grip with only 2 points of sloppy contact. It was the last day of the event and I didn't even string it until I was back in Japan; really need to pay more attention to what I'm doing. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Terra prefect is the best size I thought not to small not to big. I hated the KROM slaydawg 2 it was massive and I felt like I was re-learning bird all over again due to the bevel size
Measured last night. Looks like the DWI V2 is right at 22mm. That said, mines pretty heavily seshed so I could be wrong.
Too large is definitely a thing. Makes for strange birds, and lighthouse/lunar can topple over in the hole. KWC actually defines a max bevel size for competition approved damas, iirc it is the size of a 100JPY coin (22.6mm) EDIT: apparently its actually a 10 JPY coin, at 23.5 mm.
That's fun to know. I had to go pull out my coins and calipers and check. I was getting 22.43-22.56mm for 100 yen and 22mm on the nose for 5 yen (brass with hole).
I honestly just did a quick search for '100 JPY coin diameter', and duckduckgo gave me the 22.6 mm measurement. UPDATE! I just asked Rod, and he says its actually a 10 JPY coin. Duckduckgo is telling me that diameter is 23.5 mm. My mistake, I'll include an edit in my post above.
Ah geez, got to drag out the calipers again. Yep, got 23.5mm but I still think that's a gaping maw of a hole. (also means that the Pineapple tama I have wouldn't be accepted at 24mm)
Wooooooow. At this point in my kendama journey, bevel size isn't mattering a whole lot to me so it's kind of easy to discount the impact it has on newer players. Picking up a Pop for the first time genuinely opened doors for me. One thing we're not talking about it the size of the spike compared to the size of the bevel. While a Pop might have a smaller bevel than a Pineapple Pro mod, the spike size ratio should, in theory, make it feel larger.
I'm thinking that the diameter of the spike relative to the diameter of the inner hole is more the comparison to think of rather than related to the bevel. Large inner holes with thin spikes feel "sloppy" to me and I tend to have the ken jump out when I'm not expecting it. I probably should have found a way to include that in this poll too. For me it's a 2 part question since the bevel is primarily stall related and the inner hole is the spike control area. I also understand that the ramp of the bevel leads to the inner hole and aids with spiking. It's why you'll see 2 kinds of bevels in general, high angle and low angle.
Ahh good point sir! Do you find you have a preference on bevel angle? My assumption is that a low angle bevel makes for better stalls
I don't think the bevel angle affects stalls at all, since only the outer edge of the bevel will be resting on the ken. Its more an issue of spiking/control when spiked. Deep bevel: easier to spike, but less control when spiked (more room to wobble) Shallow bevel: harder to spike, but more control when spiked (less room to wobble). The ratio of inner hole diameter:spike diameter will affect this as well (as @goenKendama mentioned), but assuming that ratio stays constant and all else equal, I think what I wrote above will hold true.
I think perhaps the size/diameter of the bevel does to some extent effect stalls. Yes the stall point and just the rims of the hole touch but the width between those points I think adds stability to a point; it's like standing with your legs further apart, you're more stable. Wider on the cup rims is probably helpful but on the slip grip I've seen several ken/tama hole combos that are too wide for good contact.
As long as I'm good on the slip grip (ring stall) then I'm usually a happy camper. So it's not a specific size across all kendama but a ratio on a given kendama, all are different.
I'd agree with that, my post above was more focused on the depth of the bevel (outer bevel diameter remaining constant).