Hey all, first post here. I was just curious for anyone who has played the RWB red elm, is it similar at all to keyaki (in terms of durability, my keyaki spike is the longest lasting spike without glue that I have ever owned)
Keyaki is a japanese elm. I've had a couple dark elm kens and only one of them had the spike nub down after gluing, the other 2 elm kens are still pretty fresh after constant missed whirlwinds and dropped kens. If red elm is anything like dark elm (not a botanist but i'm assuming by the name that they are lmao) then it should last you many serious jam sessions.
I just got the RWB red elm and its really fantastic. However, I haven't had it or played it long enough to talk about the durability. I would just get it because it looks and feels amazing, so unique! I don't have a keyaki to compare to unfortunately, but it is supposedly very similar (as was mentioned before with them both being types of elm). You've seen this right?
The red elm is pretty similar to keyaki. Although IMO the red elm is much prettier to look at than keyaki!
Red elm is like the best ozora keyaki but better. The tamas aren't sanded to a near polish like the Ozora tamas so already grippier. Also the red elm is less prone to chipping from my experience. What I love the most though is that you can get consistently good weights on any RWB. Tldr: red elm good go try it