Ok, now we have two factors.
Hardness and Feeling.
But this can not be mechanically simple.
For an example, lots of blades are using KOTO on their surfaces, but most of them use very thin koto, and in that case, koto becomes like a very thin metal plate, which affects on the ball directly, but also help the ball goes into the second or center ply.
So, the feeling about those blades come generally from the second ply, not only from the koto surface.
I heard that some one told here in this forum that KOTO is soft material, and I think it's because of this reason.
For Limba, it's general feeling is embracing, but when I used it thick or doubled the feeling was not much embracing.
And also Hinoki, when I used very soft ones, the unique feeling became weak, and the second ply affected on the ball more directly.
So, it also depends on the thickness of the material.
Any way, if you ask what will be the moderate thickness for them, I think for Hinoki, it will be from 0.8mm to 1.4mm, and for Limba, it will be from 0.3mm~0.7mm, and for Koto, it will be 0.3~0.5mm.
But that's only what I concluded.
Ok, let's move on further.
When I design my hinoki surface blades, I used high quality Japanese Hinoki.
Hinoki has many grades.
If you look into the surface of Hinoki, you will see there are lines.
One line means one season change, I mean one year.
So, if you want to use Hinoki for a blade, then it has to be older than 200 years.
If not, the width is not enough to cover one blade.
And generally, people don't like the blade with several hinoki fragments.
Any way, if the line is wide, there could be two possibilities.
That wood is not good. If the mather tree was young, then the lines would be wider, because they are new.
And the feeling is soft and speed is not very fast.
Another possibility is that the material has come from the core part of a big old tree.
In that case, it's also soft and speed is not very fast.
But the price of those two material is widely different.
If the material is from the core part of several hundred years old tree, it's exteremly expensive.
Any way, I use soft Hinoki for all the blades.
And I prefer to use thick ones.
Geneally, many hinoki blades' surface is 0.5mm thick. But I use normally thicker than that.
When you use hard hinoki, then maybe 0.5mm will be ok, but if you prefer to use soft hinoki, then it has to be thicker.
If not, the ball will be affected by second ply much, not by hinoki only, therefore you can not get the full effect from Hinoki surface.
Let me give a practical example.
Here are two blades, one is Dexter and the other one is Hannibal.
For Dexter, my purpose was quite simple.
I wanted to make a 5-ply blade, which is faster than normal carbon blade.
So, I had to make the center ply thick, and use fast sprus on the second.
But if I make the blade too fast, then I was worried it could be too much bouncy.
So, I had to find some material which makes the ball spinny, even though the "staying moment" of a ball is very short.
In that case, Hinoki will be the best answer.
This blade is like an anouncement for me.
Nexy is different. It's very bold brand.
And I wanted to prove it by showing the fastest 5-ply blade, Dexter.
But for Hannibal, my purpose was quite the other way.
So far, carbon seems to be quite attractive material.
But the problem of it is, it feels too much aritificial.
So, some european makers tried to use it in the third position, or to use very thin carbon.
Some brands even did not use it, while they say they use it.
They mixed the carbon powder into the glue, and the said it's light carbon blade.
But in that case, that carbon glue ply becomes little by little shaken, and eventually changes the chracter of the blade.
So, some makers tried to use only one line carbon, which means they don't use carbon as one ply.
And some makers started to mix carbon layer with other artificial materials.
Any way, I thought carbon layer is very attractive material, with all that problems.
As for me, the biggest problem is not about feeling only. I was a lot more interested in how I can make it effective for "bang impact" swing.
As you might have experienced, lots of carbon blades are good when you practice basic skills, but in a match, they don't have good spin and feeling, and they are not that much powerful, even though they are fast.
So, I started to think, how I can prolong "staying moment" for a fast "bang impact" swing.
And I found out the solution.
I used very light and reslient wood for the center ply.
And I chose very soft hinoki, but thicker than most other blades.
So, it's around 1.3mm thick.
With these two new factors, now I could get very good "staying moment" needed for "bang impact" shot for Hannibal.
Some one asked me what blade can be good for short pimple out players, and I think this Hannibal can be good for that style.
This blade has very powerful smash, but also it has enough"staying moment" needed for a person who wants to make use of pimple out effect in it's full coverage.
Regarding Koto, I have one Koto blade, Ikarus.
And I'm going to release another Koto blade, Labyrinthos.
The reason I use Koto for those blades is I want to make the pimple out's effect bigger.
Actually, there could be several different styls regarding pimple out players.
And if I use soft material, then the "staying moment" can be longer than koto.
But in that case, pimple out's effect is affected by that softness also.
Most push blockers prefer OX, because they have bigger effect, then you can understand why I use hard and solid Koto on the srface.
If I use soft surface, it will be like I add thin sponge onto OX rubber.
Regarding MUSIRO and MILARGE, I used Limba, because I wanted to add more control than other normal blades, by which you can become more stable, even though you use long pimple out rubber.
On the contrary, I use Koto for Ikarus and Labyrinthos, because I want to maximise the pimple out's effect onto it.
Ok, it was not a short story, but I think most people would have got something from this passage.
Some of my expanation will not be exact with the blade you have, because it's not that simple.
If you use the same material, but still the effect can vary depending on weight of each material and also on composition together.
So, I don't expect you to take my writing into a certain decisive conclusion, but rather as a way to understand your blade better.
Thank you for reading this long article through
Hardness and Feeling.
But this can not be mechanically simple.
For an example, lots of blades are using KOTO on their surfaces, but most of them use very thin koto, and in that case, koto becomes like a very thin metal plate, which affects on the ball directly, but also help the ball goes into the second or center ply.
So, the feeling about those blades come generally from the second ply, not only from the koto surface.
I heard that some one told here in this forum that KOTO is soft material, and I think it's because of this reason.
For Limba, it's general feeling is embracing, but when I used it thick or doubled the feeling was not much embracing.
And also Hinoki, when I used very soft ones, the unique feeling became weak, and the second ply affected on the ball more directly.
So, it also depends on the thickness of the material.
Any way, if you ask what will be the moderate thickness for them, I think for Hinoki, it will be from 0.8mm to 1.4mm, and for Limba, it will be from 0.3mm~0.7mm, and for Koto, it will be 0.3~0.5mm.
But that's only what I concluded.
Ok, let's move on further.
When I design my hinoki surface blades, I used high quality Japanese Hinoki.
Hinoki has many grades.
If you look into the surface of Hinoki, you will see there are lines.
One line means one season change, I mean one year.
So, if you want to use Hinoki for a blade, then it has to be older than 200 years.
If not, the width is not enough to cover one blade.
And generally, people don't like the blade with several hinoki fragments.
Any way, if the line is wide, there could be two possibilities.
That wood is not good. If the mather tree was young, then the lines would be wider, because they are new.
And the feeling is soft and speed is not very fast.
Another possibility is that the material has come from the core part of a big old tree.
In that case, it's also soft and speed is not very fast.
But the price of those two material is widely different.
If the material is from the core part of several hundred years old tree, it's exteremly expensive.
Any way, I use soft Hinoki for all the blades.
And I prefer to use thick ones.
Geneally, many hinoki blades' surface is 0.5mm thick. But I use normally thicker than that.
When you use hard hinoki, then maybe 0.5mm will be ok, but if you prefer to use soft hinoki, then it has to be thicker.
If not, the ball will be affected by second ply much, not by hinoki only, therefore you can not get the full effect from Hinoki surface.
Let me give a practical example.
Here are two blades, one is Dexter and the other one is Hannibal.
For Dexter, my purpose was quite simple.
I wanted to make a 5-ply blade, which is faster than normal carbon blade.
So, I had to make the center ply thick, and use fast sprus on the second.
But if I make the blade too fast, then I was worried it could be too much bouncy.
So, I had to find some material which makes the ball spinny, even though the "staying moment" of a ball is very short.
In that case, Hinoki will be the best answer.
This blade is like an anouncement for me.
Nexy is different. It's very bold brand.
And I wanted to prove it by showing the fastest 5-ply blade, Dexter.
But for Hannibal, my purpose was quite the other way.
So far, carbon seems to be quite attractive material.
But the problem of it is, it feels too much aritificial.
So, some european makers tried to use it in the third position, or to use very thin carbon.
Some brands even did not use it, while they say they use it.
They mixed the carbon powder into the glue, and the said it's light carbon blade.
But in that case, that carbon glue ply becomes little by little shaken, and eventually changes the chracter of the blade.
So, some makers tried to use only one line carbon, which means they don't use carbon as one ply.
And some makers started to mix carbon layer with other artificial materials.
Any way, I thought carbon layer is very attractive material, with all that problems.
As for me, the biggest problem is not about feeling only. I was a lot more interested in how I can make it effective for "bang impact" swing.
As you might have experienced, lots of carbon blades are good when you practice basic skills, but in a match, they don't have good spin and feeling, and they are not that much powerful, even though they are fast.
So, I started to think, how I can prolong "staying moment" for a fast "bang impact" swing.
And I found out the solution.
I used very light and reslient wood for the center ply.
And I chose very soft hinoki, but thicker than most other blades.
So, it's around 1.3mm thick.
With these two new factors, now I could get very good "staying moment" needed for "bang impact" shot for Hannibal.
Some one asked me what blade can be good for short pimple out players, and I think this Hannibal can be good for that style.
This blade has very powerful smash, but also it has enough"staying moment" needed for a person who wants to make use of pimple out effect in it's full coverage.
Regarding Koto, I have one Koto blade, Ikarus.
And I'm going to release another Koto blade, Labyrinthos.
The reason I use Koto for those blades is I want to make the pimple out's effect bigger.
Actually, there could be several different styls regarding pimple out players.
And if I use soft material, then the "staying moment" can be longer than koto.
But in that case, pimple out's effect is affected by that softness also.
Most push blockers prefer OX, because they have bigger effect, then you can understand why I use hard and solid Koto on the srface.
If I use soft surface, it will be like I add thin sponge onto OX rubber.
Regarding MUSIRO and MILARGE, I used Limba, because I wanted to add more control than other normal blades, by which you can become more stable, even though you use long pimple out rubber.
On the contrary, I use Koto for Ikarus and Labyrinthos, because I want to maximise the pimple out's effect onto it.
Ok, it was not a short story, but I think most people would have got something from this passage.
Some of my expanation will not be exact with the blade you have, because it's not that simple.
If you use the same material, but still the effect can vary depending on weight of each material and also on composition together.
So, I don't expect you to take my writing into a certain decisive conclusion, but rather as a way to understand your blade better.
Thank you for reading this long article through
