Blade

This user has no status.
This user has no status.
Member
Apr 2013
17
32
48
HEAD SIZE

I'm quite sure lots of people don't think much of this.
It was the same for me.
Whenever I buy a blade, I checked the thickness, and handle.
If the handle is not comfortable, then it's a big problem.
And if a blade is too think, it vibrates a lot.
And too thick, it has less feeling.

So, size of the head was the last thing I counted.
But as a blade designer, I found out it's extremely imortant factor.
You can do experiment on your own, with the blade you don't use.

Just cut some part, like in one blade, each side, and in the other blade, the top part, and also you can cut the whole head.
If you just cut one mm, then the total feeling will be very different.

You will not feel it's the same as before.



Recently, I saw several blades made from a new brand.
They are well known global brand, and they were really great in all details, let alone good designs in all things.
But regarding blades, I could not say that they would be successful.
Because they cut the head size only as they wanted to show.
It looks nice, very comfortable handle, and fashionable.
But the feeling of that blade was not so promising.
I could tell it only by looking at the head size.

Lots of European brand thinks of head size as a brand identity.
They stick to their own head size and style.
They try to keep that size as their character.
But in the end..... most of promising blades are becoming short term fad.
They can not survive in the long term.
I'm really sorry for this.
I do want to say that blade's head size is not abour brand identity at all.
It should be related with each blade's function and character.

Ok, here I will give some basic rule you can easily agree on.



1. Smaller head results it....

(1) bigger vibration.

(2) hard and focusing feeling

(3) more agilgity

(4) good for close-to-the- table shots

(5) bad play away from the table

(6) unstability with big and slow movement

(7) good for short and fast movement (still not much stable)



2. Bigger head results in....

(Normally, there are few blades with bigger head size, except for defensive blades.
So, I don't think I need to write about this.
But I will just try to give some information.
Any way, lots of Chinese blades are bigger than normal other country's blades.)

(1) hollow feeling in a bad way

(2) bigger vibration than modest blade, (but less than smaller head size, I guess)

(3) uncomfortable swing movement

(4) easy control and stability, but not agile


Actually, I know lots of Chinese companies, and most companis are making their blades the same size of Stiga blade. But they can not be the same. Because when they draw the head size of Stiga blade by using pencil on the paper, they naturally make most part slightly bigger than original one, specially round part, where pencil automatically moves in the bigger circle than the original blade.

If they had cut the same size as Stiga's one, then still they have some problem left. Because the handle size can not be the same with the orignal blade, so still they have some part uncomfortable.

Any way, I think there still exist wide gap between the original one and copied one, due to the sensitive character of blades.
Very small variation makes people feel widely different, that's table tennis.


By the way, from my experience, now I'm focusing on balance of each blade, whenever I design.
The balance means,

(1) weight between head and handle

(2) modest vibration

(3) good feeling

(4) overall weight balance, which is related with sweet spot


All those things are related with balance.

Due to these factors, I think most of Nexy blades are well balanced.
I've never heard of any criticism about wrong balance related with Nexy blades, and I think I will keep on doing this way.
 
  • Like
Reactions: YosuaYosan
says Spin and more spin.
says Spin and more spin.
Well-Known Member
Super Moderator
Dec 2010
16,146
17,685
54,747
Read 11 reviews
HEAD SIZE

Great info Nexy. Thanks for this contribution to the site. It is very true. Head size on a bat makes a big difference. I recently was using a blade with a small head size for a while and realized that it did not play well from mid distance or further back. But it did play very nicely from up close. :)

What do you think about some of those blades from Stiga where the head is purposely made larger? Like the Stiga Allround Oversize or the Stiga Clipper Oversize?

Also, what is your feeling about the hollow handle and moving the balance of the blade towards the head the way Stiga and Donic do for certain blades.
 
This user has no status.
This user has no status.
Member
May 2013
9
5
14
I've been playing almost exclusively with Nexy blades in the past two years and indeed I can confirm that they have a very neutral balance which I like a lot.
As to your comment, Nexy, on one hand I think you are right, on the other hand I think that head shape should also be taken into account. This is also a factor that brands tend to use as distinguishing factor (for brand recognition). However, shape can make a big difference when playing, too. I think about egg-shaped blades that were supposedly better for topspin. Schildkröt even applied for a patent on an egg-shaped blade called FuTec. Older Donics are also egg-shaped, although less extremely (the so-called Waldner shape). Today, the shape is more rounded. Not sure if this is because of aesthetics or functionality.

EDIT: clarifications
 
Last edited:
Top