Full Wood or Composite Blades?

Started playing with a 7 wood layers and when I tried composite I fell in love. Faster, lighter, larger sweet spot and only drawback was a minimal reduction in feeling. I can't compare it to the best pure wood blades though because mine was pretty indecent.

Well.. I prefer full wood blade to composite blade because it can feel better than other things. That's the reason why i have used 7 layers wood blade for one year.

Composite blades as carbon, zylon, alycarborn have more faster than only wood layers, so if you're not novice but intermediate level or high, you can use the composite blades because you can control repulsive power and feel ball-touch already.(Brush or not, smash or not, short or long, thin or thick, etc)

But if you have not played TT much time, you would be better using fully wood blades because the most important thing in the TT knows "the feeling".

I hear from Liu shiwen says the wood blade is very good for player
Liu shiwen at first use ovtcharov senso v1
Sent from my RM-914_im_mea3_1023 using Tapatalk

7 ply all wood because it feels more controllable than carbon/composite blade

Well, all wood blades are worth using. The reasons have been mentioned. You feel the ball better. You get better dwell time and control. You don't really need the extra speed from a carbon blade.

However, I am using a blade that has a layer of Zylon with no carbon (Butterfly Timo Boll ZLF) and it is pretty amazing. It has more dwell time because of the Zylon, you still feel the ball because it does not have carbon and carbon is what blocks the feeling. And you get a similar result as with a blade like a Stiga Clipper, (they are not too different) but the TB ZLF is about 7 grams lighter. My TB ZLF is about 84 grams. I have one Clipper that is 91 grams and one that is 94 grams. It is just as solid as the 94 gram blade but the lighter weight allows me to accelerate my stroke and reset much faster.

So, for the most part, I would say wood blades. The two exceptions would be the Timo Boll ZLF or the Innerforce ZLF. Both are great blades. But there is a downside to both of them. They are overpriced. When I bought my Stiga Clippers they were $55.00 (USD). When I was given the TB ZLF, the market price was $180.00 (USD). I could get 3 Clippers for the price of one TB ZLF. And I would not really say that the TB ZLF is better than a Clipper. They are both great.

So, for the most part, I would go with all wood blades.

Τhe overall feeling of a blade is what makes it a unique match for every different player. I prefer allwood blades cause they provide unlimited variation in your shots and are perfect for learning/developing new strokes.

Carl, if you want to get rid of that HEAVY 94 gram blade, I'll trade you a modified 896 or a pure 896 maybe toss in rubbers. Stock blades are too light these days and the weight just a little too much towards the head. 896 and Instinkt+ are mid 80s weight. Perfect for some, way too light for me. I got Popeye forearms, so creating good bat speed with a heavy bat is no problem nor is creating spin on BH wing without much a backswing.

I made mods on a 896 and a W6 today. (Scraped off one handle and added weight to hollow part of handle) Tried same mod on Instinkt+ and discovered the Instinkt+ handle does NOT have a hollow space.

Right now, I am hitting with 896 and Instinkt+ with Aurus/XP 2008 or Tibhar Evolution FX and any ole BH rubber. This is because my two expensive main blades are wounded with some cracks I need to do major restoration on. I am not in a hurry to get these blades back in service. That will come with time. Every time I long term test an ALL+ or OFF- spinny blade, my fundamentals and game paly seem to go down, then slowly up so that when I do get the big gun OFF (not OFF+, No way!) into action, I seem to play at a higher standard.

Today, I slapped on a sheet of EL-P on the 896 blade in my signature. I expect this blade to play like the Nexy Peter Pan sample they lent me in Korea that had FX-P and EL-P. A crisp, spinny controllable match blade with those rubbers so nicely matching.

I tried out the 896 ALL+ in my sig at Boston TTC last weekend vs players ranging USATT 1800-2200+ level and did very well. I thought I would drop levels from lack of serious play and from the slower bats. My spin and serves carried me further than I thought vs that crowd.

If no one has read the forum a long time, everyone should know I am an advocate for whatever equipment suits your desired play. That includes BOTH wood and composite blades.

Der_Echte said:

If no one has read the forum a long time, everyone should know I am an advocate for whatever equipment suits your desired play. That includes BOTH wood and composite blades.

Click to expand...

I do really think there is sense to this in spite of what I wrote. hahaha

Der_Echte said:

Carl, if you want to get rid of that HEAVY 94 gram blade, I'll trade you a modified 896 or a pure 896 maybe toss in rubbers. Stock blades are too light these days and the weight just a little too much towards the head. 896 and Instinkt+ are mid 80s weight. Perfect for some, way too light for me. I got Popeye forearms, so creating good bat speed with a heavy bat is no problem nor is creating spin on BH wing without much a backswing.

I made mods on a 896 and a W6 today. (Scraped off one handle and added weight to hollow part of handle) Tried same mod on Instinkt+ and discovered the Instinkt+ handle does NOT have a hollow space.

Click to expand...

Oh, no, I love those blades. If something ever happens to the blade I am using, I will go right back to one of the Clippers. I have Popeye forearms also. I do think there is a value to a heavier blade. You have heard me say that before as well.

But, when I was given this TB ZLF, a friend of mine who is 2600 level, and a coach, told me I should use it because of the bat speed and reset issue. Because those things were a little slow for me. He was right. It helped me get those faster.

Haha dont have a stroke on me haha. Just had to try for one of ur heavy setups. Heavy for the same blade should be craved.

Sent from my VS980 4G using Tapatalk

it really depends on style, rubbers and level. For amateur topspin players always a all wood blade, its easier to generate spin with because you have more dwell and better touch. For allrounding game consisting of blocks and smashes, probably a good carbon blade. Furthermore the rubbers are important too. With chinese rubbers and general hard rubbers all wood, because you get catapult from the blade, with more bouncy rubbers and especially ESN, carbon works better.
When it comes to level, it depends on speed and personal choices. Carbon blades are at the end faster but look what Xu Xin does with a Intensity! It's incredible, so it really comes down to preferences. But it seems that shakehand players are preferring carbon blades because of T05 and penhold players are only using all wood. Its mixed at the chinese team, in europe with both sides Tenergy there are no all wood blades and if there are, only exceptions...

Me personal: I like chinese rubbers and always the maximum spin so all wood

Anyone not knowing who Popeye is, he is a very ANCIENT cartoon character. Popeye is a sailor and the plot of almost every cartoon goes something along the lines of Brutus (a HUGE muscular sailor) or someone bullies Popeye and is beating the dog daylights outta him, but then Popeye suddenly ingests spinach through his mouth, his pipe, or however he can then right away gets super strength and decisively defeats his foes in the fight or has the power to do un-natural things to save a baby (Sweet Pea) or whatever.

Popeye is a sailor and if no one knows what sailors do in the old day, you gotta understand that they are constantly lifting heavy things on deck and work with the hands and ropes a LOT, always grabbing, pulling, gripping strong. That is one seriously good way to build forearm and wrist strength, also core gets like a rock doing that line of work.

The characteristic about Popeye's physical appearance is he is a small, medium or short dude with the tiniest wrist bone and forearms that are 5 times larger and wider than his wrist bones. The large forearms are what gives one a very strong wrist.