Got me a 1 ply kiso-hinoki jpen

[lodro]

View attachment 29667
Once upon a time, I was using MX-P on FH of the monstrously thick 10.5mm one ply.

Gozo you are an animal 😂😂😂

 

[jbvttcc]

…on BH after removing the cork…

Cheers
L-zr

Blasphemy on a Jpen blade 😣

 

[Lazer]

Blasphemy on a Jpen blade 😣

I am rather blasphemic….

Cheers
L-zr

 

[ML fan]

It's very much a Goldilocks thing.

I find to get the absolute maximum popping catapult out (ie: fun 😎😎) of Hinoki, you want a rubber that will bottom out, just a little bit, so plan around that

I find what works best is a grippy (non-hybrid) rubber with a soft to medium-hard and semi-springy top sheet. A lot of the modern top sheets are very hard, and can interfere a bit with the rubber bottoming out the way you want it to, so I'd avoid anything too new .

Same rules apply with the sponge - anything above 47 degrees is typically too hard, and anything under 38 degrees is sometimes (but not always) too soft. 40 -44 degrees is about right in my experience, and even then, don't go with Max sponge version unless you have had a chance to try it out first.

My four personal favourite hinoki-frirndly rubbers ( in descending order of blade effect) are:

- Ak-47 Blue in max
- Joola Energy Xtra Green Power 2.0mm sponge
- AK-47 Redin max sponge
- Tenergy 05 with1.8mm sponge.

Hope this helps. Have fun! 😎😎

Can you tell me more why is these your favorite 1 ply kiso hinoki-friendly rubbers?


My four personal favourite hinoki-frirndly rubbers ( in descending order of blade effect) are:

- Ak-47 Blue in max
- Joola Energy Xtra Green Power 2.0mm sponge
- AK-47 Redin max sponge
- Tenergy 05 with1.8mm sponge.

 

[Wakkibatty]

Can you tell me more why is these your favorite 1 ply kiso hinoki-friendly rubbers?


My four personal favourite hinoki-frirndly rubbers ( in descending order of blade effect) are:

- Ak-47 Blue in max
- Joola Energy Xtra Green Power 2.0mm sponge
- AK-47 Redin max sponge
- Tenergy 05 with1.8mm sponge.

Yeah happy to 🙂🙂 ...although I wrote this post a while ago now, and I now have a few more to add to the list 🤣

Basically at the heart of it, I just adore the unique playing feel and massive popping-catapult-driven speed and spin you get from a great one ply blade 🥰🥰

Something about the amazing buttery feedback and dwell time of a one ply just hits the TT pleasure-button in my head firmly and squarely... with a ten tonne sledgehammer. 😁😁😎😎🏓🏓

For that reason, I personally tend to favour rubbers that augment that amazing playing feel and the blade's popping catapult. Any rubber that adds to the sensation of the blade feeling alive in my hand, is really up my alley.

All the rubbers I quoted above do this for me, by allowing the blade's natural springiness to shine through. They all work together harmoniously with the blade's own speed to heighten the feeling I'm after... The effect for me is both accumulative, and synergistic.

By this I mean neither the rubber, nor the blade, dominate proceedings... They share the load equally and become greater than the sum of their parts.

In hindsight, trying to rank these rubbers though was a mistake, as my selection criteria has shifted a little for me since I wrote it. This list is also partially budget conscious. The AK47 was top back then, largely because it's so cheap. Since then however I'm focusing less on affordability / replaceability, and more on peak performance... which is why this previous list is no longer complete, nor entirely accurate.

I would also add the following rubbers:

Rakza 7 Soft in 2.0mm: I used to think this rubber too similar to the AK47 to bother including (I also thought it too hard). Since then my FH technique has improved quite a bit, and this rubber is now really speaking to me. I mounted a set to one of my shakehand Skolla Mk IIs and they've yet to come off. Brilliant performance... Just love 'em.

Rakza Z Max: A former customer and absolute gentleman from New Zealand put me onto this rubber. Some months back he handed me a 10.8mm board of the nicest Kiso Hinoki I'd seen in years, and asked me to make him a back-up one ply from it as he was afraid of breaking his Darker Speed 90.

While I was still working on his blade, one time we headed out for a hit together and had enormous fun, directly comparing each other's respective collections of one ply blades, side-by-side in an extended "Battle of The One Plys" (and the occasional three ply 🤣).

The winner?.... US! It was a brilliant evening and I managed to spend several hours swinging his Darker Speed 90... it's reputation is well deserved! What a corker of a blade! Honestly can't fault it... It is just magnificent.

He currently uses the Rakza Z on all his Hinoki one plys, and I could see why. It has harder sponge than I would normally use myself, and sure enough, I could tell it was partially dulling the feedback and catapult as the rubber wasn't fully bottoming out... But I honestly didn't care much. That rubber is a monster on a one-ply and using it was still hugely enjoyable.

Andro Hexer Powersponge SFX in MAX: Another beauty! Nigh identical to the R7S in feel and hardness, and gives a very similar result.

The NEWER version of Tenergy 05 in 2.0mm: This one is a weird one....

I have a suspection that, given the release and success of the Dignics line, and the pending release of the Zeed 3, Butterfly have been very, very slowly altering the top sheet of the Tenergy 05 over time, to try and push folks towards their newer rubbers.

Maybe I'm imagining it, maybe I am wrong... but the top sheet of the last T05 I bought definitely seemed slightly softer than usual, which for Butterfly is almost unheard of... 🤔. Anybody else have a similar suspicion, or is it just me?

Anyway, whether the T05 is getting actualky softer or not, I can confirm the 2.0mm T05 is a beast on a good one ply -- especially in Red, and especially with this new, slightly-softer top sheet it has (??? 🤷🏻🤷🏻🤷🏻 ...assuming that is I'm not just imagining it. The old 1.8mm was good last time I tried it, but this latest Tenergy 05 in 2.0mm sponge felt a little better again ). Whether the Tenergy 05 is worth its cost or not given the many alternatives that exist, is a very old and unresolved question, and entirely a personal decision.

Donic Bluestorm Z1 Turbo in Max: Strapping one of these to my favourite Skolla Mk I was a truly wild ride (and also had spectators ducking for cover at times)... But I can't deny it's a lot of fun as well! 😎😎 One for the real speed freaks out there.

Tibhar MXP in Max (Red): Was never a huge fan of this rubber in the past for some reason, despite its obvious qualities and popularity. But that was in the past, and that was before I tried one on a one-ply. (It's an obvious enough pairing when you think about it... 🤔 ...Really wished I had thought of it sooner)


You could try ranking these above rubbers into some sort of strata for speed / spin vs cost / longevity if you really wanted to... But it's a fools errand really and frankly a waste of time that could be better spent with a blade in hand.

All these rubbers rock on a one ply in their own particular way, and while most of them don't have that beautiful synergistic performance with the blade I personally get from an AK-47, they more than make up for it in other more obvious ways.

Hope this helps. Good luck and have some fun with it 🙂


EDIT: WHOOPS! ...nearly forgot!

Two days back, I tried out a Loki Telson 100 Max on a prototype Skölla 9.0mm J-pen one-ply model that's still in the latter stages of development.

I can't play J-pen to save my life frankly, and when play-testing this thing I was struggling to keep the ball on the table (entirely my fault, not the blade). My coach and very good mate is from Korea however and used to play J-pen as a teenager. He picked the thing up and promptly started smacking me all over the park with it!

We both subsequently agreed the Telson 100 also has potential as a one-ply rubber, despite its harder than average sponge (Loki's intermittent QA problems notwithstanding). The crazy spin and low rebound angles he was getting off the table was driving me bat-s**t crazy! 🤣

 

[ML fan]

Thank you so

Yeah happy to 🙂🙂 ...although I wrote this post a while ago now, and I now have a few more to add to the list 🤣

Basically at the heart of it, I just adore the unique playing feel and massive popping-catapult-driven speed and spin you get from a great one ply blade 🥰🥰

Something about the amazing buttery feedback and dwell time of a one ply just hits the TT pleasure-button in my head firmly and squarely... with a ten tonne sledgehammer. 😁😁😎😎🏓🏓

For that reason, I personally tend to favour rubbers that augment that amazing playing feel and the blade's popping catapult. Any rubber that adds to the sensation of the blade feeling alive in my hand, is really up my alley.

All the rubbers I quoted above do this for me, by allowing the blade's natural springiness to shine through. They all work together harmoniously with the blade's own speed to heighten the feeling I'm after... The effect for me is both accumulative, and synergistic.

By this I mean neither the rubber, nor the blade, dominate proceedings... They share the load equally and become greater than the sum of their parts.

In hindsight, trying to rank these rubbers though was a mistake, as my selection criteria has shifted a little for me since I wrote it. This list is also partially budget conscious. The AK47 was top back then, largely because it's so cheap. Since then however I'm focusing less on affordability / replaceability, and more on peak performance... which is why this previous list is no longer complete, nor entirely accurate.

I would also add the following rubbers:

Rakza 7 Soft in 2.0mm: I used to think this rubber too similar to the AK47 to bother including (I also thought it too hard). Since then my FH technique has improved quite a bit, and this rubber is now really speaking to me. I mounted a set to one of my shakehand Skolla Mk IIs and they've yet to come off. Brilliant performance... Just love 'em.

Rakza Z Max: A former customer and absolute gentleman from New Zealand put me onto this rubber. Some months back he handed me a 10.8mm board of the nicest Kiso Hinoki I'd seen in years, and asked me to make him a back-up one ply from it as he was afraid of breaking his Darker Speed 90.

While I was still working on his blade, one time we headed out for a hit together and had enormous fun, directly comparing each other's respective collections of one ply blades, side-by-side in an extended "Battle of The One Plys" (and the occasional three ply 🤣).

The winner?.... US! It was a brilliant evening and I managed to spend several hours swinging his Darker Speed 90... it's reputation is well deserved! What a corker of a blade! Honestly can't fault it... It is just magnificent.

He currently uses the Rakza Z on all his Hinoki one plys, and I could see why. It has harder sponge than I would normally use myself, and sure enough, I could tell it was partially dulling the feedback and catapult as the rubber wasn't fully bottoming out... But I honestly didn't care much. That rubber is a monster on a one-ply and using it was still hugely enjoyable.

Andro Hexer Powersponge SFX in MAX: Another beauty! Nigh identical to the R7S in feel and hardness, and gives a very similar result.

The NEWER version of Tenergy 05 in 2.0mm: This one is a weird one....

I have a suspection that, given the release and success of the Dignics line, and the pending release of the Zeed 3, Butterfly have been very, very slowly altering the top sheet of the Tenergy 05 over time, to try and push folks towards their newer rubbers.

Maybe I'm imagining it, maybe I am wrong... but the top sheet of the last T05 I bought definitely seemed slightly softer than usual, which for Butterfly is almost unheard of... 🤔. Anybody else have a similar suspicion, or is it just me?

Anyway, whether the T05 is getting actualky softer or not, I can confirm the 2.0mm T05 is a beast on a good one ply -- especially in Red, and especially with this new, slightly-softer top sheet it has (??? 🤷🏻🤷🏻🤷🏻 ...assuming that is I'm not just imagining it. The old 1.8mm was good last time I tried it, but this latest Tenergy 05 in 2.0mm sponge felt a little better again ). Whether the Tenergy 05 is worth its cost or not given the many alternatives that exist, is a very old and unresolved question, and entirely a personal decision.

Donic Bluestorm Z1 Turbo in Max: Strapping one of these to my favourite Skolla Mk I was a truly wild ride (and also had spectators ducking for cover at times)... But I can't deny it's a lot of fun as well! 😎😎 One for the real speed freaks out there.

Tibhar MXP in Max (Red): Was never a huge fan of this rubber in the past for some reason, despite its obvious qualities and popularity. But that was in the past, and that was before I tried one on a one-ply. (It's an obvious enough pairing when you think about it... 🤔 ...Really wished I had thought of it sooner)


You could try ranking these above rubbers into some sort of strata for speed / spin vs cost / longevity if you really wanted to... But it's a fools errand really and frankly a waste of time that could be better spent with a blade in hand.

All these rubbers rock on a one ply in their own particular way, and while most of them don't have that beautiful synergistic performance with the blade I personally get from an AK-47, they more than make up for it in other more obvious ways.

Hope this helps. Good luck and have some fun with it 🙂


EDIT: WHOOPS! ...nearly forgot!

Two days back, I tried out a Loki Telson 100 Max on a prototype Skölla 9.0mm J-pen one-ply model that's still in the latter stages of development.

I can't play J-pen to save my life frankly, and when play-testing this thing I was struggling to keep the ball on the table (entirely my fault, not the blade). My coach and very good mate is from Korea however and used to play J-pen as a teenager. He picked the thing up and promptly started smacking me all over the park with it!

We both subsequently agreed the Telson 100 also has potential as a one-ply rubber, despite its harder than average sponge (Loki's intermittent QA problems notwithstanding). The crazy spin and low rebound angles he was getting off the table was driving me bat-s**t crazy! 🤣

Thank you so much for the long reply. This will help me! And regarding the skolla, where can I learn about it more?

 

[Wakkibatty]

Thank you so

Thank you so much for the long reply. This will help me! And regarding the skolla, where can I learn about it more?

You're welcome. 🙂

The Skolla is a line of one-ply blades I've been developing and selling non stop for the last four years now. I'll pm you a link.

 

[Gozo Zyreruna]

@Wakkibatty ,

Thank you for expressing my thoughts in words. It is something I had wanted to say but I do not possess the same eloquence as you. So thank you again. I had always like T05 on one ply, but unable to express it in words. Same with MX-P. In the same vein, I would like to add the Andro Rasenter EC series to your list.

 

[Tyce]

I've played a guy with a Tibhar H-1-9 and asked him if I can have a few balls with it on the return. He plays Dignics on it and hits some big poppers for sure.