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Part 2 is up here:
Hi guys. I’m working on a two-part review for a new blade. I’ll be posting a full video soon with in-game footage and technical analysis, but before I do, I wanted to share the theory behind why I’m testing this specific setup.
Quick Backstory as to the theory on "Why are you doing this?":
So I'm a penholder. I'm 47 and have been playing penhold for 17 years. I started out playing penhold as a traditional penhold backhand (TPB) player. This is something younger players simply don't do now a days. A few years into my transition, I learned that the reverse penhold backhand (RPB) for some time had been the more modern approach. So I set out to learn it. While I'd classify my RPB as certainly the shot with much more power & spin, there's no doubt that my standard traditional penhold directional block is much more consistent. As it is I'm a player who plays both shots in a match which is fine. There is however a part of me that wishes I had started with RPB right from the beginning and it's never even in question which backhand I play. There are still times today where a shot comes quickly to my backhand and I instinctively go to the TPB motion when perhaps the better choice if given enough time would have been to play the RPB for more attacking opportunities. These instances and in conjunction with feeling my age and knowing that my days of stepping around to play a big forehand are becoming more & more rare, I know I will have to stay at home more often and start to play a higher % of my shots with my backhand.
I was in the mood to test out this blade and here's the basis of the theory. I believe the pistol grip could be a easy transition for traditional penhold players looking to adopt a more modern style backhand.
When you play shakehand, you're taught to "Bend the wrist down" on your forehand. You want that blade face extended outward for more centripetal force. I'm pretty sure this is a me thing (it's why I switched from shakehand to penhold in my late 20s to begin with) but that concept always felt awkward to me. My wrist felt like it was being stretched and honestly my shakehand forehand was always kinda "Meh". But once I switched to penhold where the head is already down, suddenly the swing felt more natural and my forehand came alive. Well the overall concept of the pistol grip here is to have a natural hand position where the head is already down.
The backhand us much like the shakehand backhand. And honestly back in my shakehand days, my backhand wasn't bad. It certainly was ahead of my forehand. Anyways, back to today... There's no way to do a penhold TPB here which is good. You're always playing a traditional backhand with every type of shot at your disposal.
Why it could be, at least for me, even better than RPB: TLDR. Shocking newsflash here... It's because it's more like shakehand.
This is a RPB concept I'll quickly explain. Players who have been playing RPB for a long time don't even think about this much. They're use to it but the natural angle, or blade face, for a RPB is down & to the left (remember I'm left handed. So it'd be down & to the right for you righties).
Example: Natural, comfortable position. Note the angle of the blade face. Naturally very closed (great for spiny topspins I'll give it that) but down & to the left. Try it yourself at home if you like. You will see.
If you want to block it straight or play a down the line shot, you have to angle that blade much more straight and possibly open the blade face some. This is done by keeping your elbow up, bending it closer to your chest, cranking your wrist inward and taking a little pressure off that index finger so you can open the blade face when needed. All these things penholders do without thinking about. Again this could just be me and I'm certainly fairly used to it but it is ever so slightly awkward.
That's a long winded way of saying I think, and have tested at least a little, that the backhand will be significantly easier to play with the pistol grip.
"Suds I thought you just got this. What do you mean you've tested a little?"
Sometime back I saw this on thingiverse and I just had to print it. I made a few alterations in tinkercad and had to cut it in half & glue it to print but here we go.
Is it a monstrosity? You bet. Bulky as all can be. Club members get a chuckle out of it and want to hit with it. Now obviously it's not legal and the vibrations are out of control being plastic but if nothing else it was a test run to give this experiment a go.
There are concepts I've found already that are easier than penhold. I'll get more into that in the video in the Part 2 post.
There are also reservations. I think the biggest hurdle is that with penhold when you grip the blade on your forehand, the face of the blade is actually perpendicular to where your palm is facing. Go head and take your paddle and hold it like a penholder. Look at which way the palm is facing & which was the blade face is facing. With shakehand and pistol grip here, the face of the blade is always in line with your palm. I think I like that in theory more but there will be an element on my forehand that will take some time to adjust to. Video incoming will tell us more.
Before I forget the blade feels nice. It's 7 plies. 5 wood & 2 carbon. It's an inner carbon blade and out of the box weights 86 grams. The thickness of the blade is 6.4 mm. The grains of the wood look in good condition.
The website doesn't tell me the wood composition which I wish it did. I like knowing this type of stuff but AI seems to think (take this for what it's worth)..
- Outer Surface (1st & 7th plies): Ayous. This is a classic choice for offensive blades because it is relatively lightweight and elastic, providing a good "dwell time" for generating spin.
- Medial Layers (2nd & 6th plies): Ayous. These layers act as a buffer between the outer wood and the carbon, helping to dampen the "metallic" feel often associated with carbon blades.
- Carbon Layers (3rd & 5th plies): LD Carbon (Soft Carbon). Sanwei uses "LD Carbon" in this series. It is a lighter, more flexible weave compared to traditional hard carbon (like Tamca 5000). It is designed to increase the "sweet spot" and stability without making the blade feel excessively stiff or "dead."
If you think this is interesting at all or silly, what have you, let me know & share your thoughts. I should put the caveat that I'm well aware that no top pro uses a pistol blade and rest assured I'm not worried about making the olympics nor believe this will all of a sudden transform me into this amazing player. This is something fun to try and anybody at the intermediate level like myself I'm curious to test out to see if my playing level is about the same or possibly better with this setup. We will see.
Thanks for reading this far if you made it to the end here.
Location where the video will eventually go: https://www.youtube.com/@Soper79
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