Inside the Handle - Various blades

[cruzctrl]

Yo!


I saw a video where you can boil a blade handle to remove it. I tried it on three blades with interesting results:

• Avalox P500 had a solid handle, but the scales were extremely hollow, making it very head heavy. I wonder if this is why Swedish blades (some Yasaka and Stiga) feel so hollow and tend to be head heavy?
• Tibar Pure Wood was less hollow in the scales, but had a big 'scoop' taken out of the blade. I also removed a Powerwood which had a solid handle, but big scoops in the scales like the P500
• Xiom ALXi was the most insanely hollow. The handle barely had any wood, and the scales had 2 compartments scooped out. At 89 grams, this meant almost all of the weight was in the head with the handle + scales contributing little. This made sense as the blade had a balance point of 3.0 cm (medium) and felt very head heavy. I have included pictures of this one!

Just thought it would be neat for folks to know what goes on inside the handles of different blades. Manufacturers change things up within their brand, but different companies have their own ways of making handles.

Note: By putting a weight or putty in these gaps, you can significantly change the balance of the blade, and glue it all back together using wood glue. This can also have the added effect of increasing the height of the blade by up to 1 mm. Be cautious with how much weight is added though. I made the P500 go from 86g to 101g in pursuit of lowering the balance point. It worked great, and feels very nimble while having fantastic feedback, but your arm feels the weight, lol.


Cheers

 

[lodro]

Yo!


I saw a video where you can boil a blade handle to remove it. I tried it on three blades with interesting results:

• Avalox P500 had a solid handle, but the scales were extremely hollow, making it very head heavy. I wonder if this is why Swedish blades (some Yasaka and Stiga) feel so hollow and tend to be head heavy?
• Tibar Pure Wood was less hollow in the scales, but had a big 'scoop' taken out of the blade. I also removed a Powerwood which had a solid handle, but big scoops in the scales like the P500
• Xiom ALXi was the most insanely hollow. The handle barely had any wood, and the scales had 2 compartments scooped out. At 89 grams, this meant almost all of the weight was in the head with the handle + scales contributing little. This made sense as the blade had a balance point of 3.0 cm (medium) and felt very head heavy. I have included pictures of this one!

Just thought it would be neat for folks to know what goes on inside the handles of different blades. Manufacturers change things up within their brand, but different companies have their own ways of making handles.

Note: By putting a weight or putty in these gaps, you can significantly change the balance of the blade, and glue it all back together using wood glue. This can also have the added effect of increasing the height of the blade by up to 1 mm. Be cautious with how much weight is added though. I made the P500 go from 86g to 101g in pursuit of lowering the balance point. It worked great, and feels very nimble while having fantastic feedback, but your arm feels the weight, lol.


Cheers

A little hint for those who like to experiment with weights in the handles: Use double sided sticky-tape to glue the handles back on before using the actual glue to make it "final".

 

[kapahoo]

Enlightening thread.

 

[Egon]

Yo!


I saw a video where you can boil a blade handle to remove it. I tried it on three blades with interesting results:

• Avalox P500 had a solid handle, but the scales were extremely hollow, making it very head heavy. I wonder if this is why Swedish blades (some Yasaka and Stiga) feel so hollow and tend to be head heavy?
• Tibar Pure Wood was less hollow in the scales, but had a big 'scoop' taken out of the blade. I also removed a Powerwood which had a solid handle, but big scoops in the scales like the P500
• Xiom ALXi was the most insanely hollow. The handle barely had any wood, and the scales had 2 compartments scooped out. At 89 grams, this meant almost all of the weight was in the head with the handle + scales contributing little. This made sense as the blade had a balance point of 3.0 cm (medium) and felt very head heavy. I have included pictures of this one!

Just thought it would be neat for folks to know what goes on inside the handles of different blades. Manufacturers change things up within their brand, but different companies have their own ways of making handles.

Note: By putting a weight or putty in these gaps, you can significantly change the balance of the blade, and glue it all back together using wood glue. This can also have the added effect of increasing the height of the blade by up to 1 mm. Be cautious with how much weight is added though. I made the P500 go from 86g to 101g in pursuit of lowering the balance point. It worked great, and feels very nimble while having fantastic feedback, but your arm feels the weight, lol.


Cheers

Did you actually boil the handles of your rackets?

 

[cruzctrl]

Did you actually boil the handles of your rackets?

Yup, it was on a Youtube video. Notable side effects: “Loss of some color in handle” and “ swelling of fibers in blade, but this is temporary if you only did it for 10 minutes or less”

 

[cruzctrl]

Enlightening thread.

Taking the plunge so you don’t have to 🫡

 

[kapahoo]

Taking the plunge so you don’t have to 🫡

And I thank you for it!

 

[cruzctrl]

Yo!


I saw a video where you can boil a blade handle to remove it. I tried it on three blades with interesting results:

• Avalox P500 had a solid handle, but the scales were extremely hollow, making it very head heavy. I wonder if this is why Swedish blades (some Yasaka and Stiga) feel so hollow and tend to be head heavy?
• Tibar Pure Wood was less hollow in the scales, but had a big 'scoop' taken out of the blade. I also removed a Powerwood which had a solid handle, but big scoops in the scales like the P500
• Xiom ALXi was the most insanely hollow. The handle barely had any wood, and the scales had 2 compartments scooped out. At 89 grams, this meant almost all of the weight was in the head with the handle + scales contributing little. This made sense as the blade had a balance point of 3.0 cm (medium) and felt very head heavy. I have included pictures of this one!

Just thought it would be neat for folks to know what goes on inside the handles of different blades. Manufacturers change things up within their brand, but different companies have their own ways of making handles.

Note: By putting a weight or putty in these gaps, you can significantly change the balance of the blade, and glue it all back together using wood glue. This can also have the added effect of increasing the height of the blade by up to 1 mm. Be cautious with how much weight is added though. I made the P500 go from 86g to 101g in pursuit of lowering the balance point. It worked great, and feels very nimble while having fantastic feedback, but your arm feels the weight, lol.


Cheers

Update:
My goal was to change the balance point without significantly changing the weight. To accomplish this, I used wood glue to place a penny in each of the scales to shift the weight down while only adding 5 grams (wood putty could have been double/triple that).

I also wanted more vibration from the handle without adding wood putty, but needed a lightweight solid material. I used insulation foam for this purpose, so I taped around the empty pockets of the blade handle/scales with painter's tape. Note: painter's tape is adhesive enough to rip out a splinter if removed from top to bottom (parallel to grain), but side to side is fine (perpendicular to grain).

After everything dried, I used a razor blade to remove all excess. The result is seen below. After sanding everything down, I reapplied the scales without compressing them to add height to the handle. I also used wood sealer to bring the color back out.

The final count:
- Weight is now 95 grams from 89g
- Balance point is 2.3 cm from the handle after being 3.0 cm
- Handle is 24x28.5 instead of 23x28.

I am quite happy with this result, and have learned a lot about personal blade modifications!