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I've said it before and I will say it again: Damn Padauk, why you so pretty?
Composition: Reconstituted Ebony / T-C / Ayous / Ayous / Ayous / T-C / Reconstituted Ebony
Weight: 91.1g
Thickness: 5.9mm
Freq.: 1335Hz
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The goal for this one was to make a 7 ply blade with a soft touch, good for spin play. The use of the hard Wenge wood next to the core ,gives it a higher 2nd gear on high impact shots.
Available FS.
Composition: Ayous / Spruce / Wenge / WRC / Wenge / Spruce / Ayous
Weight: 89.5g
Thickness: 6.4mm
Freq.: 1205Hz
Balance: 3.0cm (Med)
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Quote:
Originally Posted by hipnotic
Stunning!
Does the Wenge make it quite a stiff blade? Or does it have some flex?
As I often say, frequency is related to stiffness, not speed (at least directly). If you look at that number you can see it's not very high, so yes, it still has some flex.Quote:
Originally Posted by Manto76
This is the closest I've been to making a "production line", a series of 5 blades for the same customer, with the same handle and head size, but different compositions. We had some ground rules here, 5 ply structure and Ayous core for all, keeping the weight close to 90g with a low/med balance. They were supposed to be 4, but one of the blades deviated a bit from the original specs, so I had to make another. Curious as to how that would play, I sent it anyway.
I will leave the comments to the owner, as he promised a review, but I already have some feedback I want to share. I always say that frequency is not a speed scale, it's a stiffness scale, and the 5th blade of this series is perhaps my best argument for that. Despite having a lower frequency than the others, it's clearly the fastest, as the owner also confirmed. The lower frequency denotes more flex, which in play will translate to a higher throw angle.
From left to right:
1- Hinoki / Hinoki / Ayous / Hinoki / Hinoki - 89.2g - 6.20mm - 1250Hz - 3.0cm (Med/Low)
2- Spruce / Spruce / Ayous / Spruce / Spruce - 92.6g - 5.85mm - 1270Hz - 2.4cm (Low)
3 - Limba / Pine / Ayous / Pine/ Limba - 95.0g - 5.80mm - 1270Hz - 2.8cm (Low)
4 - Limba / Pine / Ayous / Pine/ Limba - 92.3g - 5.85mm - 1270Hz - 2.7cm (Low)
5 - Indian Rosewood / Spruce / Ayous / Spruce / Indian Rosewood - 91.8g - 5.70mm - 1185Hz - 2.7cm (Low)
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I know you have more flag-handles in your collection…[emoji6]Quote:
Originally Posted by hipnotic
Verzonden vanaf mijn iPhone met Tapatalk
I do! But I don't want to make Mr. Gionis too jealous [emoji16]Quote:
Originally Posted by Metaxa
Sent from my MAR-LX1A using Tapatalk
Quote:
Originally Posted by hipnotic
I am the lucky customer in question. Here is a short review of the blades.
About me:
I played extensively but not organised table tennis during my youth (as is/was common in sweden) but found my way to regular practice and local league (korpen) when my knees no longer accepted fotball three years back. I’m a two winged looper with relatively decent technique. My blade journey has been classic: Stiga Allround Evolution became Timo Boll ALC and ZJK ALC and from there I’ve tried to downgrade to slower blades. I’ve had issues with handles due to large hands and of that reason I have previously ordered twice from Sérgio. The first blade was a M.Maze alike blade with a very large handle. After that I dabbled with a TSPW before deciding I wanted more flex why I ordered a Limba/Pine/Ayous blade from Sérgio with a more reasonable handle which I was happy with. I missed the larger wings of the TSPW a bit though and to only order one more blade with slightly larger wings felt dissatisfying hence the blade series.Me and Sérgio had a extensive mail conversation around shape of the wings and blade face, the handle design and of course the composition of each blade.
My thoughts on the blade series:
I wanted to order more than one blade to make it possible to compare different compositions. I was also really interested in playing more with Hinoki and a harder outer blade.
I have tried the blades using new Rakza Z for backhand and Rakza Z extra hard for forehand. The blade has all weighted between 195 and 201 grams with rubbers.
The blade shape and wings turned out perfect. It makes my backhand more stable and transitions easier to handle. I’m also very happy with the design of the handles that holds the series together.
It is in every way a pleasure to work with Sérgio. The quality of the blades is amazing and his knowledge and ability to communicate this knowledge makes the ordering process à joy!
Blade 1 - Hinoki
This is the blade I, so far, like the most and has been using during matches. It feels really soft on contact and the percieved dwell is long making it easy to generate spin on opening loops. At the same time the blade is stiff enough, due to its thickness I guess, to be a relatively fast blade. Because of the softness of the blade I can still control speed on blocks very well as well as having an easier time in touch play. Comparing the blades I feel that I can get most power (spin+speed) out of this blade.Blade 2 - Spruce
This blade is the slowest of the series as well as the one with the lowest balance making it the easiest handle. It feels harder than blade 1 and has a relatively low throw and this together with the lower speed makes it a bit to toned down for my liking. It is easy to impart spin however and it might be a very good blade for my development technically. I must say that this blade also is the most appealing visually.Blades 3 and 4 - Limba
These two blades have the same composition as each other as well as the last blade I ordered. They are comparable in speed to each other as well as to blade 1 but off course feels harder. I do think the Pine medial really has an effect on the stability/sweet spot of these blades because they are really nice in that compartment. The difference between blade 3 and 4, in my hands, is mostly about vibration and weight. They are quite close in performance.Blade 5 - Indian Rosewood
At first I was really surprised of the very high throw angle of this blade. It is probably the highest throw I’ve experienced in a blade. The speed also threw me off as it is quite clearly the fastest of the blades. As Sérgio mentioned this is because of the flex and hardness of the blade. In short - the blade is really fun to play with. However the hardness of the outer makes touch play and blocking quite difficult. @Samtheman has spinny loops but usually I block them with less difficulty than with this blade.Overall I’m very happy with the blade series. I will continue to try the blades focusing on blades 1 and 5. Hopefully it will take some time before the urge to order a innerforce series grows to big...
Wow these look fantastic @hipnotic they are truly incredible to look at
I noticed in blade 5, the Indian rosewood blade, there was a knot in the wood. I was wondering if this affects the performance of the blade and if they are something that you try to avoid as a blademaker?
Quote:
Originally Posted by t.t.s.t.a.r
Normally I try to avoid knots and other defects, if this is not possible I will just discard the veneer. But these are expensive and exotic woods, it's almost criminal to do it, so in this case I just tried to move the knot away from the hitting area. Still, this is just visual more than anything. There are types of wood, such as burls, which are basically a bunch of knots, and they play just fine.
I haven't made a triple kiri core blade in a while, so here it is.
Available FS.
Composition: Koto / Limba / Kiri / Kiri / Kiri / Limba / Koto
Weight: 87.1g
Thickness: 6.5mm
Freq.: 1420Hz
Balance: 2.7cm (Low)
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...must...resist... 🙈@sergio, nice looking blade! Looks like, the logo on the bottom of the handle is glued on top. Would be nicer/better if it would be placed in the bottom.PS: head size 157x150 ?
Quote:
Originally Posted by P1ngP0ng3r
It is glued. It's very hard to make a hole with that shape in that area, unfortunately it's not something I can do consistently yet. But it is durable, I have it in my own blade and didn't have problems yet. Yes, the head size is 157x150mm.
What is the wood with the dark lines in the handle?
Quote:
Originally Posted by t.t.s.t.a.r
Spalted Maple
Looking at the photo of this blade you might think the top ply is full of bumps, but don't worry, it's silky smooth! It is also sealed to prevent splintering.
Available FS.
Composition: Lacewood / Larch / Glassfiber / Kiri / Glassfiber / Larch / Lacewood
Weight: 88.0g
Thickness: 5.70mm
Freq.: 1205 Hz
Balance: 2.7cm (Low)
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A commissioned blade, focused on a spin oriented game. Full credit to the owner for the handle design!
Composition: Hinoki / Ayous / I-C / Kiri / I-C / Ayous / Hinoki
Weight: 90.3g
Thickness: 6.0mm
Freq.: 1340Hz
Balance: 1.9cm (Very Low)
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That handle is freaking awesome! Really a great looking blade .Kudos to the designer and the builder!
Agreed, this is the best looking handle I have ever seen.
Hipnotic, please elaborate a little bit on the handle.
Also what would the characterisics approximately be if You remove the I-C layer?
Cheers
L-zr
The handle was made with Amazon Rosewood, Cherry and endgrain Padauk with a Ebony cap. Don't ask me what the tag says because I can't remember [emoji28]. The owner is out there, maybe he can chime in?
It's not a very fast blade as is, it's gonna be even slower if we removed the I-C. It would probably need more thickness to compensate for that, or a harder medial layer.