What are the plies of my blade made of?

Suga D · Apr 25, 2017

Tinykin said:
Suga D, did you weigh the blade?

not personally, but Chen Chen told me it´s a little less than 60(!!!!) grams. Something around 58.5g!!
This is by far the lightest blade i´ve ever had, but with rubbers on, it doesn´t feel that light anymore, especially these rubbers.
I will reglue it probably in a couple of days, and try to think of weighing it this time.
[Emoji2]

UpSideDownCarl · May 3, 2017

That is awesome that Chen Chen was able to get this for you. Darker blades are really high quality blades. I am really interested to hear how it plays and how you like it.

I do think, originally, I was thinking that one of their all Hinoki blades would play like your old Nittaku blade. This one will probably be faster. But, it will definitely feel really nice.

Can't wait to hear how you like it.

Is the red H3 the softer H3? Are you using that on your BH? It will be fun to hear how this beauty plays. I am sure you can see even from before playing it what a high level of craftsmanship Darker puts into the manufacturing of their blades.

UpSideDownCarl · May 3, 2017

Just Beware of jealous guys from the goon squad trying to sneak that setup away from you.

FloKing · May 3, 2017

58.5g!!!!! i did not think such light blades exist!!

bobpuls · May 3, 2017

We want to see the scale photo !!! 58.5 grams can be possible thought .... balsa core ?

Jabugo · May 3, 2017

Suga D said:
Hey Carl,

some more necromancing, but that makes totally sense and you were totally right. A friend who is in Shanghai at the moment sent me this Beauty of a blade. I've finally managed to assemble it and gonna try it tomorrow eve.
Unfortunately the core ply isn't Hinoki, and Darker also doesn't say what kind of wood they've used, so most likely it will feel a bit different than my NSO.
But nevertheless, happy to give it a blast.
View attachment 12860

View attachment 12867

That looks really nice, and with Neo National!
At present, I'm using a somewhat related setup in that it's a Darker Carbon blade with H3:
Darker Liberta Synergy
H3 National 40deg
MX-P

Darker does have a high standard with blade finish. Liberta Synergy is Limba-Ayous-Izanas Carbon-Kiri core

Izanas is an interesting material they wove into a carbon mesh
http://www.toyobo-global.com/seihin/dn/izanas/iz_product/features.html

There's a very good bounce consistency, and the vibration and sound
on impact reminds me of a freshly strung tennis racquet with gut string (H3 side).

I've never used a blade with Limba/ayous, so I'm not sure if the great feeling is also attributed
to this combination of top/second ply. It definitely feels different from limba/limba (osp virtuoso)
which also feels great, but the izanas carbon gives me a bit more pace on drives/loops without
sacrificing my short game.

bobpuls · May 3, 2017

Jabugo said:
That looks really nice, and with Neo National!
At present, I'm using a somewhat related setup in that it's a Darker Carbon blade with H3:
Darker Liberta Synergy
H3 National 40deg
MX-P

Darker does have a high standard with blade finish. Liberta Synergy is Limba-Ayous-Izanas Carbon-Kiri core

Izanas is an interesting material they wove into a carbon mesh
http://www.toyobo-global.com/seihin/dn/izanas/iz_product/features.html

There's a very good bounce consistency, and the vibration and sound
on impact reminds me of a freshly strung tennis racquet with gut string (H3 side).

I've never used a blade with Limba/ayous, so I'm not sure if the great feeling is also attributed
to this combination of top/second ply. It definitely feels different from limba/limba (osp virtuoso)
which also feels great, but the izanas carbon gives me a bit more pace on drives/loops without
sacrificing my short game.

The izanas looks interesting ... it is possible to get link where it can be purchased ?
Thanks.

pepinho · Sep 15, 2017

I use the same Darker Liberta Synergy but with T05 and T80 on it. Best blade I've ever used. I left the Apolonia ZLC and bought second Liberta Synergy for a spare blade too.

Suga D · Sep 16, 2017

UpSideDownCarl said:
That is awesome that Chen Chen was able to get this for you. Darker blades are really high quality blades. I am really interested to hear how it plays and how you like it.

I do think, originally, I was thinking that one of their all Hinoki blades would play like your old Nittaku blade. This one will probably be faster. But, it will definitely feel really nice.

Can't wait to hear how you like it.

Is the red H3 the softer H3? Are you using that on your BH? It will be fun to hear how this beauty plays. I am sure you can see even from before playing it what a high level of craftsmanship Darker puts into the manufacturing of their blades.

Thank you. Somehow i missed to answer at first. 'Cause due to tournament and season start i didn't find time to play with it much.

And yes, you're right. The red one is 37° and is the bh rubber
The black one is 40° and is my fh rubber.

But what makes you think it's faster than my Nittaku Shake Offence?
They are both 3ply Hinoki with composite layers and the Darker is even lighter than the NSO.
In fact, in terms of speed, feeling and dwell time it is actually quite close to the NSO, but i would say a tad slower than the NSO. (It also weighs a good bit less than the NSOs)

SUMMARY:
It really is a beauty, but i somehow still prefer the NSO, probably 'cause the aged wood just feels nicer to me.
But it's an excellent backup blade for my NSOs with a whole lot of dwell time and very good control.
But the arc on loops is significantly flatter than on my Allwood Hinoki blades, which can be very helpful when blocking but not so helpful at opening up.

At the moment i prefer my allwood Hinoki blades, but might change back to composite blades if i start to feel i miss something.

Suga D · Sep 16, 2017

bobpuls said:
We want to see the scale photo !!! 58.5 grams can be possible thought .... balsa core ?

I'll try to think of taking a photo as soon as i take off the rubbers.

Can't tell anything about the core though.
Couldn't even find anything on the web. Maybe i should send them an e-mail.

Marlon Macadaeg · Nov 17, 2019

Jabugo said:
That looks really nice, and with Neo National!
At present, I'm using a somewhat related setup in that it's a Darker Carbon blade with H3:
Darker Liberta Synergy
H3 National 40deg
MX-P

Darker does have a high standard with blade finish. Liberta Synergy is Limba-Ayous-Izanas Carbon-Kiri core

Izanas is an interesting material they wove into a carbon mesh
http://www.toyobo-global.com/seihin/dn/izanas/iz_product/features.html

There's a very good bounce consistency, and the vibration and sound
on impact reminds me of a freshly strung tennis racquet with gut string (H3 side).

I've never used a blade with Limba/ayous, so I'm not sure if the great feeling is also attributed
to this combination of top/second ply. It definitely feels different from limba/limba (osp virtuoso)
which also feels great, but the izanas carbon gives me a bit more pace on drives/loops without
sacrificing my short game.

Are you sure with the "Liberta Synergy is Limba-Ayous-Izanas Carbon-Kiri core"?

UpSideDownCarl · Nov 17, 2019

Marlon Macadaeg said:
Are you sure with the "Liberta Synergy is Limba-Ayous-Izanas Carbon-Kiri core"?

This thread is old. Be aware, threads from 2 years ago, the people you are responding to may not still be active on the forum.

Last time Jabugo made a post was in September. So not totally inactive. But not active lately.

Marlon Macadaeg · Nov 24, 2019

UpSideDownCarl said:
This thread is old. Be aware, threads from 2 years ago, the people you are responding to may not still be active on the forum.

Last time Jabugo made a post was in September. So not totally inactive. But not active lately.

Thank you but do you know what plies are used in this blade?

UpSideDownCarl · Nov 24, 2019

Marlon Macadaeg said:
Thank you but do you know what plies are used in this blade?

Have you read what is on RevSpin:

https://revspin.net/blade/darker-liberta-synergy.html

I think there is enough info there even if they don't list the specific plies. It does say it is Limba top ply and Izanas Carbon. So it is at least partly right. But how a blade plays should matter first and then after that, what the plies are might matter second.

What are the plies of my blade made of?

Well-Known Member

Well-Known Member

Well-Known Member

Member

Well-Known Member

Member

Well-Known Member

Member

Well-Known Member

Well-Known Member

Member

Well-Known Member

Member

Well-Known Member

Similar threads