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Red + Black Kazak and Flow Blades Review
Red + Black Kazak
Weight: 86 grams:
Plies: 7 (european pine -limba --unidirectional carbon- kiri)
Hardness: Medium Stiff
Speed: OFF to OFF+
The Red+Black brand is still not known to many players around the world and even I was curious to see on what the blade plays like so when I ordered a bunch of Revolution no. 3 glues from Dan Tigau, I asked him to give me an opportunity to review their 2 blades and maybe let readers and players know about their brand. The Red+Black brand has already made blades for a few years now. It caters high end blades specifically designed for some Romanian national players. Levi and Dan Tigau designed the blades for Red+ Black.
The Kazak has a high quality finish and construction. The blade’s looks look more like they are handmade rather than machine milled and mass-produced. The blade model is placed on the handle not as a plastic or metal logo but as an etched logo. The bottom of the handle bears the brand name Red+Black in a hard resin logo. The spruce blade surface and upper top ply is almost smooth but it bears some varnish or lacquer on the top plies.
On a bare blade ball bounce test, the Kazak sounded like a medium pitched blade and the ball bounce height was not that high indicating that this is not a super fast blade. I glued a Reactor Ckylin rubber and the Tibhar EL-S on it with Revolution no. 3 as my water-based glue. When I compared it to the AndroLigna Off which in my opinion is the closest blade I can think of because of the plies, it did not feel and sound like theLigna Off because the Ligna Off has a metallic feel and sound to it which the Kazak doesn’t have. The Kazak felt a bit softer than the Ligna Off and has a more woody feel.
I am torn between off and off+ as an observation on the Kazak’s speed because at first it doesn’t feel too fast but when you need the speed it can be fast to a certain level. The blade has gears because it is designed for the new plastic ball as a linear response blade with high dwell time. It can be slow when you want it ( for returns and serves )and then it can be off+ when you need the speed because of high coefficient of energy restitution and balanced dwell time as stated by the designer. When I was drilling with the Kazak, there are times that the blade feels it is just an off blade but the more I hit with it the control still remains with an increased speed and it is very bouncy. The combination of the soft impact feel when the ball comes into contact and the speed of the ball are good. It does not have this stiff and fast feeling like other fast blades. The Kazak was good on smashes and drives wherein the speed was plentiful even with using only a Chinese rubber. When I used a Tibhar Evolution El-S, the speed difference really showed and the blade was fast.
Looping was excellent because the Kazak has some flex on it. It wasn’t too stiff like the XiomStrato where the “dwell” is a bit absent and you cannot grab the ball on the surface of the rubber enough to spin it well. With the Kazak, even slow looping was possible despite being a fast blade because of the gears provided by the Kazak which enables you to do fast and slow spiny loops.
The Kazak is a versatile blade. It is fast but the control is plenty that you do not have to worry about missing your shots. It can do almost everything (including chop defensively according to the designer) and blocking, smashing and looping are all very easy to execute with the Kazak. I would recommend this blade though for intermediate, advanced and expert players. For intermediate players, they would just need to put a soft medium fast rubbers and advanced players or even expert level of players will appreciate this if they would glue a tenergy 05 or an MX-P rubber with this blade.
Red + Black Flow Blade
Weight: 86 grams
Hardness: Medium
Plies: Limba+spruce+ayous
Speed: All+ to Off-
The Red + Black Flow all-wood blade is another blade I have acquired to test along with the Red + Black Kazak. The Flow blade has a very simple and classic but elegant design. Like the Kazak, the Flow has no metal logos on either sides of the blade but only the presence of an etching on one side and the plastic logo at the bottom part of the blade. The blade has a medium to medium soft feel. The construction reminds me of the Stiga Offensive Classic with the limba+spruce+ayous plies. The quality finish of the Flow blade is excellent and is better compared to some other Europen-made blades.
Here’s the thing with the Flow. It is labeled as All+ but it really felt fasted and felt like an Off- blade. I glued a Globe 999 National blue sponge, Reactor Ckylin, Tibhar EL-s and MX-S just to test different rubbers on it to see its performance. I also used the Revolution no. 3 water based glue for this test. On a ball bounce test it sounded like an almost low pitched sound when the ball bounces on to the bare blade. While doing forehand to forehand and backhand to backhand drive drills, I have noticed there is this speed in the Flow blade that is a bit faster that it was advertised or labeled. It does not feel slow at all or it does not feel like an ALL+ blade at all. I would compare its speed to a Stiga Infinity blade but it feels faster a lot of times despite feeling softer than the Infinity. Even with just the Globe 999 National or Reactor Ckylin rubbers, I could feel the ample speed of the Flow blade. It is confusing at times because it is possible that the blade itself has an off- speed but the control level is that of an all+ blade. Whatever the specs, the blade perfectly suits my style of play. The blade smashes really good and when you block with it, it is a very stable blade to block with. With strokes inside the table, flicking and doing drop shots are no problem at all and they can be easily controlled.
Looping is the best thing you can get from the flow. The good control enables you to have accurate and powerful shots when doing loops near and away from the table. Looping heavy underspin balls seem easy enough with the Flow’s flex. If people would find the Stiga Infinity very easy to loop then the flexibility of the Flow’s structure enables you to loop even better. Every time you loop or hit the ball, there is this innate characteristic of somewhat medium soft and I like it. The Flow produces a medium to high arc and the balls is ensured to clear the net easily even if you are looping heavy underspin.
I am rating this blade very high as of the moment. I am using this now as my main blade instead of my usual 7-ply all wood blade collections. The good feel is really the one that got me hooked on to the Flow. It has amazing control and it has the speed that you need. I would recommend this for players who play near the table. Even with very fast rubbers, I reckon the distance you can use this optimally would be mid-distance from the table. Beginners and intermediate level players will love the blade due to its gears and controllability.
Red + Black Kazak
Weight: 86 grams:
Plies: 7 (european pine -limba --unidirectional carbon- kiri)
Hardness: Medium Stiff
Speed: OFF to OFF+
The Red+Black brand is still not known to many players around the world and even I was curious to see on what the blade plays like so when I ordered a bunch of Revolution no. 3 glues from Dan Tigau, I asked him to give me an opportunity to review their 2 blades and maybe let readers and players know about their brand. The Red+Black brand has already made blades for a few years now. It caters high end blades specifically designed for some Romanian national players. Levi and Dan Tigau designed the blades for Red+ Black.
The Kazak has a high quality finish and construction. The blade’s looks look more like they are handmade rather than machine milled and mass-produced. The blade model is placed on the handle not as a plastic or metal logo but as an etched logo. The bottom of the handle bears the brand name Red+Black in a hard resin logo. The spruce blade surface and upper top ply is almost smooth but it bears some varnish or lacquer on the top plies.
On a bare blade ball bounce test, the Kazak sounded like a medium pitched blade and the ball bounce height was not that high indicating that this is not a super fast blade. I glued a Reactor Ckylin rubber and the Tibhar EL-S on it with Revolution no. 3 as my water-based glue. When I compared it to the AndroLigna Off which in my opinion is the closest blade I can think of because of the plies, it did not feel and sound like theLigna Off because the Ligna Off has a metallic feel and sound to it which the Kazak doesn’t have. The Kazak felt a bit softer than the Ligna Off and has a more woody feel.
I am torn between off and off+ as an observation on the Kazak’s speed because at first it doesn’t feel too fast but when you need the speed it can be fast to a certain level. The blade has gears because it is designed for the new plastic ball as a linear response blade with high dwell time. It can be slow when you want it ( for returns and serves )and then it can be off+ when you need the speed because of high coefficient of energy restitution and balanced dwell time as stated by the designer. When I was drilling with the Kazak, there are times that the blade feels it is just an off blade but the more I hit with it the control still remains with an increased speed and it is very bouncy. The combination of the soft impact feel when the ball comes into contact and the speed of the ball are good. It does not have this stiff and fast feeling like other fast blades. The Kazak was good on smashes and drives wherein the speed was plentiful even with using only a Chinese rubber. When I used a Tibhar Evolution El-S, the speed difference really showed and the blade was fast.
Looping was excellent because the Kazak has some flex on it. It wasn’t too stiff like the XiomStrato where the “dwell” is a bit absent and you cannot grab the ball on the surface of the rubber enough to spin it well. With the Kazak, even slow looping was possible despite being a fast blade because of the gears provided by the Kazak which enables you to do fast and slow spiny loops.
The Kazak is a versatile blade. It is fast but the control is plenty that you do not have to worry about missing your shots. It can do almost everything (including chop defensively according to the designer) and blocking, smashing and looping are all very easy to execute with the Kazak. I would recommend this blade though for intermediate, advanced and expert players. For intermediate players, they would just need to put a soft medium fast rubbers and advanced players or even expert level of players will appreciate this if they would glue a tenergy 05 or an MX-P rubber with this blade.
Red + Black Flow Blade
Weight: 86 grams
Hardness: Medium
Plies: Limba+spruce+ayous
Speed: All+ to Off-
The Red + Black Flow all-wood blade is another blade I have acquired to test along with the Red + Black Kazak. The Flow blade has a very simple and classic but elegant design. Like the Kazak, the Flow has no metal logos on either sides of the blade but only the presence of an etching on one side and the plastic logo at the bottom part of the blade. The blade has a medium to medium soft feel. The construction reminds me of the Stiga Offensive Classic with the limba+spruce+ayous plies. The quality finish of the Flow blade is excellent and is better compared to some other Europen-made blades.
Here’s the thing with the Flow. It is labeled as All+ but it really felt fasted and felt like an Off- blade. I glued a Globe 999 National blue sponge, Reactor Ckylin, Tibhar EL-s and MX-S just to test different rubbers on it to see its performance. I also used the Revolution no. 3 water based glue for this test. On a ball bounce test it sounded like an almost low pitched sound when the ball bounces on to the bare blade. While doing forehand to forehand and backhand to backhand drive drills, I have noticed there is this speed in the Flow blade that is a bit faster that it was advertised or labeled. It does not feel slow at all or it does not feel like an ALL+ blade at all. I would compare its speed to a Stiga Infinity blade but it feels faster a lot of times despite feeling softer than the Infinity. Even with just the Globe 999 National or Reactor Ckylin rubbers, I could feel the ample speed of the Flow blade. It is confusing at times because it is possible that the blade itself has an off- speed but the control level is that of an all+ blade. Whatever the specs, the blade perfectly suits my style of play. The blade smashes really good and when you block with it, it is a very stable blade to block with. With strokes inside the table, flicking and doing drop shots are no problem at all and they can be easily controlled.
Looping is the best thing you can get from the flow. The good control enables you to have accurate and powerful shots when doing loops near and away from the table. Looping heavy underspin balls seem easy enough with the Flow’s flex. If people would find the Stiga Infinity very easy to loop then the flexibility of the Flow’s structure enables you to loop even better. Every time you loop or hit the ball, there is this innate characteristic of somewhat medium soft and I like it. The Flow produces a medium to high arc and the balls is ensured to clear the net easily even if you are looping heavy underspin.
I am rating this blade very high as of the moment. I am using this now as my main blade instead of my usual 7-ply all wood blade collections. The good feel is really the one that got me hooked on to the Flow. It has amazing control and it has the speed that you need. I would recommend this for players who play near the table. Even with very fast rubbers, I reckon the distance you can use this optimally would be mid-distance from the table. Beginners and intermediate level players will love the blade due to its gears and controllability.
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