Handcrafted blades by MDP

MDP

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MDP

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Oct 2015
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In this topic I will show and talk about some of the handcrafted blades I have made. I am sharing these with you guys, hoping to receive some feedback and start an interesting discussion about custom blades. I'm not sure if I'll have enough time to post them all and in what format, but I will start with the ones that are the most interesting to me and see where this topic goes.


About me
I'm a civil engineer/architect from Belgium. Besides my practice, I design and build furniture, mostly made out of wood. With several carpenters and furniture builders, you can say that the interest in woodworking runs in the family. This background in engineering, architecture and woodworking collided with my love for table tennis and resulted in the many handcrafted blades I have made over the years.


More about this later. Now for some pictures!

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This blade is part of a series around variations to the classic 5-ply limba+ayous composition. This composition is found in many blades that people have used or still use after many years. Every brand has at least 1 model with this composition in its range. Having played with many of these ayous/limba blades myself, I found this an interesting starting point for future experiments and improvements. I want to see what happens when I add harder, stiffer and heavier woods into this mix and hope to find more offensive compositions that have the same feel and control of the ‘original’. More about this later.

In the picture is shown the second version of this blade (a bit thicker and heavier than the first copy that I rated ALL+). Receiving positive feedback on both these blades, makes it interesting for me to try some more small tweaking and finetuning.

Data sheet
Composition : 5
Materials : ayous, limba, walnut
Speed : OFF-
Weight : 87g


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This blade was the result in a search for a lightweight blade that has the feel and linearity of a classic all wood blade. The use of balsa for the core makes it possible to make very light blades, but these behave quite different than what most players are used to. With this composition, I feel that I have made a blade that combines the good factors of all-wood/balsa/carbon, and that some of the ‘negative’ side effects of these blades cancel eachother out.

This is my current blade for competition. Although I’m used to playing with heavier all-wood blades (like osp virtuoso, stiga clipper, other handmade blades, …), I switched to this because the weight and balance are very pleasant (even with heavy rubbers), it plays very similar to what I’m used to and it has this upper gear that sometimes lacks in all-wood blades. The blade weighs 68g, but with a less heavy handle, this can probably drop down to around 60g.

Data sheet
Composition : 3+2
Materials : balsa, carbon, cedar
Speed : OFF-/OFF
Weight : 68g



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This blade is my first OFF+ blade. I made this blade stiffer and more topheavy than my usual blades, to make it extra offensive. By using some lightweight woods I have managed to keep the weight below 90grams, but retain a very solid feeling.

The blade works best in mid to far distance from the table, due to the speed and solid feel. The thin layers of soft woods add some damping to make it controllable close to the table and make flat hitting easy. Nonetheless, this is still a fast blade, that worked best for me when taking a step back from the table.

Data sheet
Composition : 7+2
Materials : balsa, ayous, carbon, cedar, limba
Speed : OFF+
Weight : 88g
 
Last edited:
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In this topic I will show and talk about some of the handcrafted blades I have made. I am sharing these with you guys, hoping to receive some feedback and start an interesting discussion about custom blades. I'm not sure if I'll have enough time to post them all and in what format, but I will start with the ones that are the most interesting to me and see where this topic goes.


About me
I'm a civil engineer/architect from Belgium. Besides my practice, I design and build furniture, mostly made out of wood. With several carpenters and furniture builders, you can say that the interest in woodworking runs in the family. This background in engineering, architecture and woodworking collided with my love for table tennis and resulted in the many handcrafted blades I have made over the years.


More about this later. Now for some pictures!

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Work in progress
Beautiful finish.

I would also like more info - type of wood, number of ply, weight, thickness etc.

Would be great if someone can test your blades and put up some review.

Have you come up with names for the blades yet?
 
says Any body knows when will be the next Asia Pacific...
says Any body knows when will be the next Asia Pacific...
Member
Sep 2016
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very very nice, pls let us know the weight of the blade, also would you make penhold blade ??????????
I am looking for a Penhold blade . If you can make a Penhold blade, would you make it a bit smaller ???????
 
says Hi In first i want to thank you for your interest...
says Hi In first i want to thank you for your interest...
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Feb 2015
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Nice work ..... i see you are going for design and look ..... i`m now more experimenting with woods and play characteristic . But i`m also thinking of handle design .... and next one will be simple but interesting (as i hope) ....Anyway nice clean job. Maybe in the photos add one small light so we can see the edge (to see the structure ).
 
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MDP

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MDP

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More info will be added along the way, but glad to see there is some interest in what I do.

@bobpuls: a side light might be a good idea. My photo set-up is very basic now (a windowsill and a camera).
I'm glad you like the look, but I don't really focus on one aspect of a blade. For me, design and look go hand in hand with playing characteristics and the way it's built. I don't see the use of spending my energy and resources on something ugly or something that plays terrible but looks really good. 3 of these 4 blades are all first attempts/experiments btw (with carbon, with different wood types, with different handle compositions,...). But I must admit that not all my experiments come out as good as these, as you will see when I post more pictures. I will also show some of the failures, when I get time to take some pictures.

I'm curious to see what your experiments come up with! I will add some more info into the fields I'm experimenting in, later.

@Giangt: I designed the logo for my practice and I use it on my business cards, but I guess you are referring to the OSP logo with the double rings. I can't deny it's a source of inspiration. I have tried some different designs (no rings, square, ... ) and this one stood out as the best. I've been thinking of changing things up, but for now my free time goes into the blades themselves.

@others: Actually my first blade I ever made was a penhold blade. But it was made out of MDF and weighs a ton. I'm planning on making a chinese penhold blade for a friend in the near future but seeing as not many people in my league play penhold, I have focused on shakehand blades up to now.
 

MDP

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MDP

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Updated the first post with info;

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This blade was the result in a search for a lightweight blade that has the feel and linearity of a classic all wood blade. The use of balsa for the core makes it possible to make very light blades, but these behave quite different than what most players are used to. With this composition, I feel that I have made a blade that combines the good factors of all-wood/balsa/carbon, and that some of the ‘negative’ side effects of these blades cancel eachother out.

This is my current blade for competition. Although I’m used to playing with heavier all-wood blades (like osp virtuoso, stiga clipper, other handmade blades, …), I switched to this because the weight and balance are very pleasant (even with heavy rubbers), it plays very similar to what I’m used to and it has this upper gear that sometimes lacks in all-wood blades. The blade weighs 68g, but with a less heavy handle, this can probably drop down to around 60g.

Data sheet
Composition : 3+2
Materials : balsa, carbon, cedar
Speed : OFF-/OFF
Weight : 68g
 
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Reactions: Suga D

MDP

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MDP

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Oct 2015
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Read 1 reviews
Hi,
these ones are visually pleasant and I believe playing with them is pleasant too...

Do you use hollow or solid handles? From my experience solid handles are easier to use in fast play because of the better balance. (At least in the 80g+ range, I've never used lighter blades)

I use solid handles. If I want to make a lighter handle, I change the composition of the handles instead of hollowing them out.
 

MDP

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MDP

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Member
Oct 2015
234
223
475
Read 1 reviews
The top one is a 5 ply all wood (nut-limba-ayous-limba-nut) blade. OFF- with medium stiffness yet powerfull enough to score outright points.
Thanks for the review. CSBV is best to know this, as this blade belongs to him. It's the first blade that I made and haven't played with myself. First post has been updated with more info.

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This blade is part of a series around variations to the classic 5-ply limba+ayous composition. This composition is found in many blades that people have used or still use after many years. Every brand has at least 1 model with this composition in its range. Having played with many of these ayous/limba blades myself, I found this an interesting starting point for future experiments and improvements. I want to see what happens when I add harder, stiffer and heavier woods into this mix and hope to find more offensive compositions that have the same feel and control of the ‘original’. More about this later.

In the picture is shown the second version of this blade (a bit thicker and heavier than the first copy that I rated ALL+). Receiving positive feedback on both these blades, makes it interesting for me to try some more small tweaking and finetuning.

Data sheet
Composition : 5
Materials : ayous, limba, walnut
Speed : OFF-
Weight : 87g
 
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