Handcrafted blades by MDP

bobpuls · Apr 16, 2017

Hi
I have also few balsa blades in my portfolio and this one is the most chosen from them.
Mahogany (0.4mm)
Carbon 160 g /m2 kepr bound
5mm dense balsa.
Glued with epoxy resin.
70 grams
Off+
With tone of control.
It is wery popular.

fritzundhits · May 29, 2017

I'm interested in the dimensions of the blade in the first picture. What is the head size you have choosen and the handle meassurements like wideness,thickness and length ?

fritzundhits · May 29, 2017

Bytheway, the blades look very interesting, nice design.

fritzundhits · May 29, 2017

I would also like to know how you build the blades, do you work with computer based machines ?

MDP · Jun 22, 2017

I have been busy with work, making blades, ... so I haven't gotten around to updating this topic in a while.

I have updated the first post with more info on the bottom blade.

I have some new compositions that I'm testing. At the moment a very fast OFF++ racket.

I have also made (and sold) 2 variations on my balsa carbon cedar blade, as it seems popular as a lightweight controlled but offensive blade. I will add some pictures later. I plan on experimenting with this setup further to see how I can make it faster.

MDP · Jun 22, 2017

fritzundhits said:
I'm interested in the dimensions of the blade in the first picture. What is the head size you have choosen and the handle meassurements like wideness,thickness and length ?

Thanks for the kind words.
The headsize I mostly do is 157x150
Handle length is mostly 103
wideness around 30 (don't know exactly anymore)

shinshiro · Jun 22, 2017

Very beautiful blades MDP!
I hope you can update this topic more often when you get time, it is very interesting to read the thoughts of a blade maker!
Top notch looking blades!

fritzundhits · Jun 24, 2017

dimensions handle

MDP said:
Thanks for the kind words.
The headsize I mostly do is 157x150
Handle length is mostly 103
wideness around 30 (don't know exactly anymore)

Thanks very much. I think 30mm wideness is much to wide. Believe me. For average sized hands would be better 27,5 - 29,0 mm If you chosse squarish ST handle then would be better 27,5 - 28, 0 mm. If you chosse round straight handle the would be better 28,5 - 29,0 mm. Also veryimportant is the tickness of the handle. It should be around 23,0 mm.vSome of the top players use these kind of dimensions. That's why I thought it would maybe help developing some blades.

CSBV · Jun 24, 2017

The one MDP build for me has a handle width of 30mm and thickness of 22mm.

shinshiro · Jun 24, 2017

MDP, do you have a website/facebook/instagram account where we can see all type of blades you make, with more infos, prices, pics, etc?

MDP · Jun 24, 2017

A few millimeters more or less are personal taste. I have rather big hands so for me it fits very nicely. For people with smaller hands I have made thinner handles. It's no big deal and if I'm making a blade for a customer this is something that is discussed beforehand.

I don't have a website/facebook for my blades. I have been trying some sites, but for now I don't feel the need to pay money and go pro. I'll try to add more stuff here.

MDP · Jun 26, 2017

Some pictures of older blades. Some of these have been sold to finance the cost of buying new wood. Others I still sometimes use, but I might put them up for sale sometime.

2 of my earlier blades

This blade was inspired by the classic bty primorac off-. Instead of buying one, I had the idea to make my own and improve on it where I felt it needed it. Thicker core make it a bit faster and stiffer. The bigger handle fits me better then the small butterfly handles.

Predecessor of the walnut frame in the first post.

This is a blade where I kept the speed and weight down by using thin layers of balsa. The blade spins great and plays allround/defensive.

I made this blade for a friend of mine and his first practice session he smashed it onto the table so hard, the blade ended up on the table next to us. There was no visual damage and it still played like before, so I was glad to see that they can take a beating and not break instantly.

Bad Picture.
This was an experiment with birch plywood, balsa and cedar wood. This all wood blade plays OFF+ and despite the thick hard outer layers still has a nice feeling and feedback. It works best away from the table and I sometimes still use it for fun. It's to fast for my level to use in competition.

The Balsa Basher. Very light frame, 60g, designed for someone who wants to play with heavy rubbers but has problems with his elbow. The balsa core makes it very fast when flat hitting (OFF++), but plays slower when doing brushing topspins (ALL+/OFF-). This takes some getting used to, but you can do some cool stuff with this.
I have made another version of this where the difference in topspeed and bottomspeed is less extreme (so the balsa-effect is a bit countered). For most players this feels more normal.

Frame with cedar as core material. Plays similar to ayous core, but a bit better spin in my opinion.

A light ayous/limba frame. I tried to combine the characteristics of a classic frame but keep it lightweight. I ended up at 73g, but there are still minor things to improve. When testing it, it reminded me of my osp virtuoso.

This was an experiment with inlays of natural fibers. This first experiment plays ok, but not that exciting. It's an idea I keep in the back of my head... Maybe someday I will pick it up again and try more stuff.

Scorpnox · Jun 26, 2017

Beautiful Blades

NeatRiver · Jun 26, 2017

MDP said:
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!

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

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

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

Absolutely beautiful blades. What a workman ship.

MDP · Aug 6, 2017

Another small update:

I'm currently focusing on 1 type of blade and building varieties to improve on the design. Building different blades is interesting but going in depth on a certain composition is something I wanted to do for a while now. I felt that the blade I use for competition now, was an interesting design to do this with. The fact that 2 players at my club wanted the same blade was a financial stimulus and a confirmation of my premonition. So far I have made 4 versions.

The original: 68g, OFF-, very light because of the balsa core but plays and feels similar to an all wood blade. I use it in combination with tenergy80 and vega pro for a few months now and I'm very pleased. (pictures see first post)

2nd : similar to the original, 1 side has a slightly thicker outer layer to fit the players style (offensive forehand/defensive backhand), I seem to have misplaced the pictures... :/

3rd : 73g, OFF, The same thickness as the first blade but thinner but harder core and thicker outer layers. Smaller handle to fit smaller hands. Faster and more solid.

4th : 73g, OFF/OFF+, harder core then the original and thicker outer plies. It is alot faster and bouncier than the original. The outer plies look quite different but it is the same type of wood. Still needs more testing. (normal hosting site doesn't work, so for a picture : http://imgur.com/a/WN4ku )

GinjaNinja · Aug 9, 2017

MDP - if possible, it would be great to see some side on pictures so that the different piles are visible and to know the thickness. As always, they look beautifully made.

MDP · Aug 9, 2017

Thanks, i'll see if i can get some pictures with the different plies visible next time.

chintanmashroo · Aug 18, 2017

Great work!

MDP · Aug 18, 2017

chintanmashroo said:
Great work!

Thanks!

yogi_bear · Aug 21, 2017

nice, i hope you can maintain the thickness of the 5 ply blades to 5.8-5.9mm to keep the weight low.

Handcrafted blades by MDP

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