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So many blades out there, why would you need a custom one?
Dude that is a awesome chart? I'm thoroughly impressed. How did you ever find something like that?
Dude that is a awesome chart? I'm thoroughly impressed. How did you ever find something like that?
So many blades out there, why would you need a custom one?
Aside from what Kevin stated, my opinion is many commercial companies Don’t do much that is innovative or different when building blades. They stick mostly with the same woods, the same cores, and rebrand quite often (see Timo Boll blades as an example, or the Tiago Apolonia ZLC which, as shown in TTD”s review video of the blade is the identical composition of his previous butterfly blade...it just has his name on it and as a result costs $250). Plus you are stuck with what you can buy, paying a significant markup, and not having the options you would have with a custom blade maker.
Since I worked with a blade maker here to build a blade, and then started making them myself earlier this year...I’ll never buy another blade again I don’t think. It’s just too enjoyable making my own and they perform just too well for me to pay a 500-1000% markup again. I currently play with two different blades that have completely unique compositions that have never been done, and both use a wood no commercial table tennis company has ever used to my knowledge (at least nothing listed on the sites mentioned above). And they play amazingly well, and the handles are absolutely gorgeous to look at, not painted ash. There are lots and lots of woods not used by commercial blade makers that have excellent qualities for table tennis blades...
I found one that I really like. But the composition is rarely seen. It's a 5 ply blade with one single layer of carbon in the middle. The outer veneer is Koto which I think is a bit hard. I'd like to try a softer veneer for the outer layer and see how it works. There is no blade on the market with that composition presently. I'd like to give it a shot if I could find someone to craft it for me.