Afrobro's Handmade Blades

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Clearly, some people don't know what good hinoki is. :'(

No offense to other brands, but if you compare just Hinoki.
XIOM is far the best.

XIOM is Hinoki specialist.

Not all companies have AAA grade Hinoki like XIOM.
We have a factory in Kiso just to purchase and handle Hinoki.

This factory in Kiso sells only to Xiom? Or they sell to other korean brands too?
I'm asking because there are some korean brands that has 1 ply hinoki blades aside Xiom, like Nexy, Kim Taek Soo's brand, TLAB, Silla, etc
 
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I don't understand why my question was qualified as negative.
The main reason to ask this quastion was not to poop on hinoki, but accenting on one of its properties to point on another aspect - the use of more porous and aborbing material for the handle. Nothing to offense.
Besides that there is a great difference between expressing an opinion, discussing an opinion, attacking an opinion, and pooping on an opinion. I don't think I ever pooped on an opinion, unlike others.

Okay, maybe i got you all wrong and was overly sensitive, but your first post
I have a question - hinoki is a very water absorbing wood. Even with my only outer ply hinoki blade I feel it getting dull after 2 hours of extensive sesion, although the handles are of a water absorbing wood too and it is suposed that thay take the most of the wet. But where will go the wet in an all hinoki blade with much less absorbing handle?
had a very different vibe than your new post.
Yes, hills4ever, I like the hinoki line of Xiom very much.
After some experience with Vega Tour blade I ordered two more, asking for the same weight. One for my son, two for me.
I don't consider the moistering effect as a big problem, but more as a collateral property. For me having the best synergy with the blade is more important. So I have two identical sets of Xiom Vega Tour blade + Xiom Omega V Asia, and I chamge them between training sessions to keep them equal. After some trainings I have measured 4 grams added to the bat. On tournaments I change them between matches, to keep them dry.
Thats my experience and personal feeling. It may be wrong, it may look awkward, but it is mine and it works best for me.

After all I have to excuse to the OP, so my apology, and let hinoki work for all.

The way you first asked your question didn't sound like you were actually looking for an answer, but rather like you were once again playing the wise guy, who wanted to be belittleling Hinoki, like you so often like to do with ABS balls, or non-Xiom equipment.
And also you pushing the like button on every post that's about the downsides of Hinoki probably has cemented my first impression.

Now if this all is not the case, i would have to apologize, but if your first post was supposed to sound positive, then i don't want to have to read your negative ones.
In fact i found your question sounding very disencouraging the OP from using Hinoki....
.....and exactly that is the point when i switch into Groot-mode.

I think our TTD blade makers should be encouraged in using Hinoki, not disencouraged. Maybe one has to be a Hinoki-luva to feel this way, but none of our TTD-blademakers has been using Hinoki. Not Bob Pulse, not MDP and also not GinjaNinja! Fact!
So i feel real happy finally someone has appeared who uses Hinoki.

As i wrote in my previous post: 3 - 4 years back i was desperatly seeking for a Backup for my 3+2 Hinoki-Carbon blade, but after 6 months of unsuccesful searching where I've wrote mails to Nittaku, and also Blademakers like Soulspin, but none of them could help me get a Backup blade, so I decided to end the mission and settle for a Port-Orford-Cedar from Americanhinoki.com
It was nice and the feeling was quite close....
BUT JUST NOT THE SAME AS JAPANESE HINOKI!!

Another 6 months later a friend finally found Two Hinoki-Carbons for me.

Carl and a few others should be able to remember, 'cause a lot of the action happened here on this forum.

So just imagine how much time and money i would have saved when i would have known Afrobro back then.
So pls understand why i just can't accept people disencouraging blade makers from using Hinoki.
 
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I just bought a Nittaku Miyabi and could not be happier. It is very fast but a blast to play with and I only expect to be more thrilled with it as I get adjusted to the speed. Its dwell time is very short, so slow loops maybe a thing of the past for me, but I can spin it well enough to keep the fastest top spin drives I have ever hit on the table.

I put Razka X on the FH and Razka X soft on the BH.
 
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Just as an update, I have a few more blades to try out including a first with Hide glue as suggested by Suga and a first with Flax that I have been looking in to (a natural reinforcement fiber - found one example from Andro using flax https://www.tabletennisdirect.com/shop/flaxonite-driver-offence/).

First is a copy of the first blade using Kiso Hinoki and Hide glue:

IMG_20180618_153921684.jpg IMG_20180618_154008985.jpg IMG_20180618_153754020.jpg

and the second is more experimental - I've been enjoying using balsa as a core material as it really is quite unique and allows me to make use of heavier woods and reinforcements elsewhere. This blade was an going to be an experiment to see what the limba - spruce - ayous combination would be like with balsa instead of ayous but the Flax and Hinoki arrived on the same day and I went a bit mad so I now have a (Hinoki - Flax - Spruce - Balsa) blade that feels like it's going to be a bit of a beast!

IMG_20180618_154058160.jpg IMG_20180618_154115180.jpg IMG_20180618_154135403.jpg

Hoping to get a bit more creative with the handles from now on as I have a CNC router arriving today.
 
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Today i've picked up the lovely Hinoki-blade that Afrobro has sent to me. I must say in reality it looks even more stunning than from the photos. I'm absolutely mesmerized by its Beauty.
If i find the time I'll try to glue on a pair o rubbaz 2nite, otherwise 2morrow.
I'll keep you guys posted how things went.
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Today i've picked up the lovely Hinoki-blade that Afrobro has sent to me. I must say in reality it looks even more stunning than from the photos. I'm absolutely mesmerized by its Beauty.
If i find the time I'll try to glue on a pair o rubbaz 2nite, otherwise 2morrow.
I'll keep you guys posted how things went.
View attachment 16731
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View attachment 16733
Is it kiso hinoki?

Sent from my Redmi Note 4 using Tapatalk
 
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This one's actually a mix of Kumamoto and Kiso as it was the first blade made when i received the Hinoki. The medial ply is Kiso as I have more in the 1.2mm thickness. The second blade made with Hide glue is all Kiso - you can see a slight difference in the pictures and the blade with flax also has a Kiso layer on top as that is 1.2mm.
 
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So it's been a little while but I have been having success with a few different materials so I thought I'd post some pictures of the latest blades on here.

Firstly, a Kiso Hinoki and Zylon/Carbon blade - I haven't tested this one yet but it's quite thin so I don't think it's too fast. Hoping to give it a hit tonight at Summer League.

HinokiZLC.jpg HinokiZLC3.jpg HinokiZLC4.jpg HinonoZLC2.jpg

and secondly, a combination using Douglas Fir which I had yet to work with. This one is Ayous - Douglas Fir - Limba. It feels pretty solid with a 3mm Ayous core so I'm expecting it to be ALL + but again, I have yet to put any rubbers on it.

Ay-Do-Li 2.jpg Ay-Do-Li 3.jpg Ay-Do-Li.jpg
 
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So it's been a little while but I have been having success with a few different materials so I thought I'd post some pictures of the latest blades on here.

Firstly, a Kiso Hinoki and Zylon/Carbon blade - I haven't tested this one yet but it's quite thin so I don't think it's too fast. Hoping to give it a hit tonight at Summer League.

View attachment 16834 View attachment 16835 View attachment 16836 View attachment 16837

and secondly, a combination using Douglas Fir which I had yet to work with. This one is Ayous - Douglas Fir - Limba. It feels pretty solid with a 3mm Ayous core so I'm expecting it to be ALL + but again, I have yet to put any rubbers on it.

View attachment 16838 View attachment 16839 View attachment 16840


great looking blades, high quality craftmandhip. I've made several ayous - fir - limba blades, it's a good combination, works really well with hide glue. A very solid and playable all plus blade. What glue have you used? Any more info? Weight? thickness?
 
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Thanks. The Ayous - Douglas Fir - Limba blade is:

97g and 6.4mm so it's really at the top of the range for my blades but I do prefer something with a bit of weight to it. This blade was made with Hide glue, as are most of my latest all wood blades. Looking forward to trying it out but I am finding that I'm trying a different bat every time I play nowadays so hoping my game won't suffer too much when the season comes around again.

Played a couple of matches tonight with the Hinoki Zylon/Carbon blade - I haven't weighed/measured it yet but i think it's around 4.5mm and it doesn't feel that heavy. I paired it up with some baracuda rubbers and the spin was massive. Speed was plenty for my game but not super fast and I still had lots of control. I did find I had to be a bit more active with my shots but all in all I'm very pleased and won both matches 3-0 so will probably continue to use it for a while...or until my next experiment is complete.
 
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Thanks. The Ayous - Douglas Fir - Limba blade is:

97g and 6.4mm so it's really at the top of the range for my blades but I do prefer something with a bit of weight to it. This blade was made with Hide glue, as are most of my latest all wood blades. Looking forward to trying it out but I am finding that I'm trying a different bat every time I play nowadays so hoping my game won't suffer too much when the season comes around again.

Played a couple of matches tonight with the Hinoki Zylon/Carbon blade - I haven't weighed/measured it yet but i think it's around 4.5mm and it doesn't feel that heavy. I paired it up with some baracuda rubbers and the spin was massive. Speed was plenty for my game but not super fast and I still had lots of control. I did find I had to be a bit more active with my shots but all in all I'm very pleased and won both matches 3-0 so will probably continue to use it for a while...or until my next experiment is complete.

If it's 6.4mm, i would expect it to be pretty quick, my all plus blade is about 5.6mm. With a 3mm core you must have some thick medial and/or outer plies.
As for changing blades and whether it affects your game, possibly but unless you're a pro I wouldn't worry about it too much. Just enjoy making and testing blades as an extension of your hobby!
 
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Thanks - it is very addictive but a great hobby!

The other plies are 1.2mm fir and 0.5mm limba. Lately, I managed to buy a few different thicknesses of Limba from https://modellbau-holz.jimdo.com/startseite/zum-shop/holzleisten/ - it actually worked out pretty expensive with shipping etc so I bought in bulk along with some 2.5mm Abachi for cores and some Cedar.

Pretty interested to see what effect the limba will have ranging from 0.5mm up to 1.2mm and I'm currently building my own version of the ZLC blades with an Ayous - ZLC - Limba - Limba and a Kiri - Limba - ZLC - Limba in the presses although the kiri is horizontal as I've found it really difficult to get any in the UK that is the right size unless I put together a massive order (Minimum order of about a tonne!) which I'm not quite ready for yet.
 
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The 1.2mm fir veneer makes sense now, hence the additional weight. It will be interesting to see how it plays, I'm just putting the finishing two touches to a 5.8mm, 88g ayous - fir - limba blade with hide glue. I've recently been playing with the same composition but 5.55mm thick. I've been very happy with that blade but wanted a touch more speed so used a 3.2mm core. I've also used the same size core for an ayous - ayous - limba hide glue blade which just needs the handles gluing and finishing. It will be interesting to see how they play and to compare notes with you. Can I ask which hide glue you used? I used liberon pearl glue, this is the best I've found, consistent with a good bond.
 
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Sure, have you found that the fir is fairly similar to spruce or does it have different qualities? I'm looking forward to having a hit and usually would have my table and robot set up but I'm in between moving house at the moment so it's a bit harder for me to test them all.

As for the hide glue, I did try the Liberon pearl glue first and still have quite a bit leftover but this latest one was made with the Titebond liquid hide glue (http://www.titebond.com/product.aspx?id=9e9995b4-08eb-4fc6-8254-c47daa20f8ed) as I wanted to see if it was at all similar.
 
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Sure, have you found that the fir is fairly similar to spruce or does it have different qualities? I'm looking forward to having a hit and usually would have my table and robot set up but I'm in between moving house at the moment so it's a bit harder for me to test them all.

As for the hide glue, I did try the Liberon pearl glue first and still have quite a bit leftover but this latest one was made with the Titebond liquid hide glue (http://www.titebond.com/product.aspx?id=9e9995b4-08eb-4fc6-8254-c47daa20f8ed) as I wanted to see if it was at all similar.

I really like Douglas fir as a medial ply, that and mahogany. It's light and elsastic, it's properties are perhaps nearer limba than spruce. If you look at it that way then the blades we are talking about are more akin to ayous - limba - limba which is a classic and familiar combination. I always look for fir at 0.7 or 0.8mm for my medial. At some point I will use it as an outer ply, but some many other compositions I want to try first.
 

Brs

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Brs

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One thing you could try is a cork handle. Donic does that with the dotec blades, and Kevin from Am Hinoki made me a couple with cork handles. It's lovely.
 
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Very interesting stuff! A hinoki ZLC blade is very intriguing. You've made some very impressive blades so far.

I just contacted Mr. Nakamura about his Hinoki Veneers. I am quite intrigued to try them. I have a ZLC blade with Chestnut as a top ply that i'm anxious to try (waiting on a rubber order), and some Textreme ZLC I still haven't put into a blade yet. It is quite an addicting hobby with all of the creativity that can be utilized to build some unique and amazing blades.
 
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Thanks! I did look at the Textreme ZLC but couldn't order any easily to the UK with a smallish order quantity so I ended up buying some from Soller Composites but I'm hoping I'll be able to try some in the future.

I can say that working with the Hinoki veneers has been great - Mr Nakamura was great too and didn't worry about min order quantities which made it easy to try out lots of different thicknesses.
 
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I buy most of my carbons from Composite Envisions. I bought my epoxy resin and initial ZLC order from Soller Composites though. Both are good. Composite Envisions has a much larger variety of different carbons. I've posted an image of a blade I made with a Hexcel Primetex Spread-tow Carbon Fibre as well as a picture of the carbon fibre itself, and how it played in my play sessions recently also on my thread if you are interested.
 
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