SDC Handmade Blades

Originally Posted by UpSideDownCarl

Cool. Thank you for clarifying. And yeah. So, asymmetrical blade plies because of the two different top plies and asymmetrical handle.

The shape of the handle is pretty cool. The grain patterns on the handle are also beautiful.

What would be the purpose of the handle shape? Did the person requesting say?

The asymmetry gives you a natural rotation of about 10-15º when you hold the racket with a neutral grip. This means a slightly more closed angle on the FH side and more open on the BH.

Originally Posted by hipnotic

The asymmetry gives you a natural rotation of about 10-15º when you hold the racket with a neutral grip. This means a slightly more closed angle on the FH side and more open on the BH.

Ah. So, if you held the handle, it gives you a slightly FH oriented grip. I predominantly hold the blade face with the index finger and thumb rather than the handle. I wonder what that would feel like since my grip is constantly changing as a result. Change the angle of my wrist and my index finger and thumb have to change how they hold slightly which changes the angle of the racket.

It makes switching from FH to BH and back and having a grip that works for either, or for those fade shots on FH, which require a different grip, work really smoothly.

Originally Posted by UpSideDownCarl

Ah. So, if you held the handle, it gives you a slightly FH oriented grip. I predominantly hold the blade face with the index finger and thumb rather than the handle. I wonder what that would feel like since my grip is constantly changing as a result. Change the angle of my wrist and my index finger and thumb have to change how they hold slightly which changes the angle of the racket.

It makes switching from FH to BH and back and having a grip that works for either, or for those fade shots on FH, which require a different grip, work really smoothly.

I think this grip actually benefits that. It won't make a big difference for the index and thumb because the asymmetry is bigger in the bottom portion of the handle, but it will feel a little more comfortable for your remaining fingers.

This one was supposed to be put for sale, but it was gone before I even had the opportunity. Initially, I just wanted to use the cool looking Mahoghany Pommele layer, but then the idea of making an handle inspired by the Templar Knights popped into my head. As is turns out, it does not only look good, but it plays really well too.

Composition: Mahogany / Yellow Pine / Kiri / Yellow Pine / Mahogany
Thickness: 5.95mm
Weight: 91.7g
Freq.: 1184Hz
Balance: 2.9cm (Low/Med)

Originally Posted by shinshiro

That is a very unique choice of colors, beautiful!
I noticed that the blade is a bit on the heavier side. Judgind by the balance, it seems that this mahogany pommele is very heavy.

Thanks! Yes, mahogany is on the heavy side, but now that you mentioned the weight I've realized that the medial ply is Yellow Pine and not Spruce, which is also heavier.

Originally Posted by Nate4s

That is a superb looking blade - very clean work on every component. Great composition and weight, too. I can only imagine how nicely it plays (since you know how much I love the yellow-pine/Larch medial plies)!

Thank you Nate. I recently got my hands on some Larch too and yes, it is very similar to Yellow Pine. Here we call it "Riga Velha", I was having trouble finding it because nobody calls it Larch 🙂

Just a couple of custom Innegra inner blades with over sized handles.

Composition: Black Limba / Limba / I-C / Ayous / I-C / Limba / Black Limba
Weight: 87.8 and 87.4g
Thickness: 5.75mm
Freq.: 1250Hz
Balance: 3.0cm (Med)

An asymmetric blade with a Cocobolo handle, very interesting looking wood!

Composition: Ako / ALC / Limba / Kiri / ZLC / Hinoki / Hinoki
Weight: 91.4g
Thickness: 5.80mm
Freq.: 1290/1335 Hz
Balance: 2.3cm (Low)

I'm making this one available on the website. It is based on an Apolónia ZLC but with SZLC instead, which gives some extra speed in the higher gears and a larger sweetspot.

Composition: Black Limba / Ayous / SZLC / Ayous / SZLC / Ayous / Black Limba
Weight: 88.3g
Thickness: 5.60mm
Freq.: 1320Hz
Balance: 2.3cm (Low)

Originally Posted by shinshiro

What is the reddish wood you used around your logo? And what is the density of it?
I might use it on my next blade 😁

That's Padauk, I use it a lot. But in that case the endgrain is facing up, that's why it has that texture. The weight is not too bad, around 750 Kg/m3 (medium heavy).

Originally Posted by t.t.s.t.a.r

This blade is stunning, what sort of speed is it?

That is tied to the measured resonance frequency of the blade (pretty close anyway)
When You look at hipnotic's post Freq.: 1320Hz

approximate frequencies:
- 1,000 DEF
1000 - 1,100 ALL
1,100 - 1,250 ALL+
1,250 - 1,400 OFF-
1,400 - 1,600 OFF
1,600 - OFF+

This puts the blade in an OFF- range.

Cheers
L-zr

I think I will showing the frequency measurement, it just confuses people. Frequency is related to stiffness, and although that is related to speed, it is not the only variable. In this case, this frequency is actually lower than other inner zlc blades I made in the past. Why? Because I used black limba, which is usually softer than regular white limba. The outer ply has a much bigger effect on stiffness than changing the inner plies or the core, because they are further apart. If I used Koto, it would certainly be higher. Here, there won't be a big difference in stiffness whether I use ZLC or SLZC, because those layer are close together. But there will be a big difference in hardness and stability of the blade (aka sweet spot). So, given these factors, I would rate this blade more in the OFF range.

The owner of this blade was looking for a 5 ply with roughly the same performance as the Tibhar Stratus Power Wood, but with a little more flex and speed, and also a handle that would fit his big sized hands. I'm glad to say that we were able to achieve that 🙂

Composition: Black Limba / Yellow Pine / Ayous / Yellow Pine / Black Limba
Weight: 91.3g
Thickness: 5.80mm
Balance: 2.4cm (Low)