blades with koto as a medial ply?

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Are there any good blades with Koto as an internal ply? Thanks guys! (I know “good” is subjective)


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Koto is relatively heavy to be used as thick Inner ply. So I think there is no blade like you are asking. But maybe it is....

Exactly. +1

This is also reason why most blades with Koto plies use lighter woods like Kiri, Balsa or ayous as core ply.

Well, anyhow, i haven't heard of one yet, but that doesn't mean there is none, and maybe you can even find a blademaker like Bobpulse to make you one, and make a review of it.
 
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I’m having one made. Limba-koto-ayous-koto-Limba. I’m working with Afrobro on it— I think it’ll have a fairly thin ply of koto, the idea being to get the soft feel of Limba for touch shots, and a crisper feel on harder drives, loops, etc.


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Are there any good blades with Koto as an internal ply? Thanks guys! (I know “good” is subjective)

I'd say yes. One I know of is the Joola Rossi Emotion. Hinoki/Koto/Carbon/Ayous/Carbon/Koto/Hinoki. It's a friend of mine's main blade, and it has a lot of things to offer.

There are others too, Adidas had quite a few and there are or have been quite a lot of blades with a relatively thin, softer outer veneer (fineline, hinoki, ...) on top of a second ply of Koto. Enough to get me to think the blade designers thought that design had merits.
 
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I'd say yes. One I know of is the Joola Rossi Emotion. Hinoki/Koto/Carbon/Ayous/Carbon/Koto/Hinoki. It's a friend of mine's main blade, and it has a lot of things to offer.

There are others too, Adidas had quite a few and there are or have been quite a lot of blades with a relatively thin, softer outer veneer (fineline, hinoki, ...) on top of a second ply of Koto. Enough to get me to think the blade designers thought that design had merits.

I could be wrong, but from my understanding OP means Koto as a core not as second ply, but certainly i could be wrong.

@OP could you pls clarify?
 
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I may have used the wrong terminology in my original post/heading. I mean as a second ply— Limba-Koto-Ayous-Koto-Limba

If you wanted what it sounds like you want from the plies you would be better off with this construction:

Limba-Spruce-Ayous-Spruce-Limba

There are many blades with that construction. Some better than others.

Nexy Spear is one of the better ones.

Stiga Offensive Classic is one that feels a little more hollow than I like. But it is still good.

That ply construction is what Waldner used in the early 90s.

The Limba gives the feel, dwell and extra spin. The Spruce gives a kick that Koto would not.

However, Koto does make a lot of sense under a soft springy wood like Hinoki. The way Hinoki grabs the hell out of the ball also makes having the harder less springy Koto ply under it make sense. [emoji2]

It is hard to come up with your own ply constructions and have them work well without trying lots and lots of different blades and seeing what each different ply construction creates in terms of playing characteristics.

That would also include trying many different blades of the same construction, and even, many blades of the same model.

At a certain point you can feel how 10 Primoracs will all feel different yet still have certain characteristics that would help you know it is a Primorac (put any other blade in there and repeat[emoji2]).

When you start knowing a lot of how different plies change things and what stays similar from different blades with the same plies, then trying to create your own ply constructions will come from a better knowledge base.

Of course this is probably the best reason to start trying to make your own blades. Then you can test all kinds of things just to see what happens.


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5 Ply: Limba - Koto - Ayous - Koto - Limba

I’m having one made. Limba-koto-ayous-koto-Limba. I’m working with Afrobro on it— I think it’ll have a fairly thin ply of koto, the idea being to get the soft feel of Limba for touch shots, and a crisper feel on harder drives, loops, etc.

5 Ply
Thickness: 5.7mm
Weight: 85g
Compact head size
Limba (1mm) - Koto (0.6mm) - Ayous (2.5mm) - Koto (0.6mm) - Limba (1mm)

IMG_20190118_083843.jpg IMG_20190118_080324836_HDR.jpg IMG_20190118_084856.jpg
 
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I know what you're looking for

Get a Tibhar Samsonov Alpha SGS (straight handle is best).

The inner ply is a wood nearly as hard as Koto (Meranti I believe). It's a very special blade. It's the best 5 ply I know.
 
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I received the blade from Afrobro last night, and it is a thing of beauty! It feels amazing in the hand. The handle it MUCH more comfortable than any other paddle I’ve ever held. I threw some rubbers on it and played a couple hours down at my college’s Rec center- man! The first impression is that it is a spin monster. I let a couple other guys hit with it, and they loved it too. It’s solid. Touch over the table is great, loops land like crazy even with my mediocre form. I have H3 Neo on the Fh, and 05fx on bh, both spiny rubbers obviously. I’ll keep you guys updated- once I give it a hit with my coach I’ll have a better feel for what it’s like against consistently good shots. Thanks @Afrobro for the top notch blade!


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