5 ply or 7 ply all-wood?

Hi Guys,

last year I picked up tabletennis again after 15 years, I noticed that some things have changed, mainly the ball and tensor rubbers I guess.

I'm an average player with a rating around 1300. I like to attack double wing, spinning as well as driving. Pushing and short play are one of my weaker points. In the past I never played with a composite blade, at the time played with a Donic Waldner Senso V2, pair with Mark V GPS (max) on both sides. I guess I have a preference for the use of soft rubbers cause of spin I generate with it and higher arch as well as the dwell time I need to play consistent top spin shots. I'm using the same material as back then (old blade, new rubbers) and some things stood out to me.

Pros: -Nice spin
-consistency in spinning
-good quality/spin with serve
Con's:-Lack of power (smashing/driving) to kill the point (very important for me)
-quite sensitive to incoming spin
-Blocking feels kinda slow/inconsistent

I've tried to play with some of the harder rubbers, I don't like playing with them. I bought some soft tensor rubbers like Tibhar Evolution FX-P and Rakza 7 soft. Tested it with a composite blade, DHS Hurricane 301, altough it feels crisp, I can't attck the 3rd ball with confidence and consistency, the lower arch makes more difficult for me as well. I've bought a DHS PG-9 and I'm going to test it out tomorrow (don't know what to expect).

I think for now I'll have to stick to an all wood blade, I need a faster one that still offers me the high arch / high dwell time. Any advice what I could use?

Kuba Hajto said:

How long have you been playing with 301? How many hours have you spent only practicing opening up?

Click to expand...

Only 2 training sessions and some friendly games, I would say 5 hours. I know that's very short, but it feels to me that I need a faster all-wood blade if I would eventually transition to a composite blade (if I ever will). Competition starts next week, I don't want to make that big of a change/adjustment

Konrad Bak said:

yup. Adelie is special because it is 7ply blade and it has 6,2 mm thickness like old legendary Clipper

I choose for you 3 blades with very high arc.

Nittaku Adelie, PP MIT Vispower ALC, OSP Virtuoso OFF-

rubbers
Rakza 7 Soft, Tenergy 05, Joola maxx 500, Rasanter R47
I think if you want to be more confident 1,8-2,0 thickness of rubbers will be better for you but of course I can lie too

Click to expand...

I'll consider Nittaku Adelie, I'll test out the PG9 today 6,3 mm (similar in thickness I guess). I'm not sure of the characteristics of the PG-9. Thanks!

ZeroTT said:

A popular 7 ply blade is Samsonov Force Pro Black edition.
It's considered 1 of the best blades of tibhar it has a good balance between speed and feeling.

TTgearlabs did an extensive review of this blade compared to other 7ply woods like the Stiga Adelie etc.


This article should help you on your quest.

Sidenote: I noticed you are from Holland and you guy's tend to be taller then the rest of the world and have bigger hands. The Force Pro has a large handle and is perfect for larger hands.

Price is around 50 Euro's which isn't bad.

Click to expand...

Thanks for sharing. I'm a bit hesitant cause of thickness of the blade, max rubber thickness on both sides it will be a quite thick setup. Will do some research.