Robin W blade review

**Robin.w** · 11:16 PM

Thanks for the review and I really enjoy your videos a lot.. I am not active here these days and would really like to share anything I know regarding custom blades. I am a player and EJ rather that a blade builder so my knowledge maybe limited . This custom blade thing started from me and another EJ online talking about the forehand of w968 and backhand of Viscaria. We luckily find a nice carpenter with great experience to work with. We tried all kinds of wood combo, carbon fiber and layer placement. Some failed and some succeeded. It's always tough to build something new when the most popular carbon blades from most brands are almost the same designs: carbon inner like hl5 or carbon out like viscaria . I am not promoting this kind of services for my carpenter for a period of time not only because i I have finally find what I want but also because it is really difficult to achieve certain improvement regarding playing characters

The question about the ALC is new to me and I will try to figure it out with the carpenter. Thanks @hipnotic for your sharing.
Regarding the "hollow" feeling, it is most coming from the core ply. How many support the core ply can provide is most important from my experience. The special treated core ply is the best compromise after we tried a lot when we tried to mix the hl5 forehand and viscaria backhand. I cut a whole kiri core into 5,7,9 pieces and glue them together to change the playing charactors really cost time and money but sometimes it does not help to get what we want. Thank @SpinSquid for the understanding

Thanks again for the review from @scrubplayer and all the comments . I am truly amazed to get connected with friends all over the world because of table tennis . Hope we can play more table tennis this year.

**Robin.w**

Thanks again. You are really knowledgeable

Originally Posted by hipnotic

I don't think he scammed anybody, or at least that it was his intention. And of course it was only my opinion, based on facts, but still just my opinion. Manufacturers use the term ALC loosely, and I don't mean just blade builders, there are also some brands using Diolen-Carbon in their blades and they don't identify it as such. In fact, the only brand that comes to mind that clearly states it's using Diolen is Vodak. I also do it because I like to be clear on what I use.

Diolen is a lot softer than Vectran, but by using a denser weave you can get away with a similar feeling. But people talk about the type of fiber like it's the only thing that matters. There are so many variables: fiber type, density, weave pattern, type of resin used, amount of resin... All of those will make a difference.

**Olio**

I agree with the sentiment in this thread.
I ordered a blade from Robin as well, a Maze clone.

The finish was a little bit disappointing, with stripes on the handle that weren't parallel. And having played with the blade for some time, I too found it hollow. And it had a frustratingly low throw compared to my Maze and Freitas.

I didn't, and won't complain, as I knew this blade may not behave like the original ones, due to many different reasons. It's a nice controllable blade however.

Live and learn.