Best wooden allround+ and/or offensive- blades

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Currently playing again for approx 2 year (after 16 years or so). A lot has changed since the mid 0's. As a EJ I'm still looking for a optimal setup. I've tried several different blades and (untill now) I came to the conclusion that wooden blades suit me best, I'm a two winged looper (controlled with BH and quite full speed with FH). Untill now I've noticed that offensive and offensive+ blades are way to fast for me, beside that I have a preference to play with soft- up to medium rubbers.

I started 2 years ago with my 'old' setup; Donic Waldner Senso V1 on both sides Mark V GPS (max thickness). This played quite well to my liking, the biggest cons for me was a (bit) lack of speed (spinning+hitting) and blocking not that easy. Serves were very nice, controlled spin very nice and that was it actually. Since then I've been looking for a bit 'faster' setup to improve my game. First I tried to pair the Waldner Senso V1 with some faster rubbers (Tibhar FX-P, Rakza 7 soft, Xioma Vega Euro, Andro Hexer grip SFX). I felt that these rubbers didn't change to much in the speed department, only more spin and and less effort is required to generate spin. After that I've tried several (composite and wooden) blades with these rubbers; Yasaka Ma Lin soft carbon, DHS 301, Donic New Impuls 7.0, Butterfly Timo boll forte, all these blades felt to stiff and to 'fast' for me. The best setup thus far for me was; Yasaka Sweden Extra; FH Xiom Vega Europe, BH Andro Hexer Grip SFX.

Any advice on wooden all+ and/or off- blades? (preferably not to stiff and not to thick).
 
says toooooo much choice!!
says toooooo much choice!!
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Hi,

Butterfly Primorac all wood is a good off- blade, there are 2 versions, the Euro made one which is about €40 and the Japan made version, which is more expensive at around €70, it has some sort of treatment, not sure exactly what, heat or similar, and could feel a little firmer, but I haven’t compared the 2 versions, I own 2 of the Japan made blades and they are very nice, not too fast and good feel.
 
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Hi,

I'd highly recommend Tibhar Stratus Powerwood... It's in the OFF- range, and is a looper's delight.. One of the best all-wood blades, out there, in terms of price:performance..

Another blade that's similar to TSPW in composition, but just a hair slower, and priced a lot more, is Butterfly Petr Korbel
 
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Have a look at the Tibhar Lebesson. It must be one of the most - if not the most - underrated blades around.

If you're looking for something "a bit faster" then it might be a good solution for you. It's a fairly thin 5-ply all-wood blade, but the medial plies are mahogany which gives it both very pleasant feedback to the hand and just a bit more 'punch' than many other all-wood blades.

It's the blade of French pro Emmanuel Lebesson (current world ranking #36) who is a classic European-style two-winged looper. He uses it with Evolution FX-P (or is it FX-S?) on both sides. Everyone who says you can't be seriously competitive with soft rubbers is talking absolute bull-feathers!

Seriously, though, it's an excellent blade and super value for money.

 
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Have a look at the Tibhar Lebesson. It must be one of the most - if not the most - underrated blades around.

If you're looking for something "a bit faster" then it might be a good solution for you. It's a fairly thin 5-ply all-wood blade, but the medial plies are mahogany which gives it both very pleasant feedback to the hand and just a bit more 'punch' than many other all-wood blades.

It's the blade of French pro Emmanuel Lebesson (current world ranking #36) who is a classic European-style two-winged looper. He uses it with Evolution FX-P (or is it FX-S?) on both sides. Everyone who says you can't be seriously competitive with soft rubbers is talking absolute bull-feathers!

Seriously, though, it's an excellent blade and super value for money.


Definitely a good blade. I've used it when starting with TT again three years ago. It's a quite linear blade so might not be the best match for hard, tacky rubbers and it has a relatively thin and long handle (flared and anatomic, don't know the straight handle). The Tibhar Samsonov Alpha has the same construction afaik but a different handle.
Another quite underrated and not widely known blade series seems to be the Hinotec series from Cornilleau.
All+: 5.6 mm, Hinoki, Limba, Ayous
Off-: 6.0 mm, Hinoki, Limba, Ayous
Off: 6.0 mm, Hinoki, Limba, Kiri


 
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Butterfly Hadraw SR, Adidas Challenge Speed, Stiga Clipper, Joola Flame Extreme are relatively fast wooden blades I have used and would recommend. Your Vega Europe and Andro Hexer rubbers should be just fine with any of these blades. Tibhar Kim Jung Hoon is also a very solid choice. Very easy to use.

I would also recommend Joola Rossi Emotion, which is not an all wood blade, but it plays very similar to wooden blades. This is by far one of my favorite blades. I hope what I share helps you in your quest to improve. The most important thing is not to forget to enjoy your game. Good luck on your search
 
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He didn’t mention a budget limit in the op unless I missed something..

You're right, I don't think a budget was mentioned. What I meant was more that, for budget reasons (probably) fewer people have tried the Acoustic and, therefore, there are fewer people able to recommend it.

 
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Perhaps Sanwei Fextra Allround or Sanwei Fextra 7 could work for you?
I was in a similar situation as the OP and found the Fextra 7 to be too fast for me. It may have been a fluke with the one I received but it was significantly faster than the Timo Boll ALC that I tried next. Eventually I decided that the TB was also too fast for me. A blade I hit with for a few minutes the other day that felt really nice was the Donic Waldner Allplay. It had good feedback and control but still enough pop when needed.

 
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