OSP Custom Blade by Palatinus (Old Stiga Oversize Clipper Reproduction)

Here is a Special custom made blade made by Palatinus of the Old Stiga Oversize Clipper that my coach (Shao Yu) uses. My coaches Oversize Clipper blade is no longer made and todays present Stiga Oversize Clipper is very different and does not play well when compared to his blade. So in my search for his blade on Table Tennis Sales forums...i happened upon to read a 50 page thread about Palatinus making blades that feel like the old Stiga blades. So i contacted Palatinus and the rest is history. Now i have become a follower of OSP Blades...All hail the great Palatinus!!!

I have played about a hour on it and it is very similar to my coaches blade. I will also include some opinions from my coaches at NYISC who have tried the blade. And I will post some pics and please feel free to ask me any questions.

I had 2 high level players and one of the senior coaches try out the blade. Please note this blade measurements were taken with a digital caliper of Shao Yus Stiga Oversize Clipper blade(8 to 10 years old).

1. Shao Yu(My coach) and former U.S.A. National Team member: He played with it for about 1 hour. He commented this is the closest blade he has tried compared to his original stiga clipper oversize. The handle felt very comfortable. He did comment the blade had some vibrations due to the newness of the blade and has not yet broken in. His original blade has been through countless amount of games and training. His blade feels a little more solid with less vibrations. My Coach did tell me since it is so new, it will take at least 10 to 20 hours of play before the blade starts breaking in. He also mentioned when his original Stiga blade was new that it had the vibrations too. The blade should feel more solid and have less vibrations after some time. Usuallly the older a Stiga blades gets...It gets more solid, more crispy, more dwell time as it ages. This is why people pay so much money for older Stiga blades. He likes the blade and may order one after the Joola Teams events being held during Thanksgiving weekend.

2. GaoYan Jun, Ranked 46th in the U.S. and Coach. He hit with it for about 15 minutes and he liked the blade. He mentioned the blade had alot of feel. But he prefers his blades a couple of ounces heavier. This blade was made to Shao Yus blade specifications and weighs around 90 grams. He was also interested in ordering a blade too.

3. Senior Coach S****s(He helps train Jennifer Yue Wu...USA Team member for the 2016 Olympics) He mentioned the blade was very well made and had good balance. He also mentioned right now it felt like a Avalox blade from the 80s and 90s. He has seen a lot of blades and his positive comment is very welcoming.

My Coach and me will continue to play with the blade. Hopefully it starts to break in more and more. The shape, size are 100% perfect and even the wood grain looks the same. I would say the blade plays about 85% when compared to my coaches blade. This percentage is in fact very high already...My Coach and i have been through all the new versions of the Stiga oversize clipper and it does not play well when compared to his.

I will continue to update this post and add some more pics when possible. I am happy to answer any questions. If it werent for OSP/Palatinus, i would have never found a suitable blade for me and my coach. Thanks OSP/Palatinus

OSP Custom Blade by Palatinus (Old Stiga Oversize Clipper Reproduction)
90 grams 6.1mm

3 below pictures originally photographed by Palatinus



The blade with rubbers. This is what my coach and i have as a setup for rubbers.



My coaches original blade pictures...As you can see it has been through many battles for the past 10 years.



Here is a short video taken by Schen of my coach playing his short pips backhand. Now you can get a idea of how crispy his old Stiga blade is. His old blade feels amazing.

Here is the exact dimension i took with a digital caliper.

Head is 161mm x 157.5mm....I suspect there may have been a little bit of shrinkage due to the age...It may originally have been 162mm x 158mm.

Yes, the original Stiga oversize clipper is using the WRB handle. Some love it and some hate it. I did not ask if the Palatinus made the blade using a hollow handle. I will ask him and post back in this thread. My coach has played with the blade and definitely likes it.

Great minds think alike, i was thinking of getting a Martin. But i decided to go the custom route to get as close as possible to my coaches blade. My coasc is also looking for a replacement too and wanted to try my custom blade. His blade is very beat up and wont last forever. Those old Stiga blades are impossible to find these days.

My coaches original blade is in the 90 grams area and I requested the reproduction to be of the same weight. Palatinus has met and surpassed my expectations by a mile.

UpSideDownCarl said:

Yep. My money says that handle is pretty much the same as all the OSP handles. If you tap the handle you can feel if there is a hollow space in there. But, even if there is, it will not be like the hollow space of a WRB handle. Which means your blade is technically a lighter blade with a heavier handle if you get what I am saying.

Another way of saying it is: if you could take the wood that is missing from the WRB handle and replace it, the blade would probably weigh about 97-98 grams. But it would feel like just about the same weight as it feels right now. Because they weight in the handle just gets felt as part of the balance.

One more way of saying it, I am willing to bet that your new 90 gram OSP Clipper Clone feels lighter than the 90 gram Clipper with WRB when you are playing with it.

All that being said, OSP makes awesome blades and I am a fan of OSP craftsmanship.

So, I think that blade is probably going to break in to be even better than the blade it replaced. They really do keep feeling better and better with age. And they are much more solid and sturdy than the blades Stiga makes these days.

So, OSP! Gotta love them.


Sent from the Oracle of Delphi by the Pythia

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Yes, i understand the center of balance may tend towards the handle more when compared to my coaches blade. In fact I do find the blade light and was talking to my coach that if we order again. We should add a couple of grams but he said its fine now and you don't need the added weight. He said i was used to using a 96 gram blade and it will take some time for me to get used to the lighter blade.

OSP definitely does give you a feeling of the classic made Stiga blades with a little OSP magic added in.

I will definitely order another 1 or 2 more blades for my coach and me. The quality of a OSP handmade blade is excellent.

Now i have to sell all my present equipment and save some dollars for the new order. I will only EJ on rubbers and balls from now on. That Bryce High Speed is calling to me....

Thanks for the nice remarks

UpSideDownCarl said:

Yeah. You should probably wait till you are really used to it before you decide anything.

But at least now you know why the new 90 gram blade feels like it weighs less than the old one and why it may not be quite as solid. It is actually lighter everywhere but in the handle.

If, after you are really used to it, you decide you want the next one heavier, it might make sense. Something like 96-98 grams would probably give you a beast of a blade. Hehe.

But, yeah, the only blade from those guys that I want and don't have yet is the Martin. And when I am able to get one I am going to ask for it at 94 grams or more since they say 94 grams is the highest weight. And I am debating if I will ask them to give me a 150mm x 157mm head size or just go with the head size they have made for it.

The blades I have from OSP are:

Virtuoso Off-
Virtuoso Plus
V'King
And a custom blade that has the same wood plies as the blades Waldner used in his prime:

Limba-Spruce-Ayous-Spruce-Limba

The one I like the best is the Virtuoso Plus. But part of that is that I figured out that I like blades to have more weight and that the denser wood has better feeling and more crispness and bang impact with just as much touch. If you have blades of the same kind, the same dimensions, the same wood plies, everything is the same and one weighs, 6-8 grams more, I will give you odds on the fact that the heavier one will feel better.

And a 98 gram blade that has decent balance will play great and you will get used to it. 98 grams won't feel like too much once you are used to it.

A 98 gram WRB blade on the other hand would really be a 110 gram blade so the head of a 98 gram WRB might be too heavy.

As far as WRB or not WRB, I could play with either. It wouldn't make much difference to me. But when you add weight to the handle it doesn't feel like you've added weight. The weight that matters is the weight and density of the head of the blade.


Sent from the Oracle of Delphi by the Pythia

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R. Palitinus did reply to me and told me the handle was hollow. So this is one of the reasons why is feels similar to my coaches blade. I wouldn't mind if it was 1 or 2 grams heavier, as you know heavier blades gives more a oomph to your shots. The Stiga Oversize Clipper 96 grams i was previously using had a lot of crispiness, but the blade did not have enough dwell time. My loops and loop drives were flying off the racket. And every time i tried my coaches blade, my loops were more spinny and had a better diving trajectory.

When i tried your Virtuoso +, it had a lot of feel and touch. This is what i was looking for. Even though i am hurt with a really bad hamstring strain(hurts from my calf all the way to my glutes)...i was feeling better last week and decided to just work on my reverse pendulum serve. With this racket, i was landing around 50 to 60 percent of my serves and it was the second time practicing the new serve. With my old racket the percentage was much lower. The control and touch is definitely a great attribute of OSP blades.

The EJer in me also want a Oversized Martin too