Question for Blade-Builders

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I like the second one as well! Nice job.

Surprised to see Kiri as center-ply, while most innerfibre blades have Ayous as core.
Did you already had chance to play with it? I'm curious about the blade characteristics :)

Thanks!

I like the feel of Kiri and knew I needed to keep my weight down on this specific blade...also, I don't have access to ayous thick enough for a core, so Kiri really was my only choice for this blade.

Bad news - I haven't had an opportunity to play since March and I have no idea when I'll have a chance to play in the foreseeable future, so they'll be added to my ever growing collection of blades I REALLY want to try. I'll post my feedback once I finally get a chance to try them out!

Just CRIMINAL it is...

Thanks William!

Kiri is pretty common.... Adding more direct feel.. Good for blocking and smashing..
. Nice blades BTW.

Thanks! I'm definitely a fan of the more direct feel of Kiri, but I don't have a lot of practical experience with Ayous outside of the classic Limba-Limba-Ayous composition. I'm really liking Western Red Cedar as a core (which feels quite similar to Ayous to me), and I haven't built enough blades out of Redwood to really understand its properties as a core. Do you have a favorite core-wood?
 
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Hi Nate,

Here is the picture of my blade.

Mas DSC00201.jpg
 
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Hi Nate,

Here is the picture of my blade.

MasView attachment 21987

Looks great! Based on your description and my wild imagination, I thought it was going to be less traditional looking (this one looks very similar to Ross Leidy's "Compact-2" shape). What's the composition of this blade? Is this one of the blades made by Waqidi?
 
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This is a blade I used for the 40mm celluloid ball. It was made by Charlie Smith. If I recall, the core was a .15 inch high density hinoki, second ply was koto, and the outer ply was WRC. Do you need dimensions?
 
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This is a blade I used for the 40mm celluloid ball. It was made by Charlie Smith. If I recall, the core was a .15 inch high density hinoki, second ply was koto, and the outer ply was WRC. Do you need dimensions?

I would love to know the dimensions of that blade AND handle (especially if you want me to make a blade that shares or is similar to those same specifications).
 

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Hi Nate,
i tried a couple of blades you made for Der Echte and they were nicely done...will be in touch for a couple of different custom blades in the near future when you are done with George and Mas
 
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I had the opportunity to acquire some rough alaskan yellow cedar and sitka spruce lumber recently (they are quite expensive per board-foot) and was excited to use them as core-woods. The good news? They're gorgeous (especially for the handles). The bad news? They're heavier than ideal (for cores).

Blade 1:
Composition: Limba - Spruce - Spruce - Alaskan Yellow Cedar - Spruce - Spruce - Limba
Handle: Alaskan Yellow Cedar and Walnut
Weight: 100 grams

Full Handle.jpg

Blade 2:
Composition: Limba - Spruce - Spruce - Sitka Spruce - Spruce - Spruce - Limba
Handle: Sitka Spruce, Alaskan Yellow Cedar, and Walnut
Weight: 98 grams

Full Handle.jpg
Handle Close Up.jpg

Other Project:
Der_Echte's friend George asked me to make him more asymmetrical blades. Asymmetrical blades are a real challenge since each side is supposed to have different playing properties - the issue is, the greater the disparity between how each side plays, the more you're violating the rules/range of acceptable plywood construction. The second blade below has a little warp/cupping because it violates every rule of proper plywood construction (If you're concerned, I won't charge George for it but I do need him to try it and give me feedback if it's a composition worth refining).

George Blade 1:
Composition: Limba - Poplar - Redwood - Douglas Fir - Khaya
Handle: Conical Shape (90mm circumference on bottom, 75mm circumference at top), Walnut and Maple
Weight: 88 grams

Full Handle.jpg

George Blade 2:
Composition: Walnut - Balsa - Poplar - Spruce - Spruce - Limba
Handle: Conical Shape (90mm circumference on bottom, 75mm circumference at top), Walnut and Maple
Weight: 78 grams

Full Handle.jpg
Handle Close Up.jpg
 
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Why do I say that... one time local top player james Therriault got a blade from Charlie... a DAMNED BALSA blade... DAMNED BALSA. I do NOT like those blades... but I held the blade in my hand and it was instantly the best handle I ever felt and regarless of blade material, I felt I could... and DID loop like crazy with it.

Spend time on the handle Nate, it will be appreciated.
 
Through an "internet-accident", I ended up with some Sen wood (Japanese Ash). Not quite the same as the white ash used in the Nittaku Violin's construction, but I think it turned out nicely all the same. Since my Sen was a little thinner than I imagined the real-Violin's white-ash plies to be, I beefed up the kiri core (and overall thickness) by 0.4 mm to compensate.

Fake-taku Violin:
Composition: Sen-Sen-Kiri-Sen-Sen
Handle: Walnut and Maple
Weight: 79 grams
Thickness: 5.7 mm
Glue: Hide
Peak Frequency: 1,194 hz

View attachment 21771
View attachment 21772

Just curious, what's your opinion on how the sen wood plays? I've been using sen for quite a few of my blades and it seems to be just a touch softer than white ash, but I can't find any information online about its objective hardness or anything. The sen I found online was a "curly" type cut, so as an outer layer, it looks beautiful.
 
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Just curious, what's your opinion on how the sen wood plays? I've been using sen for quite a few of my blades and it seems to be just a touch softer than white ash, but I can't find any information online about its objective hardness or anything. The sen I found online was a "curly" type cut, so as an outer layer, it looks beautiful.

That's awesome that you've been using Sen in your builds as well! Unfortunately, I have not been able to play for the past few months due to Coronavirus, so I have not had a chance to try it out yet. Like you've suggested, I can't find much online about its wood properties but stuff I've come across agrees with you (that it's softer than white ash). I get the sense it should be a great outer ply, but it feels a little flatter/dead than I would typically put in a medial ply (this is purely speculation based on how it feels for a bare-blade test, so I'll have to wait until I can try it). The Sen I got was from "CertainlyWood" (fairly straight grain with some fiddleback-like features), who has been a very reliable veneer company during my time as a blade-maker.
 
That's awesome that you've been using Sen in your builds as well! Unfortunately, I have not been able to play for the past few months due to Coronavirus, so I have not had a chance to try it out yet. Like you've suggested, I can't find much online about its wood properties but stuff I've come across agrees with you (that it's softer than white ash). I get the sense it should be a great outer ply, but it feels a little flatter/dead than I would typically put in a medial ply (this is purely speculation based on how it feels for a bare-blade test, so I'll have to wait until I can try it). The Sen I got was from "CertainlyWood" (fairly straight grain with some fiddleback-like features), who has been a very reliable veneer company during my time as a blade-maker.

Yes, I would agree. It does have a slightly dead feeling as a medial ply, although in composite blades, it's not as noticeable. As an outer, it's probably similar to a koto with a bit more dwell.
 
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For some damn fool reason, despite having 7+ choices of Nate's built blades to use, the rare time I can get a hit, I seem to be pulling out the bonus 5-ply 105 gram blade (with FX-S and MX-K)

Construction: Koto-Euro Larch-Engleman Spruce-Euro Larch-Koto w/solid Walnut handle

LIGHT feeling 105 grams...

Last night, despite an overall reduction of skill from not playing much, and Sergey Scoobie Doo Tsos POUNDING my BY on serve return with halflong or deep returns DARING me to open... despite flipping the bat to soft rubber FH medium 47 MX-K on BH, the times I did not lean backwards and fail, but actually leaned forward and squatted a little, I made amzing BH openers that had insane spin and landing percentage... I could continually attack on FH heavy spin or flat hit it if block was high... even my sucky FH return with a springy soft rubber I could keep it short often enough...

... and this is likely a damn lower end of OFF+ range blade !!! ...and this summer, I promised to use OFF- and softer rubber to build consistency of shot and strike zone impact timing... yet I am doing it with this way faster blade.

I read my comments from a while back where I said I should send Next Level one of these... Maybe I should send Next level the Koto outer 7 ply OFF and maybe another of the earlier gen 110mm handle baldes to have a hit... maybe I should leave MX-K on there on a couple...
 
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