Afrobro's Handmade Blades

[AfroBro]

Thanks Bob. Yes, that one surprised me a bit too. I think it's just the medial ply that adds to the weight. It's a 3mm core and then 1.5mm Ayous either side so essentially 6mm Ayous with Limba outer which makes it pretty thick. It's quite head heavy too as the WRC handle is very light.

 

[bobpuls]

Yes but the burned ayous tend to be really light ... or maybe when its burned he soaks a lot of glue inside ... hard to say

 

[AfroBro]

That did cross my mind too. It's quite porous and I used a fairly thick hide glue so I probably need to use less next time.

Also the medial ply isn't burned so it's got the weight of 3mm regular Ayous wood as well.

 

[AfroBro]

Blade update

Just an update with a few new blades:

Koto - Textreme - Ayous - Textreme - Koto

Specification
Thickness: 5.2mm
Weight: 93g
Head size: 155mm (h) x 148mm (w)
Handle: ST 100mm (l) x 28mm (w) x 24mm (t)

Wenge - Ayous - Ayous - Mahogany - Ayous - Ayous - Wenge

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Specification
Thickness: 6.0mm
Weight: 89g
Head size: 157mm (h) x 149mm (w)
Handle: ST 100mm (l) x 27mm (w) x 24mm (t)

Limba - Spruce - Ayous - Glass Fiber - Ayous - Glass Fiber - Ayous - Spruce - Limba

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Specification

Thickness: 6.6mm
Weight: 90g
Head size: 155mm (h) x 149mm (w)
Handle: ST 100mm (l) x 28mm (w) x 24mm (t)
​

 

[AfroBro]

Handmade blades for sale

Hoping to update this post properly soon but for now I have 4 handmade blades on eBay for sale at £29.99 each. Happy to talk trades or bundles of blades if anyone is interested. They are listed as UK only but can sell internationally on here.

Full details on each link:

Blade 1:

Anegre - UDC - Ayous - UDC - Anegre (ST/70g)



https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/254237815001

Blade 2:

Limba - Ayous - Ayous - Ayous - Ayous - Ayous - Limba (FL/78g)



https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/254237816703

Blade 3:

Limba - Ayous - Ayous - Ayous - Ayous - Ayous - Limba (ST/92g)



https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/254237817443

Blade 4:

Limba - Spruce - Ayous - Spruce - Limba (ST/89g)



https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/254237879767

 

[AfroBro]

Update: A few new blades that I've made over the last couple of weeks. They are all very different from each other but I'm pleased with how they have turned out.

Blade 1:

For a LP player in my local league to try out. He currently uses OSP Immune OX Classic. This is the same composition but with Wenge in place of the Mahogany. It is quite heavy but that isn't really a problem with the LP on one side.

Limba - Wenge - Ayous - Limba - Wenge

104 g - ST (rounded)



Blade 2:

Asymmetrical 7 ply blade with a conical handle for a forum member. White Ash on one side and Limba on the other.

Limba - Ayous - Ayous - Ayous - Ayous - Ayous - White Ash

89g - 5.8mm



Blade 3:

My first ALC blade. Massive thanks to forum member Giang for sourcing some ALC material for me. I'd been searching for it for a long time and he was really helpful in ordering some and sending it to me. My goal here was to build a blade that had an inner ALC layer but remained quite light.

Koto - Ayous - ALC - Burned Ayous - ALC - Ayous - Koto

81g - Flared - 5.8mm

 

[Giangt]

Those are damn good looking blades buddy! Hope you managed to find a way working with the ALC.
Good job keeping the weight down on the Inner ALC blade. What kind of glue did u use? Looking forward to hear your findings mate.

 

[yoass]

Ooh that conical handle looks soooooo fine!

 

[AfroBro]

Thanks Giang. That blade actually has a compact head size as well as a little bit taken out of the handle and the burned core, all to try and keep the weight down. I used Epoxy on the inner layer and a Polyurethane glue on the outer layers.

 

[RidTheKid]

That ALC blade is sight for sore eyes What's the head size?

Thanks Giang. That blade actually has a compact head size as well as a little bit taken out of the handle and the burned core, all to try and keep the weight down. I used Epoxy on the inner layer and a Polyurethane glue on the outer layers.

 

[AfroBro]

Thanks - it was made for a player with a wrist injury. He wanted to save weight with a smaller head and keep the balance towards the handle. The head measurements are 155mm x 146mm. It tested around 1300hz with a quick frequency test which was pretty similar to the H301 that he was using previously but that was around 90g.

 

[RidTheKid]

If one was to go up to the "standard" 157x150mm head size, how much would the weight increase do you reckon?

Thanks - it was made for a player with a wrist injury. He wanted to save weight with a smaller head and keep the balance towards the handle. The head measurements are 155mm x 146mm. It tested around 1300hz with a quick frequency test which was pretty similar to the H301 that he was using previously but that was around 90g.

 

[AfroBro]

Nothing too dramatic if there was no other change. Around 5g probably. The smaller head size does make it a little bit stiffer though as it's also reducing the amount that the blade flexes.

 

[yogi_bear]

Man the flared handles really look nice.

 

[AfroBro]

Thanks Yogi. Nearly finished a new flared handle today. Slightly different shape though as it's a little bit more square. This one is the same as the previous ALC blade but with Limba in place of the 2nd Ayous ply. The handles are a bit heavier and replacing the Ayous with Limba puts it in the low 90g's.

 

[AfroBro]

Update

A couple of new Inner Textreme blades from the last 2 weeks:

Limba - Limba - Textreme - Ayous - Textreme - Limba - Limba

89g
6.2mm
157 x 150
1464hz



Limba - Limba - Textreme - Burned Ayous - Textreme - Limba - Limba

85g
6.2mm
157 x 150
1464hz



And finally, a new ALC blade with the handle from an old damaged Sardius. It has a Balsa core to reduce the weight as much as possible.

Koto - Ayous - ALC - Balsa - ALC - Ayous - Koto

 

[Giangt]

....And finally, a new ALC blade with the handle from an old damaged Sardius. It has a Balsa core to reduce the weight as much as possible.

Koto - Ayous - ALC - Balsa - ALC - Ayous - Koto

View attachment 19448 View attachment 19449 View attachment 19450

Could you make direct comparison between this blade and the previous ALC with Kiri core instead of balsa? Thanks buddy.

 

[RidTheKid]

Beautiful stuff

 

[MOG]

The limba-limba-textreme-ayous-textreme-limba-limba blade was made for me.

The quality is excellent, really well made, Feels better than any mainstream blade I have ever tried.

 

[AfroBro]

Thanks - glad you like the blade MOG. Is it as fast as it seemed with rubbers on? Interestingly, the burned Ayous version gave the exact same reading in frequency testing even though it does have quite a different feel.

@Giang: The first ALC blade was an Ayous core but with the same composition as the Balsa blade otherwise. I didn't get a good chance to test either as they were for other players but the Balsa blade actually came out heavier as I took a bit of weight out of the Ayous blade but the Sardius handles were solid. I prefer the feel of Ayous blades in general as I'm just not very used to the feel of Balsa.