Blade differences between brands?

[SorryForTheEdge]

Hi all,

We seem to categorize rubbers by DHS, Butterfly and ESN types (maybe more?), but I am wondering if same categorization can be applied for blades, or is it more complicated than that? Has anyone every did a blind test with outer or inner ALC blades of different brands to figure out similarities and differences?

 

[Larshos]

I do think it is a lot more complicated than that - but you also have brands like Soulspin who produces some premium blades for Donic, Tibhar and probably many more.
Woodhouse in Sweden mainly does Yasaka blades, but also some Donic and Nittaku I believe.
And then there's the premium "Made in Korea" blades from Joola, Tibhar, Xiom etc. which probably all are made in one or very few factories in South Korea..

 

[CallMeZaddy]

ADK is the Korea made blades.

 

[lodro]

Has anyone every did a blind test with outer or inner ALC blades of different brands to figure out similarities and differences?

Well i can't really test my blades blind, sorry but I have , "for example" tested some chinese ALC inners against a butterfly Innerforce alc and the only difference was the price where the butterfly blade was about 6 times the price of the chinese versions.
Normally people will not be willing to admit that their expensive blades are not making them play better.

 

[jonol]

Brands like Sanwei and Yinhe make quality blades, and most of them will play the same as their Butterfly counterpart.

Presumably they have worse quality control, but I don't know anyone with a Yinhe blade who has any problems with it.

I've also seen/used blades from more premium brands where the playing surface is warped, the outer layers are a noticeably different thickness on both sides, or they just feel strangely hollow or wrong compared to other blades of the same model.

Always a chance of getting a bad batch, but I'd rather have a $60 problem than a $200 one.

Unrelated, but I also will never buy from any seller who doesn't allow you to specify a weight range for a blade. Just makes me think they themselves don't actually have much care that their customer is happy with the product, and will not take care with handling/storage/packaging/assembling etc.

 

[Archosaurus]

The difference between any two different blade models within the same category is about as large as the difference between two of the exact same blade.

It's kind of pointless to try to make some kind of holistic system for blades and you should treat them all on a case by case basis, with every blade being an unique case.

Fiber blades somewhat lessen this as the fiber and ply structure hides major differences, but it's really important in allwood and especially one ply.

Surely there's brand philosophies and design choices which are unique/more common to that brand, but you're mostly gonna notice it in stuff like the face shape and size, handle shape, size and inner structure. Marketing claims the fiber materials really matter but I'm not so sure about that.

 

[ajtatosmano2]

I am not a big blade EJ, but my experience with chinese copycats (from sanwei, yinhe and stuor) is that play the same but they feel more muted. Mind you, these are the cheaper stuff, like Sanwei 75, Yinhe V14 etc...and I've experienced the same effect from two different pieces of the same exact blade, made in the hungarian butterfly blade manufactory, so it's probably just bad luck and qc issues. The stiga blades I've tried all have amazing feeling but somehow I couldn't play with them, except the cybershape carbon, but I don't have the money to buy it.

 

[Larshos]

Yinhe have good QC, even for their cheaper all-wood blades. My U-2, U-2 Spin, PD473s and N10s all have better finishing than my BSS1, SPW, YSE and YEO.

Cheaper DHS blades can be pretty bad, on the other hand.

 

[jonol]

Yinhe have good QC, even for their cheaper all-wood blades. My U-2, U-2 Spin, PD473s and N10s all have better finishing than my BSS1, SPW, YSE and YEO.

Cheaper DHS blades can be pretty bad, on the other hand.

I can second this - my Yinhe blade has a better finish than my retired early blades blades (Yasaka + Tibhar). Better finish than on my 2 Clipper Wood as well (but Clipper might still be my favourite blade ever)

 

[Archosaurus]

Yinhe have good QC, even for their cheaper all-wood blades. My U-2, U-2 Spin, PD473s and N10s all have better finishing than my BSS1, SPW, YSE and YEO.

Cheaper DHS blades can be pretty bad, on the other hand.

Finish =/= QC

If that's what they've specced the finish to be, then that's what it is. What matters more is how close the design parameters are to the ideal.

 

[Julzig]

The problem is also, even if is made in the same factory the brand behind can most likely decide a lot of factors too.
For example 2 brands want a blade with the same composition from the same factory but they can still differ a lot based on the glue/glueing method and how the wood is cured. And many more most likely. Some of the blademakers here can probably tell a whole lot more