Can anyone talk me either into buying this or leave it alone

[lodro]

 

[Gozo Zyreruna]

View attachment 36771

Leave it. Why?
Hinoki should be left unsullied, in its pure form.

 

[tzifos]

Note that is very easy to use Cypress Spruce wood and name it "Hinoki".


The sure thing is that "Kiso Hinoki" is very difficult to find and buy!

 

[Lazer]

Note that is very easy to use Cypress Spruce wood and name it "Hinoki".


The sure thing is that "Kiso Hinoki" is very difficult to find and buy!

Not really. Just bought a Darker speed 90, and before that a Darker imperial hinoki, before this two Nittaku miyabi’s.
Tabletennis11 still has them Nittaku septear too…

Cheers
L-zr

 

[Tyce]

Buy it, so we don't have to

 

[lodro]

Buy it, so we don't have to

The only reason i want to buy it is that I am interested to find out what the 2 layers of hinoki will feel like in comparison with koto , Limba , ebony etc etc and all the other outer layers i got in the house already. Will there be a distinct difference and will there be some of the hinoki-magic in this blade.

Another blade that interests me for the same reason is the Sanwei Nova carbon , it also has a very thick hinoki top layer.

 

[Tony's Table Tennis]

Not really. Just bought a Darker speed 90, and before that a Darker imperial hinoki, before this two Nittaku miyabi’s.
Tabletennis11 still has them Nittaku septear too…

Cheers
L-zr

you can't compare Japanese blades Hinoki to Chinese brands Hinoki

 

[Lazer]

you can't compare Japanese blades Hinoki to Chinese brands Hinoki

All the blades I mentioned are Japanese KISO hinoki…

 

[lodro]

All the blades I mentioned are Japanese KISO hinoki…

Weeeeell, at least they are advertised as such 😁

 

[haggisv]

All the blades I mentioned are Japanese KISO hinoki…

I think Tony's point is that the one pictured by lodro above does not mention that it's Kiso Hinoki, so it could by any type of Hinoki, and may not play the same.

 

[ttarc]

I still have a Cornilleau Hinotec Off- (hinoki, limba, ayous, limba, hinoki), also made in China and that plays noticeably different than say a Korbel or other blades that use limba instead of hinoki for the outer ply and have a similar thickness. https://us.cornilleau.com/blades/264-344-hinotec-off-.html#/50-handle_shape-flared

2x hinoki, ALC, kiri core, ALC, 2x hinoki, currently on sale over here for 26.79€ incl. 19% VAT and shipping https://de.aliexpress.com/item/1005009240064024.html if I just wanted to test something like this I would get it.

 

[Lazer]

I think Tony's point is that the one pictured by lodro above does not mention that it's Kiso Hinoki, so it could by any type of Hinoki, and may not play the same.

Why direct that to me??? I was commenting tsifoz post about Kiso…

Cheers
L-zr

 

[UpSideDownCarl]

In my experience, Hinoki feels best when it is in a blade that is ALL Hinoki whether that is a 1 ply, 3 ply, 5 ply or 7 ply.

One ply feels better than the others. But you still get the Hinoki feel. When it is paired with other things, the Hinoki feel is muted by the other things. When you pair it with carbon, often it is really fast and the nature of carbon causes it to lose even more of the crazy thing about Hinoki that makes it grab the ball really strongly so you can spin the HELL out of the ball.

If you wanted to see how Hinoki feels, I would recommend some version of an all Hinoki blade. If you just want a new blade to try, then the information above doesn't matter.

 

[TensorBackhand]

View attachment 36771

I only have 1 XVT blade, which is the XVT ZL600. But it is excellent. Really one of the best blades I have. It has a nice flexy feel, but with tremendous catapult and rebound. It bends a bit on contact, and then snaps back hard for a nice responsive snappy feeling. Also the handle is good and very easy to maneuver.

I'd like to get the XVT long 5 as well to try out, but XVT went off Aliexpress.

 

[TensorBackhand]

XVT SPORT

www.xvt.cc

I went to this online shop but I'm confused. I don't see any blades for sale, but i see Iphone cases

 

[lodro]

the nature of carbon causes it to lose even more of the crazy thing about Hinoki that makes it grab the ball really strongly so you can spin the HELL out of the ball.

so it would be like adding water to an old bourbon ? 😁

 

[UpSideDownCarl]

so it would be like adding water to an old bourbon ? 😁

Not a bad analogy.

Hinoki with Zylon (no carbon) is interesting. There was a blade Butterfly made maybe 15-16 years ago called Photino; it was Hinoki on the top ply a thick 1.4mm top ply with Zylon (no carbon) under it and that was a very interesting blade. But that is the only Hinoki composite blade I thought had something really compelling to it. With the Zylon and the Hinoki top ply, I felt the blade was kind of too fast the last time I tried one which probably was 2012. So I would not have used it. But it felt pretty nice for going loop to loop and if it was just a blade for messing around and having fun, it would be a great blade to have. Unfortunately, I think Butterfly stopped making that blade years ago.

With other woods, you really can feel the wood underneath the Hinoki. So, Hinoki with Limba under it, like some of the Cornelliu Hinotec blades, you can feel the Hinoki but you definitely feel the Limba under it too so it masks some of the Hinoki qualities.

A friend of mine, one time, handed a Jonyer Hinoki and a Off- Hinoktec blade to a woman friend who is a 2400 level (USATT rating) player and coach. He asked her to try both, and tell him what she thought. She said she didn't understand why anyone would want the Hinotec blade since it was so much slower, the control was worse and that it was easier to spin the ball with the Jonyer. For her, the all Hinoki blade was notably a better piece of equipment.

 

[UpSideDownCarl]

BTW: to me, nothing feels as good as a good One Ply Hinoki blade. I would not use one for match play or as my main blade for a variety of reasons. But nothing feels as good. They are pretty amazing.

 

[nzbloggs]

I only have 1 XVT blade, which is the XVT ZL600. But it is excellent. Really one of the best blades I have. It has a nice flexy feel, but with tremendous catapult and rebound. It bends a bit on contact, and then snaps back hard for a nice responsive snappy feeling. Also the handle is good and very easy to maneuver.

I'd like to get the XVT long 5 as well to try out, but XVT went off Aliexpress.

Eh? I was just looking at XVT store yesterday on Ali

Try: https://www.aliexpress.com/store/1801900

I even got responses them via Ali messaging. First there was AI response (which actually was quite good), and then a human replied when they were available

Hmm I also notice there is another XVT store: https://xvtsport.aliexpress.com/store/530940

I see similar thing often on AliExpress (multiple stores with similar name). I'm never sure if they are legit or just the same store running under different names... 🤷

Could message each store and ask if it's safe to buy from the other store haha. If they say yes its safe to buy from other store, probably means they are just trading under multiple names? I think my logic is sound there?

Edit: I just got a reply. I asked store 530940 if it was safe to buy from 1801900 and they said "Yes we are the same company"

 

[lodro]

BTW: to me, nothing feels as good as a good One Ply Hinoki blade. I would not use one for match play or as my main blade for a variety of reasons. But nothing feels as good. They are pretty amazing.

Thank you my friend, this of course will bring us to the next question : At what price is a Hinoky blade a real Hinoki blade ??? Or with other words : will a NZ $ 65 single ply Hinoki blade from eg. Stuor or Sanwei give me the "real feel" or does it have to be something really expensive ?