Carbon or wood?

[Jeppie]

Hey guys! I recently started playing table tennis (couple months), and I'm advancing really quickly. I played tennis basically every day when I was younger, so I have a lot of feel for the ball. I'm currently beating players who have been playing for a couple of years.

Yesterday, I borrowed a racket with a wooden blade with hybrid rubbers, where I don't have to care too much about spin (I still can't handle strong spins, with this racket it was much easier). My entire game got much better, where it was clear I've completely outgrown my premade racket.

For my new racket, I'm already sure I'll put the two rubbers that were on the borrowed racket on my new racket. There was a large discussion between players what kind of blade I should use with it. One says I have the ball feel to use a faster racket, the other says I will develop some issues with my technique if I do that.

My characteristics:
+Attacking play style
+very good feel for the ball
+always balanced when hitting
-bad footwork technique
-not so good technique for my level
-not good at handling spin

Do you think I should go for a wooden blade with this setup, or can I handle the carbon blade already?

 

[fore.n.back]

regarding those weak points you mentioned, it's best to go with a 7 ply all wood blade to help you improve technique and footwork. Carbon blade although makes your shots seem faster and more threatening, it has smaller margin of error.

 

[Musaab]

bottom line : you are not gonna listen probably and you still gonna go for a cabon. However if you don't want to waste time for nothing and actually learn as fast as possible you stick with your wood blade until you can top spin both sides, profound understanding of spin and its variations, you could then consider carbon blade to boost your already good strokes. Carbon for begginer means : no understanding of spin as quickly as you should , developping weird strokes to compensate and stalling on the same level for ages, your call

 

[greenbeanmachine]

I would warn you against carbon blades until you are an advanced player. If you can't handle spin now, you certainly won't be able to handle it with a carbon blade. Learn how to handle spin, and then go for a carbon blade after that.

You can still get a wood blade which is almost as fast as carbon. I would recommend 5-ply hardwood blade like Ma Lin Extra Offensive. 7-ply wood like Stiga Clipper is also a good choice.

 

[NextLevel]

If you get really good coach it won't matter so much. If not, get all wood.

 

[Sims]

No, you cannot handle a carbon blade already.
You say you are learning techniques, Carbon will not help.
You're only playing a few months so find a blade that really lets you feel what's happening (as much as possible) during your strokes.
I would think (coach or no coach) you're more likely to find a blade with better feeling if you avoid carbon.
I've bought a few blades myself and the cheapest all wood I bought was far far better than the stiffer blades I tried. These experiences are all personal of course but I always recommend all wood to anyone starting out.
There's plenty of time to try carbon after you've learned to play

 

[greenbeanmachine]

5-ply wood with a hard outer ply (e.g. Ma Lin Extra Offensive) will be quite flexible and give good feeling, while still allowing you to make a cracking fast attack if you hit hard.

5-ply wood with a soft outer ply (e.g. Butterfly Primorac) suits a game centered around topspin and countertopspin. If you like making spinny balls, and can return them consistently, then this is a good idea.

7-ply wood with soft outer ply (e.g. Stiga Clipper) is very fast, stiff, and direct. If you have very good control over the angle of your racket, you can play fast balls which will force your opponent out of position.

7-ply wood with hard outer ply (like Rosewood NCT VII) is extremely fast and stiff, probably not worth trying at this point in your development. It's a good intermediate step between wood and carbon blades.

These three blades -- Ma Lin Extra Offensive, Primorac, and Clipper -- are the "gold standards" for people who are starting to get serious about table tennis. They're all extremely popular because they're all really good quality for a pretty good price. I'd highly suggest one of these three.

 

[JJ Ng]

I am going to be the last person to tell you to go all wood.

My recommendations are: Tibhar Stratus Powerwood (5-ply), Tibhar Samsonov Force Pro Black Edition (7-ply) or Donic Persson Powerplay (7-ply).

Out of all of them, Donic Persson Powerplay is actually the cheapest.

 

[greenbeanmachine]

I am going to be the last person to tell you to go all wood.

My recommendations are: Tibhar Stratus Powerwood (5-ply), Tibhar Samsonov Force Pro Black Edition (7-ply) or Donic Persson Powerplay (7-ply).

Out of all of them, Donic Persson Powerplay is actually the cheapest.

Good recommendations, I agree.

Tibhar Stratus Powerwood has the same composition as Butterfly Primorac, and has a slightly bigger face
Tibhar Samsonov Force Pro Black has the same composition as Stiga Clipper, and also has a slightly bigger face
Donic Persson Powerplay has a harder outer layer than the other mentioned blades, and will permit a driving/blocking game more than a looping game.

 

[JJ Ng]

Good recommendations, I agree.

Tibhar Stratus Powerwood has the same composition as Butterfly Primorac, and has a slightly bigger face
Tibhar Samsonov Force Pro Black has the same composition as Stiga Clipper, and also has a slightly bigger face
Donic Persson Powerplay has a harder outer layer than the other mentioned blades, and will permit a driving/blocking game more than a looping game.

I don't really memorize the blade's composition. But I have like 6 Stratus Power Wood, two Samsonov Force Pro Black and two Persson Powerplay. I like all of them to be honest. Yes the first two have bigger heads so the blade will be slightly heavier.

However if you get enough people to order from TT11 together, you will get 10%, 20% or even 30% depending on how big your order is. You cannot beat the price when you add 30% discount to each of those three blades. I think you will be busy trying them. Have fun!

 

[rbtitco]

Play whatever and put the money towards coaching. That's the most important thing

 

[Its_c0mplex]

I used to play tennis too for most of my life. It was my main sport and table tennis was just a hobby back in high school. These days my body can't handle tennis any more and so I'm back to table tennis and in a very similar boat to you.

I used my old premade bat from when I was a teenager for a little bit when coming back to table tennis but quickly got myself a second hand 5-ply wood blade (Stiga wood NCT) because that is what everyone seems to recommend for beginners. I quickly felt myself outgrowing the blade but felt intimidated by the talk around carbon, especially because my touch shots were (and still are) my weakness and people talk a lot about carbon being "catapulty" and engaging when you don't need it to.

After a lot of research I decided to try a CNF (cellulose nanofibre) blade and it has been amazing. Great feel close to the table, you never get more power than you expect and has a lot more gears than the 5-ply. The extra power has probably even helped my forehand as I have had to do everything properly in order to contain the extra power.

It's even cheap to try as you can get a Stuor CNF for around $35 USD if you don't want to splash out on a BTY right away.