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In this topic I will show and talk about some of the handcrafted blades I have made. I am sharing these with you guys, hoping to receive some feedback and start an interesting discussion about custom blades. I'm not sure if I'll have enough time to post them all and in what format, but I will start with the ones that are the most interesting to me and see where this topic goes.
About me
I'm a civil engineer/architect from Belgium. Besides my practice, I design and build furniture, mostly made out of wood. With several carpenters and furniture builders, you can say that the interest in woodworking runs in the family. This background in engineering, architecture and woodworking collided with my love for table tennis and resulted in the many handcrafted blades I have made over the years.
More about this later. Now for some pictures!
This blade is part of a series around variations to the classic 5-ply limba+ayous composition. This composition is found in many blades that people have used or still use after many years. Every brand has at least 1 model with this composition in its range. Having played with many of these ayous/limba blades myself, I found this an interesting starting point for future experiments and improvements. I want to see what happens when I add harder, stiffer and heavier woods into this mix and hope to find more offensive compositions that have the same feel and control of the ‘original’. More about this later.
In the picture is shown the second version of this blade (a bit thicker and heavier than the first copy that I rated ALL+). Receiving positive feedback on both these blades, makes it interesting for me to try some more small tweaking and finetuning.
Data sheet
Composition : 5
Materials : ayous, limba, walnut
Speed : OFF-
Weight : 87g
This blade was the result in a search for a lightweight blade that has the feel and linearity of a classic all wood blade. The use of balsa for the core makes it possible to make very light blades, but these behave quite different than what most players are used to. With this composition, I feel that I have made a blade that combines the good factors of all-wood/balsa/carbon, and that some of the ‘negative’ side effects of these blades cancel eachother out.
This is my current blade for competition. Although I’m used to playing with heavier all-wood blades (like osp virtuoso, stiga clipper, other handmade blades, …), I switched to this because the weight and balance are very pleasant (even with heavy rubbers), it plays very similar to what I’m used to and it has this upper gear that sometimes lacks in all-wood blades. The blade weighs 68g, but with a less heavy handle, this can probably drop down to around 60g.
Data sheet
Composition : 3+2
Materials : balsa, carbon, cedar
Speed : OFF-/OFF
Weight : 68g
This blade is my first OFF+ blade. I made this blade stiffer and more topheavy than my usual blades, to make it extra offensive. By using some lightweight woods I have managed to keep the weight below 90grams, but retain a very solid feeling.
The blade works best in mid to far distance from the table, due to the speed and solid feel. The thin layers of soft woods add some damping to make it controllable close to the table and make flat hitting easy. Nonetheless, this is still a fast blade, that worked best for me when taking a step back from the table.
Data sheet
Composition : 7+2
Materials : balsa, ayous, carbon, cedar, limba
Speed : OFF+
Weight : 88g
About me
I'm a civil engineer/architect from Belgium. Besides my practice, I design and build furniture, mostly made out of wood. With several carpenters and furniture builders, you can say that the interest in woodworking runs in the family. This background in engineering, architecture and woodworking collided with my love for table tennis and resulted in the many handcrafted blades I have made over the years.
More about this later. Now for some pictures!
This blade is part of a series around variations to the classic 5-ply limba+ayous composition. This composition is found in many blades that people have used or still use after many years. Every brand has at least 1 model with this composition in its range. Having played with many of these ayous/limba blades myself, I found this an interesting starting point for future experiments and improvements. I want to see what happens when I add harder, stiffer and heavier woods into this mix and hope to find more offensive compositions that have the same feel and control of the ‘original’. More about this later.
In the picture is shown the second version of this blade (a bit thicker and heavier than the first copy that I rated ALL+). Receiving positive feedback on both these blades, makes it interesting for me to try some more small tweaking and finetuning.
Data sheet
Composition : 5
Materials : ayous, limba, walnut
Speed : OFF-
Weight : 87g
This blade was the result in a search for a lightweight blade that has the feel and linearity of a classic all wood blade. The use of balsa for the core makes it possible to make very light blades, but these behave quite different than what most players are used to. With this composition, I feel that I have made a blade that combines the good factors of all-wood/balsa/carbon, and that some of the ‘negative’ side effects of these blades cancel eachother out.
This is my current blade for competition. Although I’m used to playing with heavier all-wood blades (like osp virtuoso, stiga clipper, other handmade blades, …), I switched to this because the weight and balance are very pleasant (even with heavy rubbers), it plays very similar to what I’m used to and it has this upper gear that sometimes lacks in all-wood blades. The blade weighs 68g, but with a less heavy handle, this can probably drop down to around 60g.
Data sheet
Composition : 3+2
Materials : balsa, carbon, cedar
Speed : OFF-/OFF
Weight : 68g
This blade is my first OFF+ blade. I made this blade stiffer and more topheavy than my usual blades, to make it extra offensive. By using some lightweight woods I have managed to keep the weight below 90grams, but retain a very solid feeling.
The blade works best in mid to far distance from the table, due to the speed and solid feel. The thin layers of soft woods add some damping to make it controllable close to the table and make flat hitting easy. Nonetheless, this is still a fast blade, that worked best for me when taking a step back from the table.
Data sheet
Composition : 7+2
Materials : balsa, ayous, carbon, cedar, limba
Speed : OFF+
Weight : 88g
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