Questions about hardwood blades from an equipment junkie

[greenbeanmachine]

I have some questions for people who have tried hardwood blades about how to compare them, and which ones you prefer.

I started as a jpen player and used 1-ply hinoki, but I have switched to cpen + RPB and I think 5-ply hardwood suits this style better. I've been experimenting with a few blades, and I have so far really enjoyed

- Yasaka Ma Lin Extra Offensive
- Stiga Rosewood NCT V
- Stiga Arctic Wood
- Stiga Dynasty Carbon (I know it has carbon but I do enjoy it and think it plays similarly to other 5-ply hardwood blades)

First of all, are there any other 5-ply blades you would recommend trying? I haven't yet tried Ebenholz NCT V, Energy Wood, Intensity, Nostalgic, etc and I'm curious how they compare. Rosewood is my favorite so far, and I like it because of its versatility -- you can hit hard with it, it's great for looping, and the feeling to be able to play drop shots / close to the net is incredible. Would Ebenholz / other ebony blades have the same characteristics? What about wenge, or limba?

Also, how do the above blades compare to Rosewood NCT VII, Ebenholz NCT VII, Clipper, and other 7-ply wood blades? In particular I am interested in the difference between Rosewood NCT V and Rosewood NCT VII. I've also heard that the Clipper is very popular and am wondering how it compares to blades with the 5-ply hardwood construction. And in general, what is the difference between 5-ply and 7-ply?

Any thoughts or information you have would be appreciated!

 

[Wakkibatty]

There's actually a massive lot of information required to answer all those those questions you've asked sorry.

I somewhat suspect you won't be able to get a straight answer to most of your questions, as the playing characteristics of hardwood blades are a very subjective thing.

To be honest, the best way to address all these questions at once is probably for you to get comfortable using and referring to the Janka hardness scale for wood.

While rubbers use various Shore scales to measure hardness of a material, when it comes to the hardness of wood, you use what's called the Janka scale. (Same principle as the shore hardness scale, just measured in kilonewtons. (kN)

Each species of wood has its own averaged Janka hardness score, which lets you know how hard a wood is. The higher the Janka score, the harder the wood is. The whole concept is explained brilliantly here: https://www.wood-database.com/wood-articles/janka-hardness/

Once you understand how Janka works, comparing the hardness of the outer wood of different blades becomes a snap.

Limba for example is a mid density outer wood, with a soft-ish playing feel. It's Janka score is 2.9 kN. (https://www.wood-database.com/limba/)

Now compare that with your typical outers on an Ebenholtz. All true ebony woods are extremely hard, and while I suspect the Ebenholtz is actually made with Katalox (i.e.: Mexican ebony... which isn't technically an ebony at all) it still plays like ebony would due to its hardness (true ebony is typically a smaller tree so it's almost impossible to find a single piece big enough to make a blade from. Traditional ebony (Ceylon ebony) is also very hard to acquire now and horrendously expensive, much like Rosewood).

The Janka score of ebony species can vary a lot but the Janka score for Katalox is 16.2 kN, which is just crazy hard. To put that score in perspective, the Janka for koto is 4.2kN, for black Walnut it's 4.4, and for English walnut it's 5.4 kN.

English walnut is generally considered a pretty hard outer for a blade, but ebony / katalox is three times harder.

Once you try some of these hardwood blades you mention, I recommend you ask what species the wood is, and then look up it's Janka score.

Over time you will start to get a feeling for how playing feel changes as Janka hardness increases. Eventually you will be able to accurately Intuit how any one particular outer wood will play, simply by looking up its Janka score.

I appreciate this is not exactly the information you asked for, but it's the best way I can think of to guide you towards being able to find the info you are seeking. To cover off half the subjects you've raised any other way would literally take hours sorry, and it would still all be subjective personal opinion for the most part.

Hope this all helps -- good luck with it.☺️

 

[netdriver]

yasaka goiabao 5 is the only hardwood blade i owned and i loved it a lot more than other blades ive used

it has its own set of flaws (weight, bouncy in short game, rpb is not as good as koto outer layer blades, need fast arm swing to get the most out of it) but i still find it a very comfortable blade to use provided that you use the right rubber for it bc its one very choosy blade

 

[Tiz]

The Carbonado 45 is carbon but plays like a 5 ply with a bit more power and less vibration. I have the Stiga Arctic Wood, I like the way it plays but IMHO it vibrates a little too much, I find it distracting.