SDC Handmade Blades - Some Impressions / Short Review

[Magic_M]

I think, most of the forum-members here have already noticed, that there is a manufacturer in Portugal,
who offers really nice looking custom made blades for sale:
https://www.tabletennisdaily.com/forum/showthread.php?19018-SDC-Handmade-Blades

From the first moment I liked the look of his blades and it was really interesting to watch,
how Sérgio increased his skills during the last 1-2 years. But I did not only followed his thread,
I also bought 2 blades from him in the past and both blades played very well.

Some days ago Sérgio contacted me and asked me, if I would be interested in testing three other blades.
And although the halls are still closed in my town, I agreed, because I have a table tennis table + robot in my cellar.

So he sent me:

1) his first composite blade with Innegra S Carbon (Framiré - IC - Framiré - Kiri)
2) his second Innegra blade, with composite over the core (Limba - Limba - IC - Ayous)
3) a kind of remake of the Butterfly Revoldia (Koto - "Magic Fairy Dust" - Ayous - Kiri)



From the first look I liked each of these blades,
but especially the design of the Innegra Inner and the handle shape of the "Revoldia".

Pure design of the blade: Innegra Inner > "Revoldia" > Innegra Outer

I have tested all blades with the same rubber-combination:
T05 in 2,1 mm on forehand and T05 Hard in 1,9 mm on backhand, but also switched between FH and BH.

From the first bouncing-test I felt more vibrations on the Innegra blades
and also a harder feeling, compared with the Revoldia-Remake.
Together with the straight handle (which I prefer) I was sure, that the Revoldia would be my favourite.

First Impressions: "Revoldia" > Innegra Outer > Innegra Inner

With the robot I started some exercises with backspin balls, trying to attack them with backhand and later with forehand.
To my surprise I felt no bad vibrations with the Innegra blades, in opposite to the first impressions from bouncing the ball.
I was able to feel the ball very well, but without too much vibrations.
Opening from backspin was easy with both blades, but not as easy as with the "Revoldia".
The reason for this is the lower curve of the Innegra blades.
This needs some time to adjust, but should be possible with a few training-sessions and the right rubbers.

Opening from Backspin: Revoldia > Innegra Inner > Innegra Outer

After these first exercises I was sure, that the "Revoldia" would become my favourite blade.
The feeling of the blade was good, opening from backspin was very easy and the handle fits very good to my hand.
I have already tested the original Butterfly Revoldia and this Revoldia Remake is not a 1:1 copy,
but for me it is as good as the original.

On the other side the Innegra Inner feels and sounds a bit "hollow",
while the Innegra Outer felt a bit too direct in these exercises.

In the next 2 days I tested the blades with some topspin (counterspin) exercises,
for example 2 balls on backhand (with different amount of spin) + 2 balls on forehand.
This was the session, which changed my thoughts completely,
because the Innegra blades had much better control than the "Revoldia".
I had the same problems with the original Revoldia, which is also very sensitive to incoming spin,
especially if the opponent attacks with fast and hard topspin.

The Innegra Inner was better than the "Revoldia" in this point, but still had this "hollow" sound and feeling.

The clear winner of this session was the Innegra Outer blade.
Especially with the T05 Hard I was able to attack any topspin without loosing control.
The feeling was still very direct, but this was not negative in this exercise.
The feeling was crispier than most Limba-ALC outer blades (Framiré is from the same "family" like Limba).
The Innegra Outer blade really shines in this part of the game.

Counterspin / Block / Smashing: Innegra Outer > Innegra Inner >> "Revoldia"

I planned to continue my tests with Dignics 05 (instead of Tenergy 05) on the Innegra Outer,
but unfortunately my robot got a defect and I am still waiting for the repair.
Therefore I had to stop the test and already shipped the blades to another tester.

Of course this was not a "real" test in a "real" match, but the results were clear enough for me.
At the end of my test I ordered 2 Innegra Outer blades, my third and fourth SDC blade.

 

[Ingo_Ger]

Here is the right thread...
Copied from the SDC main thread:
So, here are my impressions after about 2 hours of training yesterday.
I didn't know which blade to start with, so I just grabbed one without my glasses on. I am practically blind without them and took the "outer" model.
Just to be clear: I can understand, why Magic_M ordered two of them.
I can confirm a lot of what Magic_M has written, some not.
First of all, the wood is "classic" synthetic fibre as expected, i.e. it vibrates little, is quite stiff and has a rather flat throw compared to blades without fiber. I deliberately chose my old Omega V Tour as my fh, as it was too "tedious" on my allwood blade. Many people report that harder rubbers that are optimized for rotation are more suitable for stiff fiber reinforced blades. The combination fits together really well and I had no problems at all to change from my allwood blade combination to the innegra outer.
One thing was also remarkable: It didn't really matter what kind spin was in the ball, actively played strokes "overpowered" almost everything. This also fits to the assessment of Magic_M. Blocking was also very good and what really surprised me was the control in the "short-short" and in the serve receive.
I have also tried very stiff blades like Viscaria, Maze, Zhang Jike Super ZLC or the single layer Hinoki woods from Tibhar. There I always had the feeling that I could simply "overpower" every spin and especially the topspin on underspin was really easy. My problem with such stiff blades was the loss of control in the passive and short game and the feeling of not being able to create enough rotation myself. Well, the feeling could have been wrong, with the Innegra-Outer our number 2 had a lot of problems with my serves.
But unlike Magic_M, I did not feel that the Innegra-Outer was more directly than my memory of the Maze. On the contrary, for me it was a bit more "indirect" and had above all much less catapult especially compared to a Zhang Jike and Viscaria. I have the feeling that exactly this "less" helps me with the short-short and therefore the throw does not become criminally flat.
I also deliberately did not reread the measured frequency of the in blade order not to be biased. Sergio measured 1290Hz, which confirms my impressions of the wood in retrospect. A Viscaria and also Maze are more likely to be found in 1400Hz regions and accordingly the Innegra-Outer is less stiff and slower.
All in all, such a wood would be a bestseller under a certain "brand" in my opinion, with appropriate marketing by player sponsoring. (Although the wood might be too slow for professionals)

 

[Ingo_Ger]

Had the opportunity last week to test the Innegra-inner again with Omega V Tour on VH and Hexer Powergrip on RH. All in all I can only quote Magic_M:

On the other side the Innegra Inner feels and sounds a bit "hollow",
while the Innegra Outer felt a bit too direct in these exercises.

I know exactly the feeling when I change from stiffer blades to more flexible ones. I associate this "hollow" feeling mainly with the stiffness of the blade.

The Innegra Inner was better than the "Revoldia" in this point, but still had this "hollow" sound and feeling.

The clear winner of this session was the Innegra Outer blade.
Especially with the T05 Hard I was able to attack any topspin without loosing control.
The feeling was still very direct, but this was not negative in this exercise.
The feeling was crispier than most Limba-ALC outer blades (Framiré is from the same "family" like Limba).
The Innegra Outer blade really shines in this part of the game.

I can also confirm that the hard Omega V Tour played better on the Innegra-Outer. On the other hand I really liked the Hexer Powergrip on the VH as well as on the RH on the Innegra-Inner.
The wood is definitely slower than an Innerforce ALC and also a Liu Shiwen, if you find one that is 5.8mm thick. The Innegra-inner reminds me very much of the Victas ZX Gear Fiber, speed and feel is very similar.
I have to say that a "hollow" feeling is not bad per se. I know it from myself, after a good half hour I got used to it and I notice the more control in many strokes.

 

[hipnotic]

That Innegra Inner was my first blade with this fiber and I didn't knew much about it at the time. I agree it is a little hollow, mostly because is slightly thin at 5.6mm. In later iterations I used a little thicker medial ply and the result is more solid, and better in my opinion.

 

[Ingo_Ger]

That Innegra Inner was my first blade with this fiber and I didn't knew much about it at the time. I agree it is a little hollow, mostly because is slightly thin at 5.6mm. In later iterations I used a little thicker medial ply and the result is more solid, and better in my opinion.

I would not say that the blade is "bad" or something. This hollow feeling vanishes within few hits and for me it's a matter of personal preferences. I remember when playing with my Cornilleau Hinotec All+ that this blade really played "hollow" when I was coming back from testing something stiffer. I also noticed the better controll especially when under pressure and serve receive. On the other hand, "overpowering" spin, either top or under, was harder.
So you have to choose, there is no free lunch.

 

[hipnotic]

I would not say that the blade is "bad" or something. This hollow feeling vanishes within few hits and for me it's a matter of personal preferences. I remember when playing with my Cornilleau Hinotec All+ that this blade really played "hollow" when I was coming back from testing something stiffer. I also noticed the better controll especially when under pressure and serve receive. On the other hand, "overpowering" spin, either top or under, was harder.
So you have to choose, there is no free lunch.

I get what you are saying. It's not necessarily bad and you adjust pretty easily to it. However, I prefer blades with a more solid feeling. The rubber choice is also important, I don't like harder rubbers in this type of blades but usually mid hard rubbers with a dynamic sponge work well.

Sent from my MAR-LX1A using Tapatalk

 

[Ingo_Ger]

I had ordered an own blade from Sergio, which is basically a Boll Spark clone with Innegra carbon and a thickness of about 5.4mm.
It actually plays like a slower, more flexible version of the Innegra-Carbon Outer with 5.8mm thickness.
Due to the lower stiffness the blade is correspondingly slower, more controlled and it has a higher throw on tangential shots.
On frontal shots the wood lacks the acceleration, but for me this meant that I was able to "go all in" without any problems, especially on the bh, without playing the ball uncontrolled everywhere it shouldn't go.
Compared to the Innegra-Carbon Outer with 5,8mm I noticed that I had to be more active in the shots to "overpower" the spin of the opponent. This was easier with the 5.8mm, especially with underspin balls, I could accelerate through them more easily.
The Innegra-Carbon Inner has a different feel. The stiffness is similar, but the outer fibre makes it easier for me to play with a rubber like my Omega V Tour. I had written that I found the rubber a bit too "tedious" on the inner.


I like the 5.4 especially on the RH, I just wonder if it wouldn't be more of a sidegrade instead of an upgrade if I would change from my current allwood. With the 5.8 I already noticed that my opponent had more problems getting my balls. I will probably try the 5.8 after next season with my allwood. I hope that by then I will have gained more consistency and feel for the ball and that I will be able to cope better with the speed.

 

[Ingo_Ger]

I have now also tried the "Revoldia". But I never got really warm with it, there was a lot of "miss or hit". I can't even say what didn't fit. Straight hits were OK, everything with a tangential hitting point didn't work at all... Psychologically it could be that Koto and me never got warm, my technique doesn't fit to the wood.

With the robot I started some exercises with backspin balls, trying to attack them with backhand and later with forehand.
To my surprise I felt no bad vibrations with the Innegra blades, in opposite to the first impressions from bouncing the ball.
I was able to feel the ball very well, but without too much vibrations.
Opening from backspin was easy with both blades, but not as easy as with the "Revoldia".
The reason for this is the lower curve of the Innegra blades.
This needs some time to adjust, but should be possible with a few training-sessions and the right rubbers.

Opening from Backspin: Revoldia > Innegra Inner > Innegra Outer

I did not play against a robot, but during practice and in a game I found the Innegra-Outer to be best against backspin.

In the next 2 days I tested the blades with some topspin (counterspin) exercises,
for example 2 balls on backhand (with different amount of spin) + 2 balls on forehand.
This was the session, which changed my thoughts completely,
because the Innegra blades had much better control than the "Revoldia".
I had the same problems with the original Revoldia, which is also very sensitive to incoming spin,
especially if the opponent attacks with fast and hard topspin.

The Innegra Inner was better than the "Revoldia" in this point, but still had this "hollow" sound and feeling.

The clear winner of this session was the Innegra Outer blade.
Especially with the T05 Hard I was able to attack any topspin without loosing control.
The feeling was still very direct, but this was not negative in this exercise.

I can confirm that. With the "Revoldia" I somehow always had the feeling that not me but the wood was playing with me. It felt similarly stiff as the Innegra-Outer, for me the vibrations of the Innegra-Outer had felt more pleasant. With the Revoldia it seemed as if there were really hardly any vibrations to be felt.
I can only guess, for me the Revoldia felt like the wood with the flattest throw on tangential shots. I always had to pull through "full", half-ass shots the blade somehow didn't like for me at least. Feeling was more in the direction of solid wood, the Innegra-Outer in the direction of synthetic fiber.
I'm a bit perplexed, I hit two great shots in the game, but I also hit 10 balls blind anywhere but not on the table.

 

[hipnotic]

I have now also tried the "Revoldia". But I never got really warm with it, there was a lot of "miss or hit". I can't even say what didn't fit. Straight hits were OK, everything with a tangential hitting point didn't work at all... Psychologically it could be that Koto and me never got warm, my technique doesn't fit to the wood.I did not play against a robot, but during practice and in a game I found the Innegra-Outer to be best against backspin.



I can confirm that. With the "Revoldia" I somehow always had the feeling that not me but the wood was playing with me. It felt similarly stiff as the Innegra-Outer, for me the vibrations of the Innegra-Outer had felt more pleasant. With the Revoldia it seemed as if there were really hardly any vibrations to be felt.
I can only guess, for me the Revoldia felt like the wood with the flattest throw on tangential shots. I always had to pull through "full", half-ass shots the blade somehow didn't like for me at least. Feeling was more in the direction of solid wood, the Innegra-Outer in the direction of synthetic fiber.
I'm a bit perplexed, I hit two great shots in the game, but I also hit 10 balls blind anywhere but not on the table.

Thanks for your impressions Ingo. I only made one training session with the "Revoldia" but I also felt it was a bit weird, I preferred the other two by a long shot.

 

[P1ngP0ng3r]

These blades sure look nice! The Innegra Inner sounds pretty decent and I like the layers , although personally I don't like white color handles.

 

[Sedis]

I've been trying out this blade for the last couple of weeks.
The Spec is:
Composition: Koto / A-C / Ayous / Kiri / Ayous / A-C / Ash
Handle: Thermo Ash + wood reclaimed from some kitchen cabinet door handles, possibly Oak
Weight: 82.2g
Thickness: ~5.6mm
Freq.: ~1400 Hz ( I measured it as slightly higher ~1435 Hz when I recieved it, I don't know if this is due to it settling down/drying or the acoustics where I measured)
Balance: 2.5cm (Low)

The idea behind this blade was to try and make something like the Donic OTC, but with a slightly harder touch on the back hand for short pips, like the Violin Carbon I am currently using. The handle shape was modeled on the most recent Xiom ST handles, but with a slightly deeper tang/finger rest.
The first thing I noticed upon picking up the blade is it is really good quality and feels really nice to hold, with no sharp edges, whereas most commercially available blades need a bit of sanding before they feel comfortable. It is also really nice to have my exact prefered handle shape.

I have tried the blade with my usual Andro Hexer PowerGrip and TSP Spectol combination and also with Victas V11 Extra and Spinlord Wyvern.

Despite being lighter than my OTC (86g) and Violin Carbon (88g) it is a touch faster than both. It is also noticeably harder feeling than both blades and has a lower, flatter throw.

This is a bit different to what I had anticipated, in some ways it is actually better, I really like it on the short pips side, it gives faster, more flat balls when hitting and I noticed my opponents putting a lot more into the net.

The downside is I find a little harder to control in the short game and I am less keen on the harder feeling on my forehand.
The feeling on both sides reminds me very much of the Xiom Ice Cream AZX, which I tried last year. I rejected the Xiom as it was too fast and hard feeling, however as the speed of this SDC is more in the range I am comfortable with, I find it much more manageable and the harder feeling is much less of an issue. It would be interesting to see if a slightly softer composite material than Aramid-Carbon on the FH would make a difference.

Overall I think it is a really nice blade, I don't think I have tried anything better for my game with short pips, although I still need more time to see if I can adjust to the overall harder feeling for my FH.

 

[Ingo_Ger]

Thanks to the Corona induced break of our league, I'm able to test these beauties a little earlier:


Limba-Innegra Carbon-Framire-Kiri
~5,9mm
~88g

 

[P1ngP0ng3r]

Said it before and saying it now again: truly beautiful handle!! Awesome looking blade.
Curiously looking forward to your review.

 

[Ingo_Ger]

OK, structure is slightly different:
Framiré-Innegra Carbon-Framiré-Kiri
Otherwise the wood plays very similar to the one I tried in the first half of the year. It is perhaps a touch stiffer and feels altogether more "compact" with slightly less palpable vibrations in the palm of the hand.
I didn't quite get along with the Vega X on the FH. Anyway, it confirms the principle that has crystallized for my style of play:
Harder and stiffer blades fit better for me with harder rubbers with less catapult and preferably wide and tight pimples. Softer and more flexible blades then exactly the other way round for softer rubbers or those with a higher catapult and thin pimples placed far apart.
On the BH I am a little bit torn. Hexer Powergrip was ok but b a tick too soft and indirect. On the blade with the Omega V Tour on FH it went a bit better, but I liked the Powergrip a bit better on my old wood as well. The one Powergrip was somehow more of a "dead one" and seemed to fall a little out of line anyway. The Omega V Tour just fits on the blade for me. I felt comfortable right away and especially the "overpowering" of the opponent's spin with active played shot was very easy.

Since we don't have any more games for the time being anyway, I will hopefully continue training in December with Omega V Tour on VH and Hexer Powergrip or Vega X on RH. (I'm right now leaning a little bit towards Hexe Powergrip)

 

[An0n]

Composition: Ash / Ash / Kiri / Ash / Ash
Weight: 83.1
Thickness: ~5.35mm
Head size: 158x152mm
Freq.: 1185 Hz
Balance: 3.4 cm (Med)




Here’s a little write up / comparison to my Violin of the blade Sérgio made me. I have been playing with it for a little over 2 months now on average for 2-3 hours a week I’d say. Unfortunately league play has been stopped due to covid but I did manage to play 2 matches with it. This week the government announced a new lockdown so practice is also canceled till at least the end of January, a good time to post my thoughts on the blade I think. I have been using the blade with FX-P on the backhand and tried both Hexer Powergrip SFX and Vega X on the fh. Had a little stint where I experimented with a softer rubber on the fh but went back to my trusty Vega X in the end (which I always used on my Violin).


When I contacted Sérgio I asked him for a blade as close to my violin as possible but with a slightly bigger headsize and an anatomical handle similar to a Gewo blade I have. As usual Sérgio delivered and the blade looks absolutely gorgeous on top of that.


Overall the transition between the Violin and the new blade was very easy and it didn’t take me long to adjust at all, there are a few small differences though. The main difference I noticed was that it wasn’t as bouncy as my Violin, both in the short game/service receive and with blocking. I often struggled with short and half long serves on my fh side but with this blade it just responds more predictable than I was used to and my receive game noticeably improved. Blocking with this blade also made me be a bit more active since the speed of blocked balls is a little lower than the Violin. I definitely try to counter loop more now where I sometimes used to just passively block.
On the other hand The top end speed of this blade is also slightly higher, especially when using bigger swings further from the table.
I assume the bigger headsize is actually the biggest contributor to most of the differences mentioned. Total setup is only a few grams heavier but it’s a bit more head heavy than the Violin which might also play a part.
Can’t really say I have felt much difference in flex or hardness even though some properties are not exactly the same. If anything the Violin might have a very slight amount more flex since I feel it produces a bit more arc but the difference is so small I can’t even say for certain.
Serves are pretty similar too, maybe slightly easier on the Violin because it’s balanced slightly more towards the handle.


The biggest upgrade however is the handle. It’s so much more comfortable than the narrow Nittaku handle. With my Violin I had the tendency to cramp up and squeeze the handle way too tight on long rallies, eventually that usually led to a mistake on my end. The anatomic handle made to spec of my Gewo Aruna Off really helps me relax my grip.


So overall very happy with the blade, beat a few players in practice that I consider better than me and don't think I've lost a game to people around or below my level with this blade. I have a lot of confidence in this setup and don't see any reason to switch anytime soon.
Once again, thanks Sérgio!

 

[hipnotic]

247 tabletennis just posted a review of a work I did for him, changing the damaged top ply of a DHS Long 5 from Limba to Ebony. Go check him out 🙂 - @247tabletennis

The link to the review: https://www.instagram.com/p/CVt7m4fBvl1/

And I'll post it here too for those that don't have Insta:

My review on DHS Hurricane Long 5x (ebony topply) blade:

Forehand: DHS Hurricane 3 (orange sponge) 40 2.1

Backhand: DHS Hurricane 8-80 37 2.1 and DHS Hurricane 3 38 2.1

All Hurricane rubbers used are being boosted.

My blade weights 92 grams. My Hurricane Long 5x got some splintering issue, so I sent my blade to @sdc_tt_blades to help me replace and change the top ply. The original top ply was Limba, but I wanted to test out this blade structure with ebony. DHS has actually produced a blade model called w968-5, which has Ebony as the top ply too! National players like Yu Heyi have even used this blade model in the 2017 Chinese National Games!

Forehand Topspin: the blade is feels harder, which forehand drive feels very solid. For topspin, the blade is a bit hard to control. A lot of the times, the ball ended up flying out out the table. But when I get used to that, the balls quality id quite high as it landed so deep on the table. The only slight disadvantage is that it’s hard to play against some soft and no spin balls.

Backhand topspin: the blade now feels so much more better than the original HL5x. With a more solid backhand, it gets more speed. But the timing has to be accurate, as I need to brush onto the ball and have a clean contact in order to control the trajectory of the ball.

Topspin against backspin: as the blade is a bit head-heavy, so lifting backspin feels easy, as you get more acceleration when you do the swing.

Serve: the blade is quite bouncy, so I think serves are not as spiny as before, but the advantage is that when doing some long serves down the line, the ball travels a bit more faster than usual.

Receive: the blade feels better for flicks. Pushes are not the best aspect of the blade, as the blade is quite bouncy, which results in a shorter dwell time.

So once again, a very big thanks to @sdc_tt_blades! He is just an awesome in making custom blades! And the materials he use has superior quality! The top ply feels smooth, it won’t splinter! So don’t forget to check out his website and his Instagram account!