SDC Handmade Blades

[hipnotic]

Sergio if you want I can test for you.

Thanks Felipe, I will consider you.

 

[hipnotic]

More quarantine experiments.

This is my second bamboo core blade, only 5mm thick so it's very flexible (as the frequency reading suggests). Very high throw blade, I thought it would be a lot slower than it really is.

Composition: Limba / Koto / Bamboo / Koto / Limba
Weight: 85.8g
Thickness: 5mm
Freq.: 925 Hz
Balance: 3.3cm (medium)

 

[SofaChamp]

Love the pictures, really gives that proper bamboo feeling.

 

[hipnotic]

Love the pictures, really gives that proper bamboo feeling.

Too bad it's fake bamboo

 

[SofaChamp]

Too bad it's fake bamboo

Haha, didn't even notice that when I first looked at the pictures. I wonder if you purposefully went to someone's house where there was fake bamboo for the photo shoot...

Hoe does it play? I imagine it to be extremely 'catapulty', best paired with hard rubbers?

 

[hipnotic]

Haha, didn't even notice that when I first looked at the pictures. I wonder if you purposefully went to someone's house where there was fake bamboo for the photo shoot...

Hoe does it play? I imagine it to be extremely 'catapulty', best paired with hard rubbers?

I did! But it was my parents house so I didn't commit any crime

Basically it plays like you described. Very catapulty, very high throw, very flexible. But it does have that slightly hollow feel of very thin blades like the all around classic. Harder rubbers are probably better for this blades, yes.

 

[hipnotic]

Very interesting blade this one. It was born as an experiment and the result was good, it now belongs to a very good player.

Composition: Black Walnut / Ayous / A-C / Kiri / A-C / Ayous / Black Walnut
Thickness: 5.95 mm
Weight: 88.4 g
Freq.: 1442 Hz
Balance: 2.0 cm (Very Low)

 

[chintanmashroo]

Love the looks of this handle

Sent from my ONEPLUS A6010 using Tapatalk

 

[merlin el mago]

Love the looks of this handle

Sent from my ONEPLUS A6010 using Tapatalk

Me too.

 

[hipnotic]

Love the looks of this handle

Sent from my ONEPLUS A6010 using Tapatalk

Me too.

Thanks! This one was really popular.

 

[Ingo_Ger]

So after playing again with my main racket, I can share more insights with the asymmetric build from Sergio.
My main racket is a custom made 5-ply Western Red Cedar blade with a total thickness of 6mm.
I play Vega X on fh and Hexer Powergrip on bh.
Overall, my 6mm blade feels stiffer(!) in comparison to the blade from Sergio. This is something I somehow expected as the WRC blade is much thicker. It might be different if both sides would be "outer-style".
What I can tell though is that the blade from Sergio has the "typical" artificial fiber feeling. Throw angle is flat and you feel more "catapult" when you hit the ball hard. This is especially prominent on the side with the fiber directly beneath the outer verneer and the hard walnut.

 

[hipnotic]

So after playing again with my main racket, I can share more insights with the asymmetric build from Sergio.
My main racket is a custom made 5-ply Western Red Cedar blade with a total thickness of 6mm.
I play Vega X on fh and Hexer Powergrip on bh.
Overall, my 6mm blade feels stiffer(!) in comparison to the blade from Sergio. This is something I somehow expected as the WRC blade is much thicker. It might be different if both sides would be "outer-style".
What I can tell though is that the blade from Sergio has the "typical" artificial fiber feeling. Throw angle is flat and you feel more "catapult" when you hit the ball hard. This is especially prominent on the side with the fiber directly beneath the outer verneer and the hard walnut.

I recall you were curious to find how a thin blade would play, that's why you asked for such thin blades. So, even with the composite fibers, the blade isn't very stiff, as the frequency suggested. Moreover, Innegra is a fiber that adds less stiffness when compared to ALC or plain carbon. But what about the difference between the sides? I got to test an asymmetric blade I made for a team mate and I must say the difference was very noticeable with that one!

 

[Ingo_Ger]

Yeah, you're right and I really like the combination of "not too stiff but other playing characteristics from fiber blades". The difference was there, especially the sound was different!

 

[Ingo_Ger]

Now, after some time I think I might have found the right words to describe the differences of both sides:
I was able to play with the "inner" side without much adjustments on fh as well as bh.
For the "outer" side, I had to adjust more and bh was a little bit easier for me to play.
So there IS indeed a difference but I would rate them as "not that much but noticable".
All in all I liked the "inner" side more in the beginning but after some time I really liked the "outer" side too.
Right now, I would tend to go for a symmetric "inner" composition but I only can tell for sure after I have tested the other blade. Will try to test it next Wednesday. Wanted to get myself again "grounded" while playing at least two sessions with my main setup.

 

[hipnotic]

Now, after some time I think I might have found the right words to describe the differences of both sides:
I was able to play with the "inner" side without much adjustments on fh as well as bh.
For the "outer" side, I had to adjust more and bh was a little bit easier for me to play.
So there IS indeed a difference but I would rate them as "not that much but noticable".
All in all I liked the "inner" side more in the beginning but after some time I really liked the "outer" side too.
Right now, I would tend to go for a symmetric "inner" composition but I only can tell for sure after I have tested the other blade. Will try to test it next Wednesday. Wanted to get myself again "grounded" while playing at least two sessions with my main setup.

My thoughts are that the difference between sides grows as the blade increases in thickness. Your blade is quite thin so those differences aren't very noticeable. Also, I think that the core may play a big part in this. Maybe a kiri core would accentuate these differences more than an ayous core.

 

[Kuba Hajto]

My thoughts are that the difference between sides grows as the blade increases in thickness. Your blade is quite thin so those differences aren't very noticeable. Also, I think that the core may play a big part in this. Maybe a kiri core would accentuate these differences more than an ayous core.

How does having one inner fiber and one outer fiber layer influence overall blade stability?

 

[hipnotic]

How does having one inner fiber and one outer fiber layer influence overall blade stability?

Hajto, what do you mean by stability?

 

[Kuba Hajto]

Hajto, what do you mean by stability?

Doesn't one side affect the other? If I recall correctly yogi was telling the story that Xiom had to triple the ALC side of IceCream so that ZLC is not disturbed. It's not the same principle since here, the placement of composite is variable not the composite itself, but this also should affect blade flex, no?

 

[hipnotic]

Doesn't one side affect the other? If I recall correctly yogi was telling the story that Xiom had to triple the ALC side of IceCream so that ZLC is not disturbed. It's not the same principle since here, the placement of composite is variable not the composite itself, but this also should affect blade flex, no?

Well, I don't know how Xiom makes their blades but I see no reason for that to happen. It seems to me more like a marketing gimmick to justify the cost of the blade. I used different composites here too, one side is inner Innegra-Carbon and the other is outer Aramid-Carbon and I didn't have to change anything in the building process. But I do always glue 2 layers at a time to have better control of the process, maybe that's the reason.

 

[hipnotic]

Custom order for a forum member, with a cool looking handle!

Composition: Black Limba / Ayous / Innegra-Carbon / Ayous / Innegra-Carbon / Ayous / Black Limba
Thickness: 5.75mm
Weight: 83g
Freq.: 1330 Hz
Balance: 2.9cm (low/med)