T-Blades- homemade

[SlowPower]

Hello tabletennis friends!

I am a 42yo TT-player from Germany and i had been playing tabletennis in my youth but stopped at the age of 17. Then I came back to this great sport 2 years ago. So my gameplay is not alot better than rubbish but I have fun most of the time playing tt and get better slowly.
In the last 2 years I have tested lots of blades and rubbers.
Then I recently started to create my own blades because I was curious what I could do and how different compositions would behave. Now it is both fun to build and to test them. Meanwhile I made a blade for my trainer and another one for a friend and also sold my first blade which was a bit too slow for my game.

I am working fulltime and have a family, so one blade per week is a benchmark for me.
The handle is the most demanding part for me as I dont have professional equipment. Today my 10yo son helped me to cut some wood for the next handles and we had a lot of fun. He even asked me if he could build his own blade- I answered I am not sure as its not easy but now I think i should support him. Maybe this engages him to play more often.

Here are my first 2 blades (ive made 12 so far)- I will have to add the frequencies later as some blades are still in use from time to time and I have to remove the rubbers first.

The name "T-blades" comes from my 2nd first name starting with a "T".

Nr.1

Limba-Basalt-Abachi-Kiri-Abachi-Basalt-Limba, 5,9mm
Inner layers glued with white wood glue (water resistant) and the rest glued with epoxy.
Smaller handle (cherry, nut and pear) as I like to play with grip tape. It is a bit heavy at ~90g so I then built...

Nr.2
Limba-Basalt-Abachi-Kiri-Abachi-Limba as before but selected less dense veneers and used a little less glue- 5,7mm.
I built a new handle recently because it had a handle made from mdf first and that led to a mushy feeling overall.
New one is made of abach and louro preto which has a brighter color on the edges (sapwood). The louro preto has a very rough surface so its very promising to have good grip and sweet absorption even without tape.
This is 83g now but I didnt play it with the new handle (and I cant till January due to an injury)

I will post more tomorrow- good night!

 

[SlowPower]

Here are my blades Nr. 3 and Nr.4.

Nr.3
Limba-Abachi-Polypropilene+paper fiber-Kiri-PP+Paper-Abachi-Limba
Konvex handle is made of padouk and later changed to FL.
This is a very interesting blade and was my favourite for a couple of weeks.
It became a bit heavy again at 90/91g, so I built

Nr..4
Limba-Abachi-Polypropilene+paper fiber-Kiri-PP+Paper-Abachi-Koto
Instead of 3mm I took a 2,5mm kiri core and koto for a crisper bh. Then again used a little less glue and experimented with less hardener to make it more flexy and softer. Result was a 83g blade which I didnt like at all. It plays very dampening and slow, almost like a balsa blade so I returned to Nr4 immediately and played it a few weeks. This has a very unique feeling and with the K3 on the FH it is a beast but very forgiving. Then I tryed short pimples on the bh and the K3 changed its face- my fh stopped working so I tried different setups again.
SP on Nr 1 is a lot better but a bit fast overall.

 

[SlowPower]

Nr.5 is an experimental blade. I tryed to have a slower bh for long pimples and gave it to a tt friend of another club to test. Its ALL speed was too slow for him and bh had bad control for him so he will give it back and I will try it with sp as soon as my injury is cured.
Its Padouk-Basalt-Koto-Kiri-PP+paper fiber-Abachi-Koto and about 87g.

 

[Dominikk85]

Nice work.

 

[SlowPower]

Thank you!

Here is Nr. 6 which is a blade with DEF size and approximately all- speed. Its for a team-mate.
Composition is kiri-poplar-kiri-PP fiber-kiri-poplar-kiri.
The backhand is sealed with epoxy to harden it for the use with LP. The FH side is lacquered 3 times to make it playable because kiri is way to soft without.
Its 87g and the FL handle is made from thuja tree which a colleague has cut in his garden.

It hasnt been played yet so i am curious what the findings of my team-mate will be!
Nr. 7 is the same as I started to make 2 identical blades at once just in case its the one to settle on (which isnt very likely for my EJ kid in me ^^)

 

[SlowPower]

And here come Nr. 8 and 9 which are my actual personal blades.
I wanted to try the SP Spinfire from Der Materialspezialist which I got used but as good as new in the cybershape shape, so I decided to make a blade for the rubber.
Composition is Black Limba-Basalt-Zirbelkiefer-Kiri-Basalt-Zirbelkiefer- Black Limba. 5,7/5,8mm.
Zirbelkiefer is some kind of pine I guess and one of the lightest european woods available.
It should be similar to spruce but way more expensive and a little lighter as I mentioned above.
I use the outer side for my pimples backhand and the inner for my forehand.
Handles are from massive ebony and stripes are made of abachi.
They are both 90g but the handle is 28/29g alone so the balance is really good despite being a cybershapy.
Frequencies around 1250 so All+ speed maybe. But very stable due to the basalt fiber, no strong vibrations and a little bounce on harder shots (from the pine layer I guess). These blades have mainly spin and control. The black limba is a little lighter and softer then the normal limba I have so it might help in terms of spin and ease of play.
But as you have a 90g racket with top heavy rubbers in your hand there is also plenty of speed if needed (at least enough for my level).
So there is everything I need and I really might settle on these for some time (good I made 2 of them).
For now I am really impressed.

 

[SlowPower]

Nr. 10 and 11 for my trainer.
They havent been used yet.
She said she needs a 2nd blade in case it fits her game, so I made 2 at the same time from the same pieces of wood, same glue.
You hear a small difference when bouncing the ball, although they are both 83g (0,5g difference).
I hope the difference with rubbers wint be too big. For sure they are smaller than if I had to make the 2nd one a few weaks later.
They are Limba-Basalt-Zirbelkiefer-Kiri-Anegre-Basalt- Black Limba.
Frequencies around 1250hz.
I used 2,5mm Kiri core and only epoxy- despite using this relatively thin core its rather stiff.
The handle of the blade on the right side isnt oiled yet, so it shows a different color. (Its from nut and pear)

 

[SlowPower]

So this is Nr.12 and my last one so far- I skipped 2 early cybershapes because they are ugly and a few failed blades ;-).

This is a unique blade simply because I had no more material to make a 2nd one.

I had some 220g carbon fibre left from my RC airplanes I had 20 years ago and this was enough for just one side of the blade.
Further on I had a damn heavy Kiri core with over 50g so I figured out this construction (I think there are other constructions like this).

Its 1mm cypress-basalt-kiri-carbon-1mm cypress.
I think there are other constructions like this with hinoki and carbon on both sides, so it isnt anything new.
But this is only 5,5mm and around 1400hz, 85g.
Id say this is stiffer than my 83g viscaria but not totally dead.
I am not happy with the handle as the kiri is to soft and brakes away easily while sanding. I will avoid kiri for the outer veneer of handles in the future.

I will give it to a team-mate for testing who likes fast and lightweight blades.

The next blade will be the one for my son- he wants a cybershapy with black limba and a handle like Nr.10/11. I will reduce the head size for him by a few mm. We already cut the veneers and will go on tomorrow.

So I ran out of stuff for now and it will take some time to post new blades.

I will be happy for every comment/ suggestion to improve or anything else and will try to answer questions though I think I cant add much of knowledge as we have @hipnotic and @CCBladecraft here ;-)

 

[CCBladecraft]

Looks like you’re doing awesome! If you wanna talk more about if there’s parts of the making process you’re finding difficult then I’m sure you could get a few tips, but as far as the end result there’s not much to say other than, well done! Especially the handle on #6 from the bottom, thats cool the way the growth rings look.

 

[SlowPower]

Good morning and thank you.
Thats a great compliment for me!

I think I habe a few things to discuss and will come back to this later after work 👍

 

[hipnotic]

I try to avoid Kiri or Balsa altogether for handles, but if I absolutely have to, then I only use kiri on the bottom layer of an handle, definitely no Balsa.

I like how you use a dark piece of wood on the bottom of the handle, is that for looks or balance? or both?

 

[Choosikick]

I try to avoid Kiri or Balsa altogether for handles, but if I absolutely have to, then I only use kiri on the bottom layer of an handle, definitely no Balsa.

I like how you use a dark piece of wood on the bottom of the handle, is that for looks or balance? or both?

I noticed this too and wanted to ask, but you beat me to it.

 

[Choosikick]

The last handle looks beautiful, but it seems to me from the photo that you varnished it. I tried varnished handles and didn’t like it - it’s slippery, and it doesn’t absorb sweat.

 

[SlowPower]

I

Looks like you’re doing awesome! If you wanna talk more about if there’s parts of the making process you’re finding difficult then I’m sure you could get a few tips, but as far as the end result there’s not much to say other than, well done! Especially the handle on #6 from the bottom, thats cool the way the growth rings look.

Hello again!
There are two things I am unsure about and always testing on.
1. How much glue to use. I have the feeling that I should use more glue but the blades would become heavier and I am struggling with the weights anyway. I use around 5g for every layer. Whithout fiber I can use less, with fiber I need a little more. But I think for optimal contact I should use more as I am always on the lower limit and I had two blades where the layers didnt stick properly.
The area is 0,047m2.
I also have the feeling that I need more of the white wood glue than I need epoxy and I am not sure how much water gets out when drying (epoxy weight stays the same for sure).

2. Its also about the weight. What is your prefered weight of the handles? Mine vary between 20 and 30g but they are always hollow as they would be too heavy without hollowing them out especially when using darker, dense wood. Thats why I tryed to use kiri before.
I think abachi might be a good compromise and than refine by adding some tonewood?

I know the weight of the handle should vary along the intended use. A blade for ox pimples needs a lighter handle and so on.

But what is a good benchmark and how to achieve without hollowing them?

 

[Choosikick]

Excellent results are obtained with polyurethane glue. It adds very little weight, and is also very technologically advanced and the connection is strong and water-resistant. Normal handle weight is 13-16 grams, but more is possible if the weight of the blade allows. The handles are also hollow. For handles we use kiri, ayus, pine and sipo.

 

[SlowPower]

I try to avoid Kiri or Balsa altogether for handles, but if I absolutely have to, then I only use kiri on the bottom layer of an handle, definitely no Balsa.

I like how you use a dark piece of wood on the bottom of the handle, is that for looks or balance? or both?

Well it turned out that weight balance is a nice side effect and I also like it in terms of design, but the answer is pure efficiency.
I can buy 50cm long kiri wood or 100cm.
So either I get 1 or 3 cores out when cutting to 28cm.
When cutting to 25cm I get 2 or 4 cores and have to add the missing part 😁

 

[SlowPower]

The last handle looks beautiful, but it seems to me from the photo that you varnished it. I tried varnished handles and didn’t like it - it’s slippery, and it doesn’t absorb sweat.

I only use olive oil for the handles. This brings out the true colors of the wood what I like alot.
And I played quite some time with these handles and my experience is that sweat still goes in and out- no slipping effect.

 

[Choosikick]

I only use olive oil for the handles. This brings out the true colors of the wood what I like alot.
And I played quite some time with these handles and my experience is that sweat still goes in and out- no slipping effect.

I also coat the handles with olive oil and it works well. I just saw a shine in the photo that looked like varnish to me.

 

[SlowPower]

Excellent results are obtained with polyurethane glue. It adds very little weight, and is also very technologically advanced and the connection is strong and water-resistant. Normal handle weight is 13-16 grams. The handles are also hollow. For handles we use kiri, pine and sipo.

Wow, 13-16g means I have to save 50%!
I had a handle that thin I could easily bend the surface down with a fingertip.
So my blades usually come out at 62-70g for normal headsize without the handle mounted- with the weight you mentioned the resulting blades are even at the lower end of the weight skala I think.
Do you use that glue also for fiber reinforced layers?

I have this glue for the handles and the layers without fiber:

PRO 30D Holzleim D3 | Soudal

www.soudal.de

 

[SlowPower]

I also coat the handles with olive oil and it works well. I just saw a shine in the photo that looked like varnish to me.

The bright sun was shining trough the window and I just applied the oil, that may be the reason. Also the padouk becomes this shining look by using oil.