What blade is this?

[UpSideDownCarl]

Alright. So assuming that it is just a old design, what are all the dhs or nittaku 5w ma long blades? It must be among those.

In looking for images of old handle designs for blades before Ma Long settled on that crescent shape on his handle, it is hard to find anything but blades with that crescent shape. And since the print on the blade face has been worn away (the blade is pretty old and banged up) it will be hard to tell what it is if you don't look at the handle. The handle still might not tell you more than whether it is DHS or Nittaku/DHS.

It is also possible that it was a prototype of one of the blades ML was trying in that period that never got to market. There were a bunch of those.

Still, if it is beat up and old like that, the only thing that really matters is whether your friend likes how the blade plays. Which blade it is makes no difference.

Can you tell if there are carbon plies or not? If there are carbon plies, are they directly under the top ply or are the carbon plies next to the core with two layers of wood on top? (inner fiber or outer fiber -- or all wood).

Other things you could do is measure the head size.

 

[Michael Zhuang]

Yeah when I looked at it, it didn't appear to have carbon layers in it. But it was pretty beat up, so it was a little hard to see. But i'm fairly sure it has no carbon in it, hence 5w blade.

 

[DukeGaGa]

https://a.aliexpress.com/_mO2Z7Rw
i did come across this which sort of looks similar. Could it be just some pre-made blade?

Seems to play too good for premade, and he said he paid $80 for it used.

All the nittaku blades ive seen seem to have something on the blade head. This has nothing.

Yep, that's it, mystery solved. It's the DHS 6002 six star paddle's blade lol

Haven't found the exact picture, but here's a DHS 6006 six star paddle

6006 is Ch.pen, 6002 is flared.

And looks like your friend overpaid for this blade, a brand new one with rubbers costs about $50.

P.S. could also have been a five star paddle.

 

[Michael Zhuang]

Wow nice find. That is exactly the same design pattern on friend's blade, just swap the wang hao photo for ma long.

Well, kinda feel bad for my friend for paying $80 for a used pre-made blade that didn't even come with the rubbers. Maybe the seller just used the ma long photo to trick people into thinking its some HL5 variant. Most people don't even know the true name of HL5, and just call it "ma long blade". You could easily trick people just by showing the handle butt into thinking its a very advanced blade. I honestly thought it was a pretty high end blade, and thought it plays pretty well too.

 

[Michael Zhuang]

I think he said he bought it from a local sports shop (probably sells some TT and badminton gear). I dunno if they sports shop knew what they had or if they thought they were selling a HL5 too.

 

[Michael Zhuang]

Just to add to the story, this is the blade before i sealed it for him. The edges look like they were chewed by a dog, and its covered with filth. I cannot imagine what you must do to make a blade look like this. And this is the good side. The other side is far worse.

Took me 3 days to clean it up for sealing

Imagine paying $80 for this thinking its ma long's blade.

 

[UpSideDownCarl]

Just to add to the story, this is the blade before i sealed it for him. The edges look like they were chewed by a dog, and its covered with filth. I cannot imagine what you must do to make a blade look like this. And this is the good side. The other side is far worse.

Took me 3 days to clean it up for sealing

Imagine paying $80 for this thinking its ma long's blade.

Yeah. That is really a question to ask. I don't care what blade it is, if it is in that condition, from a monetary standpoint, it is not worth more that $1-$2. However, if he likes the blade and it plays well for him, does he really need to know he got taken advantage of?