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Darker Speed 90 FL blades back in OOAK Shop
https://ooakforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=27817
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Author:  haggisv [ 03 May 2015, 14:36 ]
Post subject:  Darker Speed 90 FL blades back in OOAK Shop

As some of you probably know already, the Speed 90 (1-ply Kiso Hinoki) blade was discontinued (among others) by Darker in 2014, due to the severe shortage of Kiso Hinoki (only found in Japan), and therefore the very high cost the materials. As this is no doubt their most famous blade, we managed to convince them to make one final lot for us, which we've just received. Unfortunately they sold it at a much inflated price, due to their high cost of materials (they said), so we've had to increase the price as well. :( You can find it here: Darker Speed 90.
Still cheap compared to some of the recent Butterfly blades of course. :o :lol: :lol: :lol:

Image

Author:  iskandar taib [ 06 May 2015, 00:43 ]
Post subject:  Re: Last lot of Darker Speed 90 FL blades in OOAK Shop



One wonders if there's some sort of equivalent of appellation d'origine controlee (AOC) when it comes to Kiso hinoki. As you know, wine and cheese makers get really huffy when they hear about "Champagne" from California or "Burgundy" from Argentina or "Brie" from Queensland. I'm very, very, very sure the wood that goes into Darker blades really does come from the Kiso region in Japan, but you wonder about the "Kiso hinoki" blades being made in Taiwan. Hinoki as of itself isn't a particularly rare timber or wood - huge, entire forests of it were planted in Japan right after the war, in areas that had been previously cut, in the hope that this would provide timber when Japan needed it during the reconstruction. Well, that didn't happen, cheap South East Asian wood became available and the hinoki forests sat uncut for decades, and now apparently contribute a lot of the pollen that causes hay fever in Japan (no, I'm not making this up!). A similar species of cypress is endemic to Taiwan, as well (and I'm sure the Japanese planted hinoki there as well when they were in control before WWII), so maybe the "Kiso" hinoki in Taiwan-OEMed blades isn't. Doesn't mean they aren't every bit as good, even if the wood isn't from Kiso.

Iskandar

Author:  haggisv [ 16 Jun 2017, 13:17 ]
Post subject:  Re: Last lot of Darker Speed 90 FL blades in OOAK Shop

Since the speed 90 were discontinued a few years ago, we still get regularly enquiries in the shop for them.
After several attempts to convince Darker to make them again, I've managed to convince them as a special order for us. We expect a limited quantity back in stock in July. :party: Not sure of the price as yet. :(

Author:  hangdog [ 17 Jun 2017, 07:32 ]
Post subject:  Re: Darker Speed 90 FL blades back in OOAK Shop

Uh-oh. Too quick for my game, but so tempting…

Author:  rokphish2 [ 17 Jun 2017, 13:55 ]
Post subject:  Re: Darker Speed 90 FL blades back in OOAK Shop

haggisv wrote:
Since the speed 90 were discontinued a few years ago, we still get regularly enquiries in the shop for them.
After several attempts to convince Darker to make them again, I've managed to convince them as a special order for us. We expect a limited quantity back in stock in July. :party: Not sure of the price as yet. :(

Great news for some of us!

I found one last year.Image

Author:  hangdog [ 20 Jul 2017, 22:12 ]
Post subject:  Re: Darker Speed 90 FL blades back in OOAK Shop

At least it's cheaper than the ZJK Super ZLC!
http://tabletennisshop.com.au/index.php ... cts_id=866

Author:  haggisv [ 24 Dec 2017, 13:11 ]
Post subject:  Re: Darker Speed 90 FL blades back in OOAK Shop

For anyone still interested in this blade, we have a few of them left in the shop, highly doubtful we'll be able to get them again. ;) You can find them here: http://tabletennisshop.com.au/index.php ... cts_id=866

It seems people always ask for either the lightest one, or the heaviest one, rarely something in between. I expect the heaviest ones have the tightest grain, which is important to some people. The lightest one is likely just from people that like light blades.

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