OOAK Table Tennis Forum

I have been getting feedback from some of my blade testing friends. One point that was mentioned is the balance point of the blade. I'm sure this varies with each of you, but I would like input from any of you that might like to help.

Most shakehand blades have a 4” grip. If you have a favorite blade with the rubber off, can you find the balance point, then measure where it is up from the handle?

On other matters, I have had comments on the glossy finish on the grip, so I will offer glossy or mat finish on the grips (or no finish if you like).

The good news is that the results are in regarding hide glue vs yellow glue. But I wouldn't tell you the results, I'll let the tester tell you.

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Ratt Factory "ghost" (oversize kiri, balsa, kiri) innova UL/ Tibhar Grass D.tecs
Ratt Factory "mouse" (mahogany, kiri, kiri, kiri, mahogany) T05/ giant dragon talon
Tibhar Furious/ juic 999/ Tibhar Grass D.Tecs
Yasaka balsa plus/ RITC 837/ RITC 755 (friendship)
Newgy 1040 robot

A lot of manufacturers (such as Stiga, who makes a point to tell you about it, and Butterfly, who don't, but the video about how they make blades on Youtube shows that they do it at least to some blades), hollow out their handle blanks to move the center of gravity away from the handle. It also makes the blade lighter, and might affect the vibrations that reach your hand (in a good way or bad way). Butterfly also sells some blades where the empty spaces in the handle are filled with foam, for some reason or another.

Iskandar

The results of the test were posted on a different forum, so I have posted a copy here.


Thanks to cgswss I was given three blades to test, of which two blades are similar to Butterfly Korbel in design and are near identical
to each other except for the glue used. One is glued with hide glue and the other yellow glue. One red handle (red) and one yellow handle (yellow) at 82gr a piece. I am to determine if there is any noticeable difference and which is the hide glue.

Upon receiving them I gave the standard sound test. I hold a blade on its edges with my thumb and middle finger and gently tap the handle end on my head to hear the sound and vibration of the blade. The red one has a very slightly higher sound but only if you are very very careful to listen. I would even say it's impossible to tell but am told initially the difference was more.

I then play with each blades several times with the same set of rubbers. I found that yellow plays slightly slower and has way more control and more feel then the red, in counter hits, loops, blocks, and pushes. This is very clear and not just a little difference. It's not only my opinion but others who got to test them both also agree. Yellow has a very very small softer feel, and that feeling is transfer to the hand slightly better. Yellow holds the ball longer and better. Both have about the same size sweet spot.

Short and sweat, I pick the yellow as glued with hide glue. I think cgswss should continue using hide glue in his blade making since it does make a difference.

thethinker

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Ratt Factory "ghost" (oversize kiri, balsa, kiri) innova UL/ Tibhar Grass D.tecs
Ratt Factory "mouse" (mahogany, kiri, kiri, kiri, mahogany) T05/ giant dragon talon
Tibhar Furious/ juic 999/ Tibhar Grass D.Tecs
Yasaka balsa plus/ RITC 837/ RITC 755 (friendship)
Newgy 1040 robot

A little note about these test blades. I start with a board that is about 1" thick. Using a bandsaw, I resaw that into sheets that are about 4mm thick, then using drum sander, sand these sheets to final size. (in this case 3.4mm) For this test I took the top sheet of that stack and made the fiddler, the next two slices were used to make the Banshees used for this test (the last sheet I kept to make a TAZ for my brother). The other plys were cut from the same sheet of Black Limba. The wood for the handles were from the same piece of black Walnut. The only difference was the "strip" in the grip (one yellow the other red) Normally the yellow glue plate would be glued in my vacuum press, but Hide glue doesn't like the vacuum press so I glued both plates using a clamp press. The handle with the yellow strip was also glued with hide glue and the red strip handle was glued with yellow glue (Titebond III). I did everything I could to make these blades as much the same as possible.

thetinker was not told which blade was which until after he did his test. Frankly, I did not think there would be a difference in the blades in the test because I didn't honestly think the glue could have that much of an effect. I should also note that the third blade I sent was glued with hide glue, and thethinker also guessed it was made with hide glue. (the third blade was a fiddler, made with a kiri core and ash outters)

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Ratt Factory "ghost" (oversize kiri, balsa, kiri) innova UL/ Tibhar Grass D.tecs
Ratt Factory "mouse" (mahogany, kiri, kiri, kiri, mahogany) T05/ giant dragon talon
Tibhar Furious/ juic 999/ Tibhar Grass D.Tecs
Yasaka balsa plus/ RITC 837/ RITC 755 (friendship)
Newgy 1040 robot