OOAK Table Tennis Forum

Just wondering what everyone's opinion is about the hollow handle thing. From my internet trawling the concept seemed to be quite controversial online 10 years ago. I.e. most opinions were that clipper WRB was inferior to the solid handle.

But it seems the concept has become more common across manufacturers - though there are different versions:
1) (WRB) the handle pieces hollowed out all the way to the lens, as well as the blade having an cutout through the middle.
2) same as above but not hollow ALL THE WAY to the lens.
3) the handle pieces hollowed out a bit + but the blade having no cutout
4) no cut out at all


My Yinhe Pro-13s is #3
My Sword HD long 5 is #2 (but not all the way to the lens).
I don't know about other blade manufacturers but have seen butterfly with hollow handles too.

What are opinions these days, as far as feeling and so on?
Has anyone's opinion changed? Did you like it more now than before?

For me I think it has to do with amount of vibration and the shift of balance. More hollow space on the handle side = more vibration and head heavier.

It’s just a matter of preference.

As far as I know generally the handle part is hollowed out. With some more and some less (solid handle) regardless of brands (one brands has various degree of hollowness on their blades, some solid, some hollow with their various lines).

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All people believe WRB turns the blade more head heavy.

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The head will be heavier for blades with material removed from the handle area all else being equal, not just WRB.

Although I wasn't playing 10 years ago so I am fuzzy on what happened. Is the hollow handle an industry standard amongst more expensive blades these days? (if it is then it becomes an "industry preference")

Do manufacturers even advertise whether the handle is hollow or not?

Not at all, in fact I think it's not really that common, most high-end blades have solid handles. It's just another characteristic of some blades, which you'll either like or not like. I don't think there's any evidence that it's 'better' or 'worse'.

Personally I prefer solid handles. I can't really feel any improvement in performance, and if the lens comes off a hollow handle it tends to leave a big gaping hole

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It's been happening a long time. I don't know about the super expensive ones, but some of the expensive ones also have hollow handles.
Some of the hollow handles blades were/are very popular and many people wouldn't notice or would be surprise if they know they're of hollow handles.

So, again, it's just a matter of preference. Generally, more hollow space in the handle = more vibration and more head heavy. But, some of their design might account to that, so they might do something to minimize vibration and also the head heaviness. Some blades with same hollow handles have noticeably more vibration, and more head heavy, and yet, some have less vibration, less/not head heavy. So I don't really care about hollowness in handle as much, besides, I wouldn't know until they're taken off to see what's inside. I care more about their balance, feel, performance. I mean, even for known hollow handle blades, I would not dismiss it right away, I would handle/try it in person first to evaluate whether I like it or not.

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instagram: rokphishtt

Found this from old 2004 catalogue.

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I am a blade builder myself, and I absolutely must hollow my handles out to get to a functional/playable weight. I exclusively use hardwoods to achieve my desired handle aesthetic, but this comes with lots of density/weight, which is nice for balancing out any head heaviness back toward your hand. I have attached photos of an extreme scenario of this fact with solid Ebony handles prior to hollowing out the handles (proving my necessity for doing this). I do keep the hole in the blade below the tangential throat point which distributes vibration to the handle better than if the top of the hole were raised above it. The finished blade in the pictures came out to 92.1g, with a good bulk of that in the handle itself still, even after hollowing.

https://www.instagram.com/lilypad_pingpong/

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