OOAK Table Tennis Forum

I want to create a light, fast, thin and soft chinese penhold blade.

Light: Around 65 grms
Fast: Around Ptr Korvel
Thin: Around 4.5mm
Soft: Around Jonyer Hinoki
Dimensions: Similar to YE but a little bit longer, so I can rest my fingers on the backhand side

Im thinking on using balsa as core, maybe a 3 ply, is this possible?

Thx

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Hallmark Aurora ST
Palio Thor MAX BLACK
Bomb Talent OX RED

A balsa core needs to be thick, or else it's going to be very slow. With only 4.5mm thickness overall, I don't think balsa is viable.

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I agree, you need to bump it to about 6mm overall and probably have carbon layers for a speedy blade. Hmmm, sounds like a Gergely!

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I guess with such a thin blade, the core material needs to contribute to energy conservation (stiffness/flex) more than balsa will. "Thin" means less material, so it's going to be light anyway (unless you're going to use ebony, teak, or some other very heavy wood). Also, for carbon to have any effect on a thin blade it should be very close to the surface, which AFAIK would make the blade hard.

Note that I have no experience in making TT blades, so "I guess" is the operative term here. With that in mind, some ideas for "traditional woods": Willow, spruce, cherry.
Perhaps a cherry core with thin willow outer plies. Cherry may need special attention though. I have little experience in working with that, but I'm told it easily deforms (warps) at changes in humidity.

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Wow, and here I thought that I could have it easily... Sure its hard to make a fine blade xD
Thx for the answers, I´ll need to investigate more!

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"Si se imagina, se puede ^^"

Hallmark Aurora ST
Palio Thor MAX BLACK
Bomb Talent OX RED

I made a blade like you want, 1/8" balsa core, extremely hard veneers outer, (madrona). Blade is light but all around speed. Very hard to make a fast, light blade.

And how thin it ended in total? Dimensions? Weight?

_________________
"Si se imagina, se puede ^^"

Hallmark Aurora ST
Palio Thor MAX BLACK
Bomb Talent OX RED

Blade #1;
1/8" balsa, madrona outer plys, top to handle, 155mm. Width, 152mm., handle is ceder. Has wood edge banding.
68g, speed about "All-". Thickness, 5mm.

Blade #2;
3/16" balsa, burl walnut outer plys, 155mm by 152mm, handle is ceder. Has wood edge banding.
74g, speed about "All". Thickness, 7mm.

By using "competition grade" balsa, you can make it even lighter but it will also be slower.