OOAK Table Tennis Forum

I'm thinking of changing to a lighter blade down the track. I have skinny wrists and I suspect that a lighter setup will be better for my playing longevity. Currently I have two Donic Waldner Senso Carbon V1 FL blades, weighing 81g and 87g. I think they are rated at OFF- or thereabouts.

I'm satisfied with how they play, so not looking for other big changes there. I've experimented with a 8.5mm XVT 1-ply Hinoki which weighs ~110g(!), and I love the springy feeling of impact with this blade, but as well as the weight, the speed/control characteristics are beyond my level. Prior to the WSC blades I was very happy with the Stiga Allround Classic – the WSC to me represented a safe progression from an ALL blade, and it seems to have panned out that way.

Now I'm well aware that equipment changes are way, way less important than changes to the player…

…Having said all that, what can I expect if I move to a blade in the 60-75g range that is nominally OFF-? What are the effects of changing to a significantly lighter blade – what kinds of compensatory technique are needed; what do I gain, what do I lose? Any particular models that stand out?

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"Once you get past a certain threshold, everyone's problems are the same: fortifying your island and hiding the heat signature from your fusion reactor." –Doctor Impossible

Hi hangdog,

To me, playing with a lighter blade, and therefore a lighter paddle, didn't change much in the area of shot depth or spin ability. A fairly experienced player can adjust to the different feeling bat quite easily. On looping, the lighter bat doesn't seem to have as much inertia, or "brute force" as the heavier bat. BUT, I think with practice, the lost power and spin is re-gained with the fact that a lighter bat allows for more hand speed.

I play with cheap blades, mostly LKT Instincts, which weight about 72 grams. They play like an ALL blade.

Thanks, glennholder, it's good to know that adjusting to the lower weight is unlikely to cause significant issues.

Something else I was wondering about. Am I right in assuming that I'm not going to get much below the ~70 gram region unless balsa comes into the equation? I don't have any hankering for balsa's particular characteristics (not as linear as a typical 5-ply wood, right?), but can other double inverted players describe how they adapted to balsa?

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"Once you get past a certain threshold, everyone's problems are the same: fortifying your island and hiding the heat signature from your fusion reactor." –Doctor Impossible

Hmmm.. My LKT Instinct is a great deal heavier than that (but I think you've modified yours). For me, 80g blades seem about ideal, 85 seems a little too heavy, 90 gram blades I can't use. I've tried blades around 75 grams, and also rackets with one sheet of long pips or medium pips - this shaves off a LOT of weight. Some work, some don't, a few feel too slow (Darker 7P-2a for example), most feel OK.

My advice would be to just go and buy something and try it out. Most really light blades are balsa, problem is a lot of these are very fast.

Iskandar

I'm very far from a pro player, but I have played a little with a lot of blades. For me, the only plus for lighter paddles is on my back hand flip. I have more problems with light blades on my blocks

Before you invest in new blades, see if you can get ahold of some rubber with thinner sponge to try. Around here it is not too hard to get ahold of slightly used rubbers that others have tried. You have to remember that the rubber / sponge makes up a good deal of your paddle weight and most of that weight is above the balance point which makes the blade feel more heavy

A lighter blade needs more speed to generate the same or more engery. An odd but cheap way to find out if a lighter blade will help or hurt you is simply to peel off your back hand rubber and play one sided for a while. Try both back hand and fore hand (by flipping the paddle). If you do a lot of backhand flips, I think you will like it. If you have a good loop, I'm guess you won't like it as much

I have had a lot of customers asking for lighter blades because of the new ball. I don't know how that works for them but at least the way I play, I get better performance with a slightly heavy blade with the new ball. But I'm old and play close to the table and I'm more concerned with ball placement then speed

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Drop down to a lighter setup and it soon becomes the norm for you. If you step up a little in speed when you drop in weight and you won't feel any different.

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Some light blades don't cost very much, a lot less than some rubbers! For example:

$17, 65 grams.

http://www.aliexpress.com/store/product ... 41279.html





This one's $10, 80 grams but they also say +/- 5 grams, so ask them if they have any around 75 grams.

http://www.aliexpress.com/store/product ... 20286.html





Prices include shipping.

Iskandar

To go to blades weights below 70g, you'll almost certainly need to go to balsa. Balsa does play a little different, so some adjustment is needed.
Note also that the rubber weight is about half the weight of the bat (assuming you have 2 inverted rubbers), so that's an consideration too. You won't find identical rubbers that play the same, so changing to lighter rubbers will require some change in technique too.

Personally I love light bats, as it does allow quicker wrist movement (or less strain for the same movement).

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Another advantage of lighter blades is that it compensates for heavier rubber. And since kinetic energy equals 1/2 times mass times (velocity)^2, blade speed is always more important than mass.

Come to think of it.. since you're propelling the blade through the contact and it isn't just kinetic energy transfer, the weight of the blade should matter even less in the amount of energy you put into the ball than the equation suggests. And blade speed matters even more.

Iskandar

Ultimately you have to work it out for yourself because every player has different favorite stroke technique, arm length, strength, and natural speed. Ability to accelerate a given racket is based on genetic makeup, and personal proportion of fast twitch to slow twitch muscle fibers.

If you can accelerate a heavy racket and still get good racket head speed then heavy is the way to go in my opinion, because the heavy racket does not get pushed around as much by the ball, it exerts better control over the ball because the blade has more mass. The light ones get pushed around more by the ball. Light doesn't have to be flimsy but some of them not only are knocked back, but they deform, torque and twist because of hard impact. That means less control just because the racket has the extra bending factor to learn to deal with.

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It's very easy to worry too much about the weight of a setup, or a few grams here and there. Personally, getting a setup with a good balance is the most important thing. In fact, a well balanced blade can be a lot heavier than I realise unless it goes on the scales.

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185g

hangdog! : )

The image above of the Huaruite 2076, I bought one of those, and it weighed only 68g! It was not balsa. The handle is quite thin, my friend bought it from me and he put tennis grip tape on the handle. The blade was fairly fast, it was not soft, it was the typical harness of a fast blade.

: D

glennholder

Damn, great advice and suggestions above. I'm in no rush, and I want to play out the next couple of months if not most of the year, with my existing setup. But I do want to put the testing wheels in motion, so there will be some background EJ activity and unnecessary purchases going on.

I bought a Palio R-57 several months ago for USD18. I sealed the blade, but haven't used it yet. It's rated about ALL. One review suggested it was like a Donic WSC but lighter and cheaper. It weighs 75g. The head size is 151x158mm (i.e., closer to Stiga Allround Classic size) versus the WSC's 150x155mm. So the modest weight saving in the blade would be partly cancelled out by the larger rubber area. It is a pretty blade and well finished. I suppose it could be (de)filed so that I can transfer my existing rubbers to it for a more direct comparison.



I have used a much lighter racket – one with long pips on one side. This has only been for short periods (a few matches and some robot sessions), and while no red flags came up about the weight, I couldn't draw any conclusions from it because the usage was very different from my regular play.

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"Once you get past a certain threshold, everyone's problems are the same: fortifying your island and hiding the heat signature from your fusion reactor." –Doctor Impossible

Naah, just glue the rubbers on, even if they're too small. You can always change the rubber later on if you decide to use it in competition.

Iskandar