OOAK Table Tennis Forum

I've made the switch to jpen about a year ago. My game has never been better. I'm currently playing with Nittaku Excelity. A 5 ply medium flex jpen that cost me around $45ish. I like the blade but have always heard about how great the touch & feel is on 1 ply Hinoki jpens. Is it all it is cracked up to be? Obviously the thought of softer & better touch & feel appeals to me.

I've also heard that while some 1 ply Hinoki jpens can have a very soft feel, that doesn't necessarily mean they're flexible. Rather, they're typically stiff. This would be a big disappointment for me as I want a lot of flex for spinny loops.

If it helps I'm a very aggressive player who likes spin and likes to drive & loop. In general, I've always felt a more flexible blade would best suit me. Should I try a 1 ply Hinoki blade? If so? Which one? I would prefer to spend less but I am aware they are expensive. The absolute max I probably would ever consider playing is around the 130 range. But the cheaper, the better. Any suggestions?

If anybody has some good experiences playing with a jpen they like, I'm be curious to hear. 1 plys and/or other types of jpens (multi ply) if you feel strongly about them.

Thanks.

Update:

After looking around, I've narrowed my list down to the following budget Hinoki jpens. Yes some of them are generally thinner at 8.8 - 9 mm thick vs a nice 10 mm one but if I get more flex and spin at the sacrifice for some speed, that's fine by me. If anyone has played with one of these, please let me know.

Nittaku Airuline 8.8 ($44.95)
Hinoki 8.8 mm
http://www.paddlepalace.com/Airuline-88 ... fo/PNAIRJ/

Nittaku Ruforal ($46.95 on sale. Normally $59.95) (Is this a new blade? I can't find any reviews on it.)
Hinoki 9.0 mm
http://www.paddlepalace.com/Ruforal/productinfo/PNRUFJ/

Galaxy 982 ($50.00)
Hinoki 8.8 mm
http://www.colestt.com/woodblades.php

Yasaka Musashi ($66.95)
Hinoki 9.0 mm
http://www.americantabletennis.com/Yasa ... 4%20mp.htm

Butterfly Senkoh Special 90 ($76.99)
Hinoki 9.0 mm
http://www.megaspin.net/store/default.a ... nkoh-sp-90

or.... Am I making a mistake and I should just bite the bullet and get the Butterfly Cypress-S at $132.99 which from all accounts is great.
http://www.megaspin.net/store/default.a ... -cypress-s

_________________
Stiga Clipper Classic
FH - TSP Spectol Red 2.0
BH - Dawei 388D-a 1.5

Your question is so appropriate. I am about to make the serious plunge into j pen in a few days and hope we get replies to your post soon. See my equipment post.

Looking from your list, I will pick Ruforal or Airuline.
Reason 1, because Nittaku is one of tt manufacturers that make good 1-ply blade.
Reason 2, it's cheap. You wont lose much if you thought that 1 ply blade doesn't suitable for your game.

if you're looking for flexibility,you should stay with your 5-ply nittaku..1 ply hinoki is more for power loopers and hitters..yinhe/galaxy provide many multiply jpen with cheap price.

_________________
Still Missing the Speed Glue

Decided to go with the Nittaku Airuline 8.8 for a few reasons.

1 - Wouldn't cost me and arm & a leg. Cost about the same as my other Jpen so I think comparison will be fair.
2 - 8.8 mm vs a 10. Not quite as fast and should have some more flex than a 10 I'd imagine. This is fine with me because with my 5 ply Nittaku Excelity (OFF), I've never had a problem with speed. So a little less speed for a little more control (Airuline is rated as "ALL") could be good for me.

I'll post in this thread my thoughts later on comparing your standard multiply Jpen vs the famous 1 ply Hinoki.

See if it's all it's cracked up to be.

_________________
Stiga Clipper Classic
FH - TSP Spectol Red 2.0
BH - Dawei 388D-a 1.5

recently returned from the Philippines and made my pilgrimage to pingpongonline. awesome place. I purchased a Yasaka W 60 which had been sitting in the store for years. Loaded with Xiom sigma Europe. I am shocked how well it plays. power touch feel that I need. light as the wind (rubber on one side only ) One of my other favorite c pen blades is a Hinoki carbon blend and now I know the difference. I got into a discussion with Claude, there and with Hinoki you get what you pay for. The more expensive woods have a tighter grain and are from better trees. One can go with a carbon blend but my experience it defeats can the purpose of the hinoki wood. If I can't find anything else to purchase the next time I go I'm going to get the Butterfly Kim Taek Soo he has in stock though it cost a mint. But this hinoki Yasaka I have is so cool?

Been hitting with my new Hinoki Jpen for about a couple weeks now. While that isn't very long, it's long enough for me to safely say that Hinoki Jpens are all they're said to be. I like the Nittaku Airuline 8.8 (Hinoki) over my Nittaku Excelity (5 ply) blade simply due to the fact that the feel is better. Backhand blocks again "feel" softer & more accurate.

Outside of the feel department, everything else is roughly the same. These blades cost about the same so I think it's an even comparison.

So there you have it, if you're shopping for a Jpen, yes get a 1 ply Hinoki blade. There are inexpensive options as well as what I'm sure some very nice pricier blades out there. But you can't beat the soft feel & touch this type of blade gives you.

_________________
Stiga Clipper Classic
FH - TSP Spectol Red 2.0
BH - Dawei 388D-a 1.5

thick 1 plys(more than 7mm) are never flexy. they can be soft and provide a lot of dwelltime that way, but the are stiff. if you want a flexy blade then go with a 3 ply hinoki that isnt too thick, or some 5 ply that has hinoki outer layer

I'm convinced this "flexy" business is more of a feel than actual physical flexibility in the blade, and this is true even for very thin shakehands blades. Try bending a blade - one or two millimeters is all you'll get out of it before it breaks at the handle joint, and it will take a LOT of force to get to that point.

Iskandar

For what it's worth, this Eacheng has a list of Japanese penhold blades here:

http://www.aliexpress.com/store/202364/ ... hold+Blade

Out of these, only three or four seem to be one ply Hinoki (most are five ply or carbon blades). Of these, only the Yinhe 982 seems to be properly quarter-sawn.

Iskandar

You're correct on this. I'm pretty sure "flexy" refers to the blade portion of the "dwell" phenomenon that happens on loops (not drives) where the real speed/elasticity come from the rubber and blade's job is to be slow/inelastic and let the rubber do its job. But frankly I've personally given up the fight over terminology/technics.

For the old thread OP, the thick hinoki's are better for drives than true loops. I have the Cypress and a Yinhe "hinoki", and the latter does a good job on harder shots but like a lot of chinese blades doesn't seem as soft on touch shots.