OOAK Table Tennis Forum

Andro narrowed their repertoire of blades in 2018, as we know from a video from Tabletennisdaily. At first the number fell to 22 different blades. But then the andro signed up a cooperation with a French star, Simon Gauzy, and four more Gauzy blades were added. The current number is on 26 pieces, which fall into three price lines – Basic Line, higher High Line and Supreme Line. Unfortunately, these changes have passed quite a while ago and there is not much info about andro allwood blades (all the lower series, which should be as close as possible to people). Let's change it and look at some representants of Basic Line.

Along with rebranding and narrowing of the offer, the boxes that are similar in all current series (outgoing solid part carrying the blade in the paper coat) have changed and look very nice. Timber blades have a simple, clean design and in their spectrum, every developing player should find a good choice – from DEF blade, through five-layer ALL+, 5-layer OFF to seven-layer OFF and OFF+.


Timber 5 OFF
Where to start? So let's take it from the basis. Andro Timber 5 OFF is the basic blade of the offer. This five-ply offensive blade consists of wooden plys Limba, Ayous and the center of Kiri. These types of wood are the most commonly used in the world of table tennis material, andro says so in catalog and certainly it was a safe bet. I also consider the overall thickness of this blade, which is 6.3 mm, very important. This is relatively enough for 5-ply wood (variants f. e. Samsonov Alpha 5.5 mm, Korbel 5.9 mm, Xiom Offensive S 6.1 mm). I also consider it very positive that the width does not sign on the weight of the blade. The catalog weight is about 83 grams, my piece is 81 grams.



This blade is from the lowest Basic line, so I was very surprised by the high quality of workmanship. Everything looks absolutely perfect, the head surface is beautifully smooth, the straight handle is rather rounded shape and its surface is incredibly smooth. Here depends mainly on personal preferences, but for me great job. Even a simple, clean design and a combination of light gray and blue can´t offend anyone.



I have been used to composite blade feel (Treiber FI OFF) for a long time. Honestly, I just expected Timber 5 to be a classic blade which is not standing out from a crowd. During the game I had a very pleasant surprise. The blade feeling is stiffer, absolutely vibration-free, which I probably have not noticed with any other wood blade of this type (even among 7-ply pieces) and I was really excited. The transmission of ball feeling to the playing hand is close to perfection. Vibrations always seems to me more disturbing. The blade is very sensitive, the game over the table is accurate. The topspin arch is medium to slightly higher. There is a control in the blocks and the pros typical for pure 5-ply wood appear – the blade is able to "absorb" some of the incoming energy and rotation if needed, which significantly increases the control. Of course, there is always a coin with two sides and at the same time it means that the block is not so aggressive and gives the opponent slightly more time.



Regarding speed, I consider the wood really classic OFF with good control. Playing at the table seemed precise to me. Further from the table, I did not experience the problem with the power in balls from longer distance. When you play the ball properly a with the right timing, playing 1-2 meters behind the table is not a problem. The blade is absolutely balanced for all game situations and I just enjoy playing with it.

I always have the same question about Joola/Donic/Andro: Where is it made?

_________________
Blade: Butterfly Diode V
FH: Donic Blue Storm Z1 Turbo 2.1
BH: Stiga Horizontal 20 1.0-1.3

There's a huge blade factory, I think in Sweden, that makes a lot of these blades. They make some for Yasaka too, IIRC. There are also 3-4 large OEMs in China.

Iskandar

Here is a small continuation of my insight among allwood andro blades.

With the start of cooperation with Simon Gauzy, his signature series was created. It consists of 4 blades in which everyone can find something for himself. Three all-woods, one blade with composite (Kevlar carbon). Two of wooden (BL5 ALL and BL7 OFF) fall into the less expensive Basic Line, the middle class High Line is Gauzy CO OFF and in the Supreme Line we find a tool that is the choice of Simon himself, Gauzy SL7. A specific feature of this series is the origin of production in Sweden, most of the other andro blades are manufactured in Germany and some in Japan.

Gauzy's wood series is characterized by a slightly different look. Two woods are tuned to different shades of French tricolor, two higher blades retain only a different style of handle, an elongated "lens" with Gauzy's name and model. Different production is visible on some details of wood – for example, the handle is remarkably rougher and less "smoothed" on Gauzy models. I do not observe any shortcomings in the head of the blade, so it can be a production plan or standard. Someone may enjoy a rougher material because of better sweat absorbing or a sense of “non-slip”. The head is covered with paint, which can also serve as a protective layer against tearing of veneers when changing the rubbers.

For BL7, I would generally expect it to be a blade of potential interest for the widest range of players. This seven-layer offensive blade has a construction of Limba, Balance foil, Abachi, Abachi with a total thickness of 5.9 mm. For the seven-ply all-wood it is not too thick, these blades are usually over 6 mm (f. e. Clipper 6.6 mm, Korbel SK7 6.7 mm, but also Persson Powerplay with 5.2 mm). Perhaps the overall thickness is influenced by the fact that the second layer contains a “balance” foil, which is not as wide as the wood layer itself, and this reduces the overall thickness. The weight of my piece 90 g, same as catalog weight.

In gameplay Gauzy BL7 behaves like a very nice seven-layer all-wood with a decent pace. The feeling of the blade is stiffer, I would say that it is quite similar to mentioned representatives of 7plys. The blade has tiny vibrations, which are not disturbing for the overall feeling. Compared to the Timbers, I find it slightly faster, but maybe it is because this blade is little bit more straight. The absolute dominant of the blade is the block. Thanks to the lower flight curve this blade is a total blocking monster. Where the others play carefully to the incoming topspin, the Gauzy BL7 can easily play active and think about the block placement. It is also very strong in playing contraspins and contradrives. When playing the opening topspin, it is necessary to keep in mind the lower arc, but spin potential is nice too.

I consider this blade very pleasant and interesting. I find it a bit more aggressive than others from Basic Line (maybe with the exception of Timber 7 OFF/S, I have no experience with that one). I would choose the blade, as stated in the catalog, for the offensive player, for whom there is no problem to change from more passive game situations to a strong counterattack.

What is "Balance foil"??

Iskandar

Not sure about composition of the foil. But it is presented as a wood layer. So maybe it could be some kind of pressed paper or anything like so.

So it's a thin sheet of something.. not a woven cloth, though. Interesting.

Iskandar

That balance foil must be very thin, since in your pictures I can see only 5 layers.

Here I add a better photo of composition. Under the arrow is the place where you can see 7ply compositio quite properly (color of the foil is more grey then wood I think).

I would not be surprised if this is paper ...

...like the Persson Powerplay, no real 7-ply

Do a "butt shot". Use a flatbed scanner. Set the scanner to 200 dpi. Here's an example of mine:



Iskandar

Seems quite thick for a casual paper. If you consider it not to be a real 7ply blade - trust me that it plays like a real 7ply.

Here is another (or the same but zoomed) shot from the bottom taken by a good camera, I have no scanner. Hope it helps.

No question about that, but we are just curious about the material.
If you are in close contact with Andro, maybe you can put a question to them.

Most (but not all - e.g. the Yinhe Kiso 7 is an exception) 7 ply blades follow the Stiga Clipper's structure - the core is three plies, all more or less the same thickness, with the center ply's grain in the direction of the width of the blade, if I recall correctly. Then there are, on each side, two very thin plies of wood, the outermost would have the grain lengthwise, of course. This one? I'm not sure. If they're counting this "foil" as plies, then what about the direction of the grain of the two plies surrounding the "foil"? If the foil is some sort of paper or fiber, it won't have grain, so if the next ply in has grain along the width of the blade, then the innermost ply would have lengthwise grain (this is what the photo looks like).

Interesting indeed.

Iskandar