OOAK Table Tennis Forum

There is another of my tries. Hope there will appear more experiences from you guys.

The last blade (for a while) I am going to talk about is the seven ply all-wood Timber 7 OFF. The concept of this blade is really interesting - it is 7ply blade which is catalogized among slower OFF blades in the Basic Line. There is also a faster sibling of this blade in Timber series – Timber 7 OFF/S which has higher speed ranking (OFF+).



Timber 7 OFF impresses with its beautiful appearance from the beginning. The gray-yellow handle is shining on a dark wood surface, which looks really luxurious. The craftmanship is on such a high level. From the side we can see that dark veneers in the composition alternate with lighter ones. A darker color indicates the use of tempered veneers, which were produced in the same technological way as wood for the previous Temper Tech series. Composition is Limba THERMO, Ayous THERMO, Ayous, Ayous THERMO with a total blade thickness of 6 mm. Catalog weight is about 90 grams, my piece had quite non-standard 81 g.

While gameplay it behaves quite classic for seven ply all-wood. Compared to Timber 5, it has a lower arc and is much more straight. In case of speed, it seems quite similar to me, but the role played by the geometry of flight makes a difference. The opening topspin must be played with a little more power, but its flatter arc can be troublesome for the opponents. Although the andro recommended this blade for a versatile topspin players, I felt its biggest strength especially in straight play and contra-drives. I tested the blade with the Hexer rubbers, and I thought the whole combo was less sensitive to the incoming spin. Fast and aggressive drive became almost an universal stroke (regardless incoming spin) while training and I could "punch through" more than I would expect.

I agree that the blade is more suitable for playing close to the table, which is also supported by a strong block, push and generally just a very small flexibility of the blade. Timber 7 OFF is another interesting representative of the Basic Line, which opens up a wide range of options in a low budget. I would recommend it to a player who does not want to lose good touch, but at the same time prefer stronger and more powerful style of play.

How it plays compared to clipper?
More solid? Faster?

It does look like a typical Clipperoid with the three core plies of equal thickness. 81 grams isn't bad at all - perhaps I'm not typical but to me anything over 80-82 grams is too much.

Iskandar

Faster than clipper?

Probably. Or maybe not..

Iskandar