OOAK Table Tennis Forum

I've become a bit of an equipment junkie and I'm trying to get my next setup, I had Sanwei M8 + General 729 Friendship rubbers and then DHS A6002 + Mark V + Xiom Vega. The second setup is borrowed from my friend. I like to call myself a twin looper, I love playing spinny loops more than smashes. While reading through many forums(including ooak), I've read confusing things about blades, so my questions are as follows,

I've decided that these are going to be my rubbers - Yasaka Rakza 7 or TSP Ventus Spin.

1. 5 ply all wood flexible blades good for making heavy spinny loops? Does TSP Ventus Spin or Yasaka Rakza 7 go with this type of blades? I've read in a forum that soft rubbers on soft blades makes a poor looping equipment, is this true?

2. 7 ply all wood blades are hard. Does sticking soft rubbers like TSP Ventus Spin or Rakza 7 make this a better looping combo?

3. What about carbon blades? I've read that TSP Ventus goes ONLY well with carbon blades.

What is the relationship between blades and rubbers for looping? I know that technique is what matters the most, my question is which is the ideal one of the above three?

This depends on your level and ability as of right now.

No matter the level, I always prefer All- pure-wood blades.

Rubbers can give or remove some properties ... but the blade tends to stay lot longer with you.

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Backup C-pen blades:

• TSP Black Balsa 7.0 :
  1. FH/BH-YRakza9/XOmegaVT
  2. FH/BH-TSP Spectol/Yinhe Qing OX
• 729 Bomb C-P : FH/BH-DHS H2 Orig/DHS H3 Orig
• TSP Versal :
  1. FH/BH-XOmegaVA/YJupiter-II
  2. FH/BH-*blank*

Fun blades:

• Yasaka Battle Balsa(ST) : FH/BH- DHS TG2Neo/Gewo HypeXT 47
• Dr. Neubauer
  High Technology
  Cypress-Carbon(ST)
  ***************************** : FH/BH-YRakza7/YRakza7

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5 ply blades are usually lighter and thinner than 7 ply blades, and are a little slower, and "feel" "softer" (this has some relationship to the frequency it vibrates at when you knock on it). Or they're supposed to be - I have a Darker 7p2a 7 ply hinoki that's around 75 grams, and feels fairly soft. My 5 ply Yinhe N11 was faster than that 7 ply Nittaku Septear (another 7 ply hinoki), though maybe that doesn't count because it's got a thick center ply with two very thin meranti plies on each side. Carbon blades are as a general rule faster, and I've heard them described as "unpleasantly hard" (which means they ring like a bell when you knock on them). More modern ones use thinner/lighter carbon cloth, mix the carbon with other fibers, and move the plies deeper in the blade rather than put them just under the face ply, all in an effort to reduce this ringiness.

I have no idea what Ventus Spin is like, but I do currently play with a sheet of Rakza 7 on the forehand on one of my Sanwei M8 blades. And I've given up looking for the ideal rubber (because I'm convinced it doesn't exist - unless it happens to be Tenergy 05, in which case I'm in trouble..) and will play with it until it is old and decrepit, after which I will replace it with some else (just to see if I'm missing anything). What's Rakza 7 like? Well, slightly slower than, let's see... I had AK47 Blue on there before.. and it's fine rubber (as most of the rubber I've tried has been). I've got Yinhe 9000 on the backhand, it's slightly slower yet, I do find I have to adjust my forehand strokes somewhat if I flip the bat around.

Iskandar

IMO 7-ply blades have long traectory so they are better away from the table in general.
Carbon makes blade generating less topspin in general so you need to use spinnier rubbers to compensate.

I prefer harder, faster blades for close to the table and softer, slower blades for away from the table. It also depends greatly on the properties of the rubber.

Get a TSP Campione. It's not OFF+. It's a normal arylate-carbon looping blade, similar to most others. It's high quality, good balance, good performance.