OOAK Table Tennis Forum

I played a lot of ping pong when I was young, but never competed. I had a few good prebuilt paddles over the years, but nothing ever too nice. I recently got a table again and got back into it. I bought a couple of the Pro-Spin Carbon paddles from Amazon for me and my girlfriend, who is relatively inexperienced, to start playing around with. I'm not impressed with them. They were ok the first few times we played, but after a few hours play I'm realizing they're not that great for me. My girlfriend really likes them and plays a lot better than she did with a hard paddle, so they are pretty beginner friendly.
I've never built a paddle, and I think it's time. I want to get a blade that will last me as I progress through different rubbers. I read a post in this forum that said a fast paddle with slow rubber may be the way to start and that sounds good to me.
The Pro-Spin paddle I'm using weighs an even 196g, is that around a normal weight? I prefer a heavier paddle, my girlfriend complains about the weight. I wouldn't be against buying her something to put together also if anyone has recommendations on a lighter blade. Mainly focusing on blades for now and rubber later. If that's the wrong way to go about it please let me know.
Thank you!
EDIT: I just found a local club that meets twice a week an hours drive from me! I'm going to go check it out and try to get some recommendations there also. I forgot to add, I have pretty large hands, my glove size is 2XL. Something heavy with a larger grip would be great for me

I don't think a fast blade with slow rubbers is the best way to start...I would lean towards the opposite in fact.

I would suggest a OFF- to OFF blade, with good allround rubbers to start with. The speed range of blade will still give you decent feel and control, and should offer plenty of speed as you improve.

197g is on the heavy side... around 180g is probably about average, although at higher levels heavier rubbers are more common (rubbers with firmer sponges are heavier), so the weight average may be a little higher.

I don't what brands are available to you, but an example of a blade that's on the heavier side (~90g) with a relatively big handle (thicker) is the Tibhar Force Pro Black Edition. This is OFF in speed.

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The Tibhar is available to me at 60USD, it looks like a solid choice. The handle is noticeably thicker than most I have seen and I really like that its heavy too. What kind of rubber would you reccomend I put on that?

Edit: After some research on the Tibhar I went ahead and ordered one from a website called PaddlePalace. It came in today and it was exactly what I was looking for, thank you for turning me on to it! It doesn't feel like a pencil in my hand like other paddles. I can post some comparison photos with other paddles i own if anyone is interested.
I'm looking at hurricane 3 for the forehand, maybe just the regular and not the neo for a little more control starting back. I have no idea what to get for the back, I feel like a near $100 dollar sheet of butterfly rubber would be a waste at my skill level

The blade will have a larger influence than the rubber on speed and overall playing characteristics. I'd stay away from any sort of carbon or carbon-arylate blade, stay with all-wood. My recommendation would be something like a Stiga Allround Classic or similar, what I use is the Sanwei M8. USD60 is a LOT to pay for a blade in this category (the Sanwei blade will cost you less than USD10, the Stiga would be around USD25-30). Rubber? Get any under-USD10 Chinese rubber - there are tons of them and they're more alike than not. Something like Yinhe 9000 or Mercury II, or 729 or 729 Super FX would work great. (Stay away from DHS Hurricane 3 or the KTL Super XT/XP rubbers to begin with, though - in my opinion they're a mite slow for most people.) Paddle Palace is a good place to buy stuff, but there are several vendors in the US. Check out Gambler TT for instance - they have their own line of blades and rubbers, and from all reports they're excellent.

Iskandar

So I ended up going with Mark V on forehand and Mark V M2 on the backhand, both in 2mm. HOLY COW, talk about control. Its a lot easier to place the ball than it was with my no-name Amazon paddle. Its also way easier to hit the ball at different speeds, I guess that is what you call the "gears"? Everything just flew off the face of the other paddle no matter how hard or soft I hit it. Spin and top speed are about on par with what I was using, maybe a little more spin. Overall, it came in at 177g, 8g lighter than my old paddle but thats ok.
Really happy with how it turned out being my first time building my own. I did an absolute hack job cutting the excess rubber off with an exacto knife, it looks like someone chewed it off with their teeth. It may be ugly, but my game got a lot better getting away from the junk I was using.

In future use a fine blade modelling knife with snap off blades to ensure a sharp edge.

If you have an uneven edge on your current rubbers then a sharp scissors can trim them. A lot of players just use a scissors instead of a knife when they glue new sheets.

I didn't even think about scissors, thats a great idea. I'll have to try that tonight and see if I can get rid of a couple of ugly spots. Thank you!

I suggest you to buy table tennis edge side tape.
It will protect your blade from damage of hitting the table.
It also nicely hides uneven cuts of your rubbers.

Incidentally, for edge tape, I use plain old colored duct tape (cloth tape, duck tape, bookbinder's tape, etc.). You can easily tear strips 8-9mm wide off the side of the roll. Just don't do what I do and buy hot pink tape.. It's distracting to your opponent.

And if you want padded tape - there's D-cross section weatherstripping tape that would work well, if you really tend to hit the table hard:



You can get it on Amazon, and your local Ace Hardware.

Iskandar

Sanwei blade pro 3 for experienced player

I would say buy some cheap Chinese blade with carbon/arylate, from Sword or Yinhe, usually are quite economical. Rubbers maybe buy Butterfly Rozena 2.1 on both sides. Should be much much better than pre-built blades and a good way for you to get back into the game