Custom Made Blades
The ideal blade for your game is tailor-made
People typically choose custom blades because:
They want a unique, custom designed blade that suit their game and expresses their personality
They are unhappy with their current blade's handle, shape or balance and want us to modify it
They want to clone (reproduce) a favorite discontinued blade
They want to experiment with radical designs or atypical timber / materials
They want to support small local businesses
They prefer Australian-made products and suppliers
Our custom-built blades:
can be made the exact size, weight, balance, speed and thickness you need for your playing style
can be shaped to fit your hand perfectly while you wait
can feature whatever handle size, style, shape, length, thickness and material you like
can be designed to suit the strengths of your game or help compensate for any weaknesses
can express your personality by featuring your name and signature, unique graphics, custom colours or one-of-a-kind decals
will has higher levels of finish than mass-produced blades,
typically cost the same as most high quality, pre-made factory blades
Table Tennis Timber: far from typical wood
When building a table tennis blade, choosing the right timber species is vital:
- With a few key exceptions (eg: one ply blades | mono-species multi-ply blades) over 90% of the world's table tennis blades and bats are made of custom-made plywood, containing multiple different species of exotic timbers in a variety of different thicknesses which are then assembled in a very specific order.
- The reasons behind this unique construction style are numerous:
- Under ITTF rules, competition blades must be made of at least 85% all natural wood
- Each timber species has its own set of physical, aesthetic and playing characteristics.
- As a natural material, large variations in density, weight and grain exist between different timber species, as well as between different pieces of wood from the same species, or even from the same tree.
- The playing characteristics of timber varies depending on its thickness, age, cut, condition, genus, density and position within a blade's ply sandwich
- The playing characteristics of each layer of timber in a blade can affect the characteristics of all the other layers of material that lie alongside
- Playing characteristics are further influenced by the type and amount of glue used, the presence of reinforcing materials and the sealant / varnish used, as well as the placement and orientation of timber grain within each layer
- Competition standard blades must also satisfy additional ITTF requirements during construction - see FAQ page for details
- Controlling and balancing all the above factors is what imparts a blade with its own particular feel - its weight, vibration, feedback, speed, flexibility and throw angle are all directly affected by these choices (for more information, see the FAQ page)
While negotiating the above list of factors may seem daunting, in practice the process is somewhat akin to cooking: once you are familiar with all the underlying skills, processes, ingredients and methods involved, common patterns and harmonious combinations of ingredients and technique start to emerge.
Like all things, the process of building and designing a blade becomes simpler over time (necessitating lots of practice and experimentation along the way)