Mystery of single ply hinoki

From all single ply hinoki blades that I have had, I tried to make my own definition on quality of the hinoki wood in connection with the performance, but it ends up in a failure: I still cannot get a satisfactory conclusion.
So far I tried Cypress R (9 mm), Darker Speed 90 (9,5 mm), Kokutaku Cho-super Cho Tokusen 10 mm and Nittaku Cho Tokusen 9 mm.
My criteria of good hinoki:
- tightly spaced grain
- uniform colour
- straight grain
- no foreign inclusion (sometimes there are some orange/yellowish colour between grains).
My Cypress did not match the criteria above and I have sold it. The other three match the criteria, but they give different performances.
My Speed 90 (84 grams) is slow and unsatisfactory.
My Kokutaku (80 grams) is the fastest.
My Nittaku (80 grams) is a little bit slower than my Kokutaku but better control, and I like it best (for time being).
From the above, I draw a conclusion that visually I cannot determine which one is better, because even tight, straight and clean grain can perform unsatisfactorily. The only factor that seems right at this moment is that the higher price gives better performance (from lowest to highest price for my blades: Darker - Nittaku - Kokutaku)This  makes me wonder how the manufacturers determines which material has better quality.
Any opinions ?

they sort them by sound i had a video some where of this old guy who worked for bfly tapping the blades by hand next to his ear and he would sort them like that after they had visually inspected them to determine grain quality.also the really good ones are generally dried longer. some of the bfly cypress special and darker 2001 were dried out for 15 years plus.air drying is where the cost comes in.you coat the wood after it is sawn in mineral oil then paint the ends ,stack it in a cool dark area were it is breezy and let i dry out for years. plus region were it comes from sets the price as well. japanese and american are considered the best then china and taiwan.My friend who gets the POC for me said that the majority of POC in america has been clear cut over the past 40 years due to the high demand in japan and korea.He lives in oregon where it grows and said all the old growth POC is almost gone.He also told me he thinks it is illegal in japan to cut down hinoki trees and this is why it is all been outsourced for the past 40 years .

natural products are a wonderful thing.hinoki can be white to gold in coloration and those dark lines you don't like are just the winter lines in the wood some winter lines are just more pronounced than others due to harshness and as you have found out none of these factors play any role in performance it is all about sound.

Everest81,
For time being I don't intend to try RSM as some pictures I saw is not the kind that I like (there are one or two inclusions between grain, and at that price level it should not be like that.
Ryno,
It would be nice if we have the "ears" for it so we can choose a good one. At this point, I am hesitant to buy more single ply hinoki from different brands that I have not tried. If I have to buy single ply hinoki again, For time being I will stick to either Kokutaku 10 mm or Nittaku Cho Tokusen A. I am afraid of wasting money if I buy other type or brands.

We here N. Americans dun have the "luxury" of going into any shop specialized in T/T equipment n ask to see/test a sample of latest jpen greats. I'm sure there r lots of good old t/t shops in some Far East Countries where they can display rows n rows, piles n piles of high end jpens/shkhnds for ur pleasure viewing.

aeoliah wrote: Agreed, trying is the best way to find out whether a blade is good or not. Unfortunately we cannot do this, the seller will only let us hold and look at it. I wish there is other way to find out.

aeoliah wrote: At least we can ask for the pictures and weight before we buy from the net

No. I would never do things like that.

Perhaps it is better that way, if it is too light, then there is a risk of cracks because it is so thin. If it is heavy, it means it is denser and stronger (I hope). I don't know about juniper, but there have been two cases where 8,5 mm single ply hinoki develops crack by itself.
Regarding Kokutaku Cho-Super Cho Tokusen 10 mm (assuming that you are referring to this one), it is true that iruiru does not carry stock for this item, this is a special order because Kokutaku only makes limited quantity every year, and the quantity would depend on the selected material available at that time. I was really very very lucky because it just happened that Kokutaku sent one to iruiru by mistake (iruiru did not order it), and at the same time I inquired about this blade. She sent me the picture and I confirmed the order.

aeoliah wrote: Regarding Kokutaku Cho-Super Cho Tokusen 10 mm (assuming that you are referring to this one),

My guess is that it was better to ignore you than to send an email that announced to the world that her hinoki blades would never be around 80g and have straight grains. The later is certainly more common than the former. I've never seen a hinoki one ply under 92g or so and I'm quite sure that you won't get one for under $100. And there's an element of luck to get one for over 200.

I'm sure now someone will reply and tell me about the perfect hinoki they got for under $100, but it's gotta be rare.

I don't really understand this obsession with the lightest weight blades. It seems to me like the best feel comes around 86-88g. I don't hear of pro's blades being extremely light.

Now if you're a kid or girl or have a wrist injury or soemthing, that's a differnt thing alltogether.

For me the weight of the blade is non issue.to say 95 grams is too heavy and 85 is perfect is strange.A sheet of printer paper weighs almost 7 grams.So if you glued a sheet of printer paper on your blade you would notice?would it really slow you down? a sheet of paper?

True!

Nah...I put Stiga Innova UL on CPL 10 Sp. n IQ Max on Excellent to compensate each other n after a few hits/mins. It really didn't bother me or my plays. I basically smashed everyth'n or anyth'n that moved! CPLs do really have an unique shape compared to others. It is more elongated and the handle is diff. from other Bty Jpens, I figure.