SWORD 10th Anniversary Special Edition

is this blade any good?
saw one at the shop. finishing kind of not as smooth as hurricane king but price slightly more.

said to be better than hurricane king though.

anyone?

rokphish wrote: is this blade any good? saw one at the shop. finishing kind of not as smooth as hurricane king but price slightly more. said to be better than hurricane king though. anyone?

What model did you see in the store? Many models are in this brand name. The range is $10- $130.
I am using Sword RG SER 90 Cpen. It is powerful and controllable blade. Sword King SER 90 is faster. Get the King SER 90 if you are a shakehand player.
Hercules

rokphish wrote: It is Sword 10th Anniversary Special Edition. Black color. Here's the photo on chinese web: http://www.showsword.net/db-sword-shnyj.htm

How much did they ask for it? I would try if it's US$150. They have very good touch. I can manage spin and speed with my RG SER 90 blade.
Hercules

Good touch, hmm, I hope it has woody feel and good control.

rokphish, looks very nice!  They went all out on the packaging, that's for sure.  Make sure to tell us how it plays, and whether it is indeed better than the HK.

what are the small circles on the blade edge?

I will post impression of it, but won't be too detailed since Peter is nagging to send the blade asap to him so I probably have only a chance to a have 1-2 hits with it. Unless Peter is extending the time to end of next week which I don't think he agrees...

The 6 small circles are pins of wood. Said to be Ayous wood pins.

No, I didn't get one myself. Don't have the extra cash for it.

Please correct me if I'm wrong.

Did Zhang Yining use this blade at the Olympics? I vaguely remember that  her blade's handle looked similar to this blade's.

rokphish wrote: Hercules, how much is the SER 90? Could you tell me more about it? And comparison with other blade? Compared to Hurricane King if possible...

RG SER 90 has a softer top sheet comparing with HK, Acoustic, YEO, Clipper CR. It can loop easily with powerful spin. It is error-tolerant.
Power can be used when you need it. It is good for close and mid distance table. I've tried with Sriver L, FX, Bryce FX, F3 big slam, H3 blue sponge, H2 blue sponge, TG3 #21 blue sponge, TG3 38deg. It is good with all these rubber on FH, BH. My favorite combo for this blade is TG3 #21 blue sponge FH and Sriver L BH.
SER 90 is
better for looping (hard or soft)
better for serving (create heavy spin)
better control
blocking need more powerful rubber for shakehand player (I'm a penholder)

Cheers,
Hercules

those pins are cross torsional wood beams to reduce flexing across the blade face.

I've decided to send the blade to Peter tomorrow morning instead. I expedite the shipping time because he's been breathing down my neck because of the blade... Hohoho...

So, my impression on it is not complete.
I took it to training session with my coach this evening. Tried the blade on hits and loops on both wings. Didn't try chopping, serving, short dropping (pun intended  ).

I'm going to quote the translation that Geko did on a review of the blade on the chinese forum:

gekogark1212 wrote: This blade is Wang's [blademaker's name...not WLQ lol] proudest creation...using all of the 6 technologies that he has "invented" over the years, and also being of limited production. It goes for 1280 RMB, being equivalent to 50kg of meat or 350kg of rice, some say Sword's lost it, some say it's a joke, while others claim it is worth every cent. This blade is a composite blade.

Well, I had no idea what the six technologies behind it, but in a chinese web I found the photo of the blade and pointers to the construction of the blades and they are:
Ayous tops (two different color/plies)
Phdaron (Yellow but looks white strips)
Tung
Carbon
Ayous core
On the photo the top plies consisted of two different colors of the same wood, ayous, so either they are one ply but colored differently, or actually two different plies of ayous and colored differently. Perhaps Geko could take a look at the photo and chinese inscriptions and tell more precisely. (http://www.showsword.net/db-sword-shnyj.htm) Here's the official blade link: http://www.swordtt.com/sword/prodintrs.php?id=54 (from Sword). So, it could be either 9 or 11 plies blade. The 6 small circles are pins of wood. Said to be Ayous wood pins.

gekogark1212 wrote: It has a softish feeling, hence balls hit with it have both high consistency [due to large sweet spot] and especially nice arc...which is rather unique. If you want to increase its attacking abilities and larger margin of error, then you may pair it with tensor rubbers. A Guangzuo blade tester has concluded that this blade has good bite, long arc, pushing and drop shots are very precise, spin is strong on 2 winged looping, precise placement.

Yes, the blade feels soft for me. Softer than the HK. Nice feel, better than the HK. Control is better too. Tokyo 2 on FH on general feels better than H3P 40 on the FH. Spiny loops on both wings. But something strange with loops. The harder I looped seemed the less I got. When I relaxed and lessen the power on my loops the shots are going faster, spinier, and better. With the HK, I the harder I give the more I get.

gekogark1212 wrote: It goes for 1280 RMB, being equivalent to 50kg of meat or 350kg of rice, some say Sword's lost it, some say it's a joke, while others claim it is worth every cent. But in the end, this blade is not suitable for everyone, some may think it is too soft, some will say its too hard, slightly hard and slightly soft only differs by little, and varies with each person.

Well, it's the $150 question... And I have to say... I'm going to pass...
At first my coach said that my loops were spinier and faster than my HK. Well, during the training session I switched this blade and my HK on and off during same strokes for direct comparison. After switching a few times, my coach then said it's about the same speed and then he (me too) decided that HK suits me better. This blade is better in terms of feel and control. But the softness gets me. I feel it's too soft for me. On FH loops, although I get higher percentage of "IN" shots but it took me more effort and energy compared to when using the HK. One training set = the amount of balls I get to hit from start/0 to I couldn't hit anymore (due to too tired). With this blade, although I have more in table balls, the time of one set is shorter than when I have to do it with my HK. For the BH side, when I play in defense mode I go far from the table and lob the ball (smashes/loops from opponent) with my BH and set up for BH/FH loops. Now, with this blade I have to put up more energy in lobbing the ball to get to the other side more than when I do with HK. This extra energy I find messes with my percentage of safe returns and placement with my BH while lobbing and setting up for loops. So FH higher % of returns but tiring, BH not tiring but lesser % of returns and worse placement.

And, I think the throw is slightly lower than the HK.
And oh, when you loop and didn't do it right.... The sound will let everyone knows you just did a crappy loop...

I was still thinking about getting one myself up to the training session but during the session I have doubts and by the end I know I'm going to pass...

I'm sure this blade is good but it doesn't suit me. But this is on very short try-out though. Who knows, I might change my mind if I were to play this blade with more time and had the chance to play with it in real games.

So, if I were to buy one I would pass.... BUT, if someone is giving me a blade for free and I have to choose between this blade and HK.... I will choose this blade....

I will then sell it and buy the HK and have spare money for other stuff...   

p.s.
Based on my previous conversations with Peter, I'd assume that this blade will suit him much better than it suits me. More so coupled with his new Tenergy. So, I hope you have better luck with this blade than I do bud...

You mean harder than the H3P 40 that I used on the FH? Maybe... I didn't try it with regular H3 (Commercial) nor H3P 41 #19 because of lack of time.

Perhaps Peter could try with H3 commercial because I know he doesn't have H3P in 41, he only has 39 & 40.

peter79 wrote: I have received the blade yesterday. The wooden box is so thin and light. Made by crappy wood . The blade finishing is not as good as hurricane King. Well even my 2006 H-king is better made than my 2007 H-king. The side of the blades is rough compared to H-king.

Disclaimer: I had told him about all those things mentioned above BEFORE he decided to buy it...

Hi Peter, would u be kind enuf to post a review or something abt ur experience playing wz this blade?