What wood is hurricane king/655 made of?

Anyone know what wood is hurricane king/655 made of? why it is so expensive? any details on the construction of the blade ?

Originally posted by doraemon It is made of koto - spruce - ayous - spruce - koto. It is not supposed to be very expensive as you can construct similar blades with those wood combination.  I think it is the wood criteria (selection of wood quality), QC, and type of glue, and careful processing that make up 25% of the higher price.  The other 75% reason of higher price is because it bears the name Wang Li Qin !!!! For example, Ma Lin Extra Offensive is made from walnut - spruce - ayous - spruce - walnut and it is made in Sweden as well (similar to HK) and yet it is less than half the price of one HK !!!!  I would say that DHS is a bit greedy in utilizing WLQ's name to the fullest extend.  Yasaka is a bit modest here, even though in China, Ma Lin's name is more popular (so I heard).

oic tq for the info.. is it the wood quality will do much different to the blade? does it mean, depend on how old is the wood? or how do they select between a good quality wood vs not good? i am not very familiar with wood technology :)

Yes, wood quality influences the quality of finished blades.  Wood that is drier (less moisture) and more dense are usually better.  But no one can fully control or modify the characteristics of wood as they are mostly influenced by nature.  Therefore within different batches, we can get blades with different feel, as one would be better than the other.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't the Stiga OC/ OC CR have the same structure koto - spruce - ayous - spruce - koto or is the outer ply limba? I guess since WLQ used the OC CR (at least in the days of speed glue) they constructed the HK out of a similar wood struture. Nothing against Stiga, but they don't necessarily have the best finish quality. I still don't see the huge mark up in the HK price.

Originally posted by chris.b40   ...... A BMW costs more than a Suzuki,arent they both cars? both made of metal,however this being the case  the better vehicle is the BMW.   Look at HK and YEO in this light.

I don't say HK is not a good blade, it is a good blade.  But does it justify the price?  IMHO no, because I still think that material-wise, it will not cost that much.  All the extra cost of QC, special glue (if indeed they use "special glue"), quality of materials, etc. still will not add to the >$100.  I would say the manufacturing process will be about the same as YEO, only the "marketing value" is different.

YEO is Sweden-made blade and bears Ma Lin name, I believe they will not make a crappy one, and yet it costs much less.  And Ma Lin actually uses one now.  Does WLQ use HK now?  No, he used OC-CR for a long time and then HK for awhile (2 - 3 years) and now only God knows what he uses.

For example, I know that Nike and Reebok make a fortune selling >$100 pair of shoes.  Do you know how much they pay 3rd world countries that make them???   Very little.  I remember that one marketing professor said that the biggest allocation of value added were in the design process and then marketing process.  The manufacturing process by 3rd world countries only add up about few cents in profit for them.

By the way, taste differs.  I have YEO and have repeatedly tried HK and don't really like both of them.  I am not saying they are bad, instead they are good but they are not for me.  In term of value, I would choose YEO.  In term of "good feel", I would choose none.

For you, HK is probably the best for you.  I would not argue with that.  But if you think that it will cost a lot to make one, well, I would say that design and marketing are where the value are allocated.

Originally posted by metallikviper Correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't the Stiga OC/ OC CR have the same structure koto - spruce - ayous - spruce - koto or is the outer ply limba? I guess since WLQ used the OC CR (at least in the days of speed glue) they constructed the HK out of a similar wood struture. Nothing against Stiga, but they don't necessarily have the best finish quality. I still don't see the huge mark up in the HK price.

Very Old OC = koto - spruce - ayous - spruce - koto

Current OC =  limba - spruce - ayous - spruce - limba

Originally posted by doraemon 1)  In term of "good feel", I prefer Violin. Violin offers this "unique feeling" that I can't find in another blades (including YEO and HK, not sure about HK655 as I have never tried it).  It seems that Violin offers "something different" that makes Nittaku tag a high price on it.  Is it justified?  Not sure, as this "value added" thing is subjective. But I agree that Violin has this good "unique feeling".  I could not feel it the first few tries, but as I play longer, I started to "feel" it. 2)  In term of effectiveness (able to produce shots that I perform), all of them are good (need adjustment though using one to another).  But in term of "feel", I don't find HK and YEO as good as Violin.

You should try Hking 655, it's softer and better than the old one.
My Violin setup is slower on FH than Hking 655 but on BH it's faster.
Violin is very match with T05, you should try it on BH!!!

Violin is the best feel blade I've ever tried, only lack of speed. Putting T05 on FH makes it fast though, but I prefer H3 on FH.

I hope Nittaku will make a faster version of Violin just like Tenor which is a faster version of Acoustic. It would be a perfect blade for WBG era.

peter79

when the produce hking 655.. what actually the different between hking? the weight is different, is it coz of the handle or any added material on hking 655?

Originally posted by nashron when the produce hking 655.. what actually the different between hking? the weight is different, is it coz of the handle or any added material on hking 655?

thickness of the blade in general, thickness of the individual plaies.  at least on mine, the blade seems a lot more balanced than my old I07.  besides that, nothing else is really different.  but those things do change how it feels and plays pretty dramatically.

Sorry for the offtopic, but I wonder what is the composition of the HK predecessor - H-WL? Unfortunately, I cannot say from the visual inspection of the blade.

Sure, at least predecessor in WL line of products.

My HK weighs 95 grms on the scale

ThaiLe