BBC (Charlie)

kolevtt wrote: Magic_M wrote: Matt Pimple is right: the Viscaria core is kiri, NOT balsa !!! And what's kiri ? Kind of balsa wood, right?

Not right! Different family of trees.
Kiri: Paulowniaceae family
Balsa: Malvaceae family
And here is what you can find on OOAK regarding kiri and comparison to balsa:
"kiri: (aka Paulownia, Royal Paulownia, Princess Tree, Empress Tree); A light weight, soft but very tight and torsionally stiff type of wood, mainly used as core veneer. (Almost every Butterfly table tennis blade that is made in Japan has a Kiri core.) More durable, heavier and harder than balsa. (This is one of the main reasons why Butterfly blades are heavier than other manufacturer's blades.) Density .26-35 gm per cubic centimeter. Janka: 250; SG: .26; PCF: 16
This wood is from the Paulownia family. It’s a bit over double the hardness of balsa, but it remains very light-weight. This is a great core wood for faster blades with heavier medial and outer plies. Just like balsa, it cuts down on vibration and makes a blade with a little less feeling than something made with a wood like cypress; just like balsa, it cuts down on vibration and makes a blade with a little less feeling than something made with a wood like cypress; Janka: 250; SG: .26; PCF: 16"

Renol wrote: AcudaDave wrote: Charlie can vary the core thickness of the Excalibur to make it off - off+ if you like. The normal thickness is 5.9 but he made mine 6.0 th speed things up a bit. Just tell Charlie you want an off Excalibur and he can make the core slighter thicker. Is the Excalibur one of the new blades that Charlie mentioned with nano-carbon?

Judging by this

http://mytabletennis.net/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=74034&PID=913189&title=bbc-excalibur#913189

yes, it is made with nano-carbon. Interesting that there is no vibration, right? All the blades with nano-carbon I tried had some vibration - however in this case, probably because it has so many layers, the blade is stiffer because of 10 layers of glue.

I'll wait to see the new line of blades he will have over the next few weeks! Hopefully soon!

the_theologian wrote: So exciting! I've already ordered one.

Rocketman that's the blade I'm playing with by Charlie. It's a 7-ply blade with 2 thin carbon layers and it's called Flashdrive 3.0. It weighs about 85 gms but he can vary the weight a little depending on what you like. I was playing with the clipper for several months and although I played ok I kept losing to a 2150-2200 looper. I just didn't have the feel with the Clipper I had with other blades. I contacted Charlie and he sent me the Flashdrive. I beat that looper 3-0 the first time I played him with it. The blade has plenty of power but it has much better control/feel than the Clipper. I'm playing much better now after switching to Charlie's blade. He sells it for $80 and it's worth every penny. The handle is also the best I've ever had.

I love the FlashDrive 3.0 blade! It's a 7-ply thin fairly stiff blade that has good control. I would rate it about Off- as far as speed goes. It has 2 thin plies of carbon, and hard koto outer plies. I was playing with Stiga Clipper and doing ok, but just didn't have the great feel I had been used to, so I began looking for an alternative. Decided to give Charlie a call, and timing must have just been right as he was ready to start making blades again. He sent me this FlashDrive and I immediately started playing better with it as I had better feel/control, but still plenty of power to finish the point with. I used to play with a Donic Burn Aratox RS Carbon blade that was similar in weight/thickness/feel, but I think this blade is even better for me as it has slightly more power/throw angle.
You were spot on about the Quad-Trip in saying that it has too much vibration and sometimes is a bit springy. I came to the same conclusion, so I didn't really care for it as much. But the FlashDrive doesn't have that springy feeling and it's perfect for hitting. Charlie said it was more of a hitting blade, but I've played great with the Rhyzm Tech on my BH with it. I tend to brush loop and spin it more than drive it and it's been great for that as well. The best part though is it only sells for $80, and you know how great his handles are. To sum it up it's a solid-feeling blade that has plenty of power, but still has good touch/control.

Hm, 3 days ago I tried to contact him (with email), but up to now he did not answer. 

LOG1C1AN , you are in LA, where do you play?

That'd be awesome, i m in SFV too, i usually go play @ LATTA, i must know you if you play at the temple in lincoln heights?

AcudaDave wrote: I love the FlashDrive 3.0 blade! It's a 7-ply thin fairly stiff blade that has good control. I would rate it about Off- as far as speed goes. It has 2 thin plies of carbon, and hard koto outer plies. I was playing with Stiga Clipper and doing ok, but just didn't have the great feel I had been used to, so I began looking for an alternative. Decided to give Charlie a call, and timing must have just been right as he was ready to start making blades again. He sent me this FlashDrive and I immediately started playing better with it as I had better feel/control, but still plenty of power to finish the point with. I used to play with a Donic Burn Aratox RS Carbon blade that was similar in weight/thickness/feel, but I think this blade is even better for me as it has slightly more power/throw angle. You were spot on about the Quad-Trip in saying that it has too much vibration and sometimes is a bit springy. I came to the same conclusion, so I didn't really care for it as much. But the FlashDrive doesn't have that springy feeling and it's perfect for hitting. Charlie said it was more of a hitting blade, but I've played great with the Rhyzm Tech on my BH with it. I tend to brush loop and spin it more than drive it and it's been great for that as well. The best part though is it only sells for $80, and you know how great his handles are. To sum it up it's a solid-feeling blade that has plenty of power, but still has good touch/control.

AcudaDave wrote: Flashdrive is a little faster and Charlie thinks of it being more of a hitting blade. I like the Flashdrive but the Excalibur is probably better for looping. I also think the Excalibur has more gears, but they are both great blades.

Thanks.

Edited by Renol - 01/16/2016 at 6:01am

Yep that's correct. The wood layers of the Flashdrive are koto as well. They are a dyed "rock" koto. He also uses Wenge wood in the handles as this wood is good at being water resistant.

FlashDrive is OFF-? slower than, say, Korbel?

I received an Attack JR yesterday. I can't believe how nice Charlie's blades are.

victorm wrote: Really nice - which blade model is this?

JimT wrote: the_theologian wrote: victorm wrote: Really nice - which blade model is this? the All Around How slow (ALL?) is the All-Around ?