Strange Grain Pattern on Galaxy W-1

Check out the center ply here on my Galaxy W-1:



The center ply has the grain perpendicular to the face of the blade! WTF is happening! It's like someone cut off the end of a log and used that for a center ply haha. Also notice how the blade goes from 7 ply to 9 ply near the handle, with red colored wood. I've played with this blade some and liked it so far, lots of control.

Are there any other blades that have the center ply grain traveling in that direction? What does this do to the blade's performance?

Its balsa... pretty sure anyway.

that would make it softer i guess

LOOPMEISTER wrote: I think the different plies in the handle is what gives it the wooden feel or it adds some vibration/feel to the handle.Also notice there's 2-plys of Limba on top of the carbon. Innerforce W-1?

That would be great if someone could compare the two, innerforce and W-1, I've never even seen an Innerforce.

that's balsa for sure. my cousin has a butterfly balsa carbo x5. it has a center balsa ply. i couldn't get a closer look at  the edge of the blade. sorry. maybe you can save then zoom it :)
 http://butterflyonline.com/images/catalog/zoom/7704ST.jpg

The first two are the only other blades I've found with this "vertical" grain, the balsa carbo was an example of a balsa center that isn't vertical grained

ppmax wrote: That's a new technology called "Naturally-Generated Vertical Uniaxial Cellulosic Fibers".

Could you post a link? I googled it but didn't find any help. Is it what is in the new inner-force blades? Butterfly also has uniaxial, but it is parallel to the blade face, still not like this. What are the main blades using this technology?

BHDoom wrote: i think he was being sarcastic, strange that the middle ply is balsa, i hate the feel of balsa and i used this blade for some time, i always thought it was just thick cut limba cut the other way, guess not, definitely doesnt have a balsa feel to me though

I think so too

Could you compare it's speed/control to your TBS? Or any blade for that matter? Also did you think it was OFF+, OFF, OFF-?

I'm fairly new to trying different blades so I wish I had something to compare it to.

A vertical grain center ply is an intelligent method of achieving a stronger blade and it is exactly the what is done in a honeycomb core plate.  

JRSDallas wrote: A vertical grain center ply is an intelligent method of achieving a stronger blade and it is exactly the what is done in a honeycomb core plate.�� � The center ply does not contribute to the overall stiffness of the sandwich structure (i.e. the blade) nearly as much as the outer carbon layer.� Essentially you can ignore it.� It only serves to keep the carbon layers separate.� However, the carbon layer will locally collapse under the point load of a ball impact unless it is supported from below.�� � The resistance to compression (denting) of the balsa wood with a perpendicular grain (as shown in the pictures) is�much higher than the compresion strength of the same�wood when the grain is parallel to the surface of the blade.     �

Very interesting, how did you know all that? From what you said it seems that having the carbon layers closer to the center therefore 2 layers from the outside is what gives the blade more of a wood feel. I was wondering why a carbon blade was called "The Wood King" haha.

I'm studying engineering and am taking some of my first classes on materials, I wanna blurt out something about table tennis every 5 minutes during the lecture, but I hold my tongue

edit: I actually remembered you're the guy that did the loooonnnnnggg post on materials at DTTW, thanks so much for writing that it was great for an aspiring engineer to read. Are you an engineer? What type? Are there engineering jobs in the table tennis industry

I have a physics background and I taught myself the mechanical engineering specifics of the problem because I wanted to understand it myself.