Tibhar Samsonov Pure Wood

2 months and i haven't received any word from tibhar. they said they were supposed to send the blades (aside from the pure wood, the force pro black also) last end of july

t64t64t64 wrote: Hi Andy, If you want to try cheap blade from tibhar i suggest you Tibhar Premium Contact. I got  many blades,and believe me this one is better than ZLC or Super ZLC. I believe Yogi can confirm my words

Not sure if joking, or....

all i know the pure wood is an all+ wood maybe an improvement of the alpha

doesn't have to be an improvement in just the speed area

NextLevel wrote: Why is everything Tibhar branded Samsonov? What happened to Freitas and Tokic amongst others, even Samara?

Because Freitas and Tokic haven't achieved much in their professional careers compared to Samsonov. Freitas can still reach top 10 and possibly top 8, but Bojac Tokic has stalled in the top50.

Meanwhile my JM SZLC is in vacation.
It is replaced by 22 euro Samsonov Premium Contact.
The amount of spin this blade produce is SICK

AndySmith wrote: t64t64t64 wrote: Meanwhile my JM SZLC is in vacation. It is replaced by 22 euro Samsonov Premium Contact. The amount of spin this blade produce is SICK LOL. How many Premium Contacts could you have bought for the price of one JM SZLC? Then you could have built a shrine out of blades and worshipped each morning.

Edited by firetack - 09/24/2014 at 3:58am

OK, so the Pure Wood has arrived. It's 86g, well-made, I like the style, comfy FL handle.

I've got some digital callipers, and they say that it's 6.1mm thick. Headsize is 157x152.

If people are interested I'll get some photos on in the next few days. I'm not 100% on the construction. The outer ply is quite thick, and has got a touch of scale about it, like koto, but not all over the blade face. Could be ayous, but to be honest most of the ayous outer blades I've seen in the past have been dyed. It doesn't look as "regular" in terms of grain as the Yinhe J-1 pics I've seen, or the Keyshot Light I had ages ago, so I don't know. Maybe it's fineline? Imagine a fineline made from mashed-up koto and limba. Looks like that.

(Edit - looking at the thread on the Gambler Mega Weave, the top ply looks a lot like that. So probably an ayous outer)

Medial plies look to be sapele (hence the dark wood look), and the core is probably kiri. So, if it is fineline/samba - sapele - kiri, that makes this a thicker version of either the Eagle Medium or the Eagle Speed. Hmmmm.

edit - 30 minute robot session with Tenzone Ultra / Rhyzm 425.

This blade is a nice surprise! It has a very solid, reassuring feeling. Only slight, faint vibrations when hitting off-centre. No hollow feel (I hate that in cheaper 5 ply woods). I'd put this bang in the middle of the ALL+/OFF- categories. Medium hard feel, very linear, incredibly easy to use.

I don't have a lot of room in the garage to move away from the table, but I get the impression that it's probably going to lack power from distance. I don't find that to be a particular problem with modern rubbers, but it all depends on what your expectations are.

Close-in it feels like you can't miss. I have a robot exercise which I use when trying new stuff out which is to vary the stroke on one wing in sequence. Drive, block, loop, punch, chop, repeat. I find that if a blade has something surprising about it, it makes itself known somewhere. The Pure Wood just did everything well, even the chopping (I'm no chopper).

Looping arc is good, but with this being a solid, med-hard blade I'm not sure about the quality of spin, or the put-away power yet. I'll get a human in front of me tonight and see what happens. I might try something Chinese on the FH at some point too - it feels like a solid (if steady) base.

Edited by AndySmith - 09/29/2014 at 7:58am

Benigma wrote: How are you going with the Pure Wood so far? Has your opinion of it changed? Still an all+/off- in terms of speed?

I'm really enjoying it! I might make the switch permanently.

It's definitely faster than ALL+, apart from in the softer, shorter stuff where it feels nice and easy to use. Overall I'd probably put it as off-, around primorac speed.

I tried a new sheet of 64-fx last session, and it was plenty fast. Not really an allround blade at all, IMO.

t64t64t64 wrote: Hi andy, do you have experience with Tibhar Premium Contact or Stratus power wood for a comparison with PURE WOOD. Thank you

I haven't used the Premium Contact.

It's a bit slower than the Stratus Power Wood. It's also a bit stiffer, maybe a bit softer, more head heavy. Pure Wood is probably better closer to the table than the Stratus, so it probably comes down to where you spend most of your time when playing.

I emailed Tibhar.

the blade is;

"The Pure woods consist of Koto, Mahagoni and Samba layers. The outer ply is Koto."