What exact does a 'SOFT' feel mean?

Different wood types have different densities. Less dense = softer.
I dunno, does that make sense?

well your 1 ply hinoki will probably be soft and fairly stiff. Soft feel basically means what it implies a softer feeling. Softer generally means higher throw because more dwell time. However its not as simple as that . take for example a 5 ply blade the outer plies maybe soft but the other 3 hard. Therefore initially it will have a soft feel but the harder u hit the harder the feel as the ball is being absorbed deeper by the blade and reaching the harder inner plies instead of just for example a brushing loop where only the outer plies would absorb the ball. So generally speaking people with softer strokes like a loop with more spin than speed, chops etc.. would prefer a softer blade. Whereas people with harder hits, smashes, loopkills etc.. would prefer a harder blade. But a blade could feel hard because of the hard outer plies in reality it is actually softer the harder u hit because of thin soft inner plies. But u could have a thick soft innner plies which is soft but stiff and thick which would be better for hard hitter than a soft thin inner ply which is not thick/stiff..

Less rebound from sponge

I think two blades would only be visually identical, because even if they are from the same brand and model, the material can be originated from different tree or different part of tree with different density, age and other different qualities. Therefore if I buy a replacement blade from same model, I will not get 100% exact performance but I should expect some slight difference. This is only my opinion though.

 

Edited by HyperThyroid - 07/08/2010 at 12:24pm