Limba wood vs. Hinoki wood?

Subjective - depends on which "feel" you prefer.

icontek wrote: Subjective - depends on which "feel" you prefer.   Personally, as a shakehand player I like Limba. Hinoki seems to lose some of it's wonderful feel when you put it in thinner plies.   Compare a friends 1 ply JPEN with any 5-7 ply hinoki blade - on the 1 ply you have something that's almost magical (soft, fast, forgiving yet precise) on the plywood you feel the resin/layup of the plywood.

I'd like to have the soft feel.  I prefer Limba outer ply too.  Currently, I use Timo Boll ALC which I don't know what the outer ply of this blade is but I know that it's not Limba.  I do not have problem with this blade looping but I think I'll try one with Limba outer ply to see if it's a difference.

Thanks.

FireHorse 

For me, it is also subjective.

Baal wrote: Boll ALC is a great blade.

Yeah, I think so too.  But I want to try something else with Limba outer ply.  I'm thinking about trading it with Holy Crown.  Do you know anything about Holy Crown blade?  I believe that its outer ply is Limba.

Thanks.

FireHorse

Not sure if Holy Crown's outer is Limba.

I like limba...best feeling for me...

hinoki is physically hard? how so? my hardness test is to try to mark the surface with a fingernail. hinoki is readily marked -- it is soft. A hard surface wood is something like White Ash, resists the fingernail test much better than hinoki.

addoydude wrote: hinoki is physically hard? how so? my hardness test is to try to�mark the surface with a fingernail. hinoki is readily marked -- it is soft. A hard surface wood is something like White Ash, resists the fingernail test much better than hinoki.

Believe what you want to. Makes no difference to my life.

edit - I also don't know of white ash being commonly used in table tennis rackets. Hinoki/cypress is definitely on the harder side of woods used in table tennis and limba is definitely one of the softer ones.

OMG...I've heard this type of question so many times : '' is this better or that... '' :-< You should know when it comes to wood, the feeling is very decisive, and that depends on you, if you like stiff, less vibration or soft, etc...But anyway, doesn't Timo Boll Spirit have a Limba top layer ?

I think the TBS has Limba as the second ply (below the ALC layer) and the top ply being Koto with a Kiri core. I also have a blade called Hunter Pyro which has Koto outer, Walnut inner and Kiri center. It is fast (rated OFF+) but still has decent dwell for a good looping game.

http://ooakforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=43&t=7194

FireHorse wrote: icontek wrote: Subjective - depends on which "feel" you prefer.   Personally, as a shakehand player I like Limba. Hinoki seems to lose some of it's wonderful feel when you put it in thinner plies.   Compare a friends 1 ply JPEN with any 5-7 ply hinoki blade - on the 1 ply you have something that's almost magical (soft, fast, forgiving yet precise) on the plywood you feel the resin/layup of the plywood. I'd like to have the soft feel.  I prefer Limba outer ply too.  Currently, I use Timo Boll ALC which I don't know what the outer ply of this blade is but I know that it's not Limba.  I do not have problem with this blade looping but I think I'll try one with Limba outer ply to see if it's a difference. Thanks. FireHorse

It's koto...

M.Maze --> Limba.

Limba

FireHorse wrote: I have a question regarding the outer ply of a blade for loopers.  Which wood type is better for looping:  limba or hinoki? Thanks. FireHorse

Limba

The difference between Limba and koto in hardness is minimal but koto has a straighter grain, Limba more curvy. Hinoki and spruce also has straight (and long) grains. Woods with a straight grain are faster and more crisp for how hard/soft they are. In a lamination grains of following plies are orientated perpendicular to each other (with some exceptions like Nexy Lissom which has three center plies lengthwise to the handle with softer inner ply harder outerplies for the (3 ply) core).
Two thin plies with straight grain like spruce and koto the higher tensile strength works both direktions instead of unidirectional making this combination harder and faster. Hinoki five plies is also much harder then one ply hinoki. The curlier Limba grain makes it a less tense wood and therefor for being not particularly soft it has a longer dwelltime (which can favor looping) then Koto making the feel softer/more dwell.




Edited by tompy - 10/11/2010 at 5:43am