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Handcrafted Blades by Ross Leidy |
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Tassie52
Gold Member Joined: 10/09/2010 Location: Australia Status: Offline Points: 1318 |
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This handle is just sheer class. Wonderful, wonderful work.
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stiltt
Assistant Admin Joined: 07/15/2007 Location: Location Status: Offline Points: 984 |
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oh my this has got to be the most wonderful handle I have ever seen in my life; just when we think he won't be able to push the limits of his talent any further, Ross just does.
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emihet
Platinum Member Joined: 09/22/2009 Location: Oregon Status: Offline Points: 2315 |
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looks lie a burgundy suit with a black tie
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Viscaria, Ma Long 5, Old Clippers, BTY Ovtcharov and Various Custom blades
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LOG1C1AN
Super Member Joined: 04/22/2013 Location: Los Angeles Status: Offline Points: 303 |
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It reminds me of a nice cloth bookmark laying against a beautiful leather book cover. Amazing work as always Ross. |
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comodoensis
Member Joined: 05/23/2014 Location: Indonesia Status: Offline Points: 61 |
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greetings mr. leidy :D
After reading pages of this great thread I came across something in my mind, and decided to ask for opinion in this thread. My current blade is stiga Infinity VPS V, and I feel the lack of speed when I get 2-3 steps from the table. the spin's tremendous though, it mostly overwhelms players at my current level. I mostly use hard, tacky rubbers on my forehand (usually dhs hurricane 3 neo, galaxy apollo I, and I'm currently using xiom tau, and decided to settle on this one for a while despite the price) and short pips with 2mm sponge on the backhand side, currently using double fish 820a with 2mm reactor sponge. I mostly loops and flat hits with this pips, but sometimes I 'fish's or chops with my backhand (and forehand, rarely though since I prefer to counter-topspins any balls coming to my forehand side) for a change of pace (a 22-years-old ocassional-chopper, the only one at my college, and I often get scolded by my coach for my chops, since I'm one of the most agressive-minded player in the college, he thought that I don't really need to do any chops/slices, while on the contrary sometimes I feel I need to be able to chop for some variation in backhand department, despite the fact I'm being the only crazy guy who tries to backhand loop with short pips mid-far away from the table, and successfully doing it consistently in a funny way though LoL) One day I found some walnut veneers, and this thought cane across my mind : 'if I somehow get to manage this veneers to replace the original one, I might get a one beautiful blade', since the top ply of my blade had chipped off at several places. What I'm curious is, how will walnut veneers behave if it is put on top of spruce layer as the top ply of the blade if compared to limba ? I am very grateful if anyone share their thoughts about what I'm going to do to my blade, and please give me suggestions on the appropriate thickness for the walnut veneers according to my playstyle :) In few weeks I might send my blade to one of my friend who's well known here to be one of the 'blademasters' (somehow the way I called him 'blademaster' is sooooo epic LoL) recommended by several provincial athletes around to do this mod. I'll send some pictures later ;) |
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yogi_bear
Forum Moderator Joined: 11/25/2004 Location: Philippines Status: Offline Points: 7219 |
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walnut is stiffer than limba and has more kick to the ball. if you would have spruce as your next layer it would behave like a YEO which is faster than the infinity. it would be a bit harder to chop with a walnut compared to a limba
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Independent online TT Product reviewer of XIOM, STIGA, JOOLA, SANWEI, GEWO, AIR, ITC, APEX, YASAKA and ABROS
ITTF Level 1 Coaching Course Conductor, ITTF Level 1 Coach |
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comodoensis
Member Joined: 05/23/2014 Location: Indonesia Status: Offline Points: 61 |
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Can you give suggestions on how thick the walnut veneer should be ? Anyway, I always enjoy reading your reviews, it's a great honor to get reponse by you :D |
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yogi_bear
Forum Moderator Joined: 11/25/2004 Location: Philippines Status: Offline Points: 7219 |
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i think from what ross has told me the thinnest ply he can have using his machine is 0.8 - 0.6mm ... maybe 0.6mm
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Independent online TT Product reviewer of XIOM, STIGA, JOOLA, SANWEI, GEWO, AIR, ITC, APEX, YASAKA and ABROS
ITTF Level 1 Coaching Course Conductor, ITTF Level 1 Coach |
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Ross Leidy
Super Member Joined: 10/13/2011 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 402 |
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Has your friend removed the top ply from a blade before? I suppose it could be done, but it sounds like a good way to ruin a blade. To do it right, he'll need to remove the handle grips, too, in order to get a continuous ply of walnut applied over the whole blade. Good luck with the project! The walnut that you've found is most likely the "standard" thickness of 0.6mm.
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stiltt
Assistant Admin Joined: 07/15/2007 Location: Location Status: Offline Points: 984 |
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It seems to me the labor involved in removing the top plies exceeds by far the cost of building a new blade...and you would end up with 2 of them.
If not it probably means the removal will be uneven. I took off the top plies of a tb zlc once and it takes forever if we care about taking it all off AND not taking any of the 2nd plies off (it was easier in my case since the carbon was right behind). |
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comodoensis
Member Joined: 05/23/2014 Location: Indonesia Status: Offline Points: 61 |
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Yes mr. Leidy, logically, it seems I'm going to have my blade handle detached first by him, then I have no idea on what he's going to do next but the idea is to fully changes the top ply with the walnut veneers I've found, though sadly I'm not lucky enough to find one more from those leftover veneers that have evenly aligned grains (I guess I'll have to put the veneer with good grain alignment on the forehand side, just for aesthetical purpose though LoL). From what I heard and saw from my friend who used to love to make many mods with factory-made blade, the easiest way to detach any plies used on a blade is just simply heat it up with a hair dryer. Never try it myself though, I guess in the future I ought to try it myself, which means I got to have an experimental blade to do this trick (maybe I'll just scavenge those big carton boxes lying at my friend's tt shop, hoping there's another old pf4 left, usually I get those at $3-5, so nothing to lose then LoL) My attacking style mostly depends on loops, chinese-style loopdrives (since I've developed to use hard, tacky chinese rubber from the first time I re-started to play table tennis after +- 10 years (or shall we say, my teenager times, since I prefer to do soccer and basketball at that time LoL) not playing table tennis, sometimes boosted, sometimes not, depending on what rubber I'm using) and if I was forced to do smashes, I sometimes twiddle, use my short pips side to make some disturbing effects and make some confusion for opponents on what ball is coming to him/her :D and somehow l developed a kind of 'allergic' against blade that has thickness over 6.5mm, whether it's 5-ply, 7-ply, or more, it feels weird for me somehow (except for those Clippers, I still can manage it), maybe it's just a kind of my personal preferences on my ideal blade supposed to be LoL Do you have any suggestions about the walnut veneers' thickness to make a good looping blade yet have some more speed compared to original Infinity VPS V ?
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Ross Leidy
Super Member Joined: 10/13/2011 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 402 |
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Heating the blade may soften the glue, but not just the top layer of glue. However, if your friend is used to doing this kind of repair, I defer to his expertise. I'd suggest looking for veneer that's the same thickness as the existing outer ply. If you can only find thicker veneer, I wouldn't go past the standard 0.6mm thickness. Good luck!
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comodoensis
Member Joined: 05/23/2014 Location: Indonesia Status: Offline Points: 61 |
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Thank you for your great knowledge and suggestions mr. Leidy :D How will the top ply thickness effect the blade characteristics after it is changed to walnut ?
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Ross Leidy
Super Member Joined: 10/13/2011 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 402 |
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With increased thickness of the walnut ply the blade will become heavier, stiffer, harder (to a point) and faster.
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comodoensis
Member Joined: 05/23/2014 Location: Indonesia Status: Offline Points: 61 |
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Thanks again Mr. Leidy :D So, with the same thickness, walnut, instead of limba, will make the blade stiffer, harder feeling, faster, heavier ? :D I've roughly measured the original top ply thickness is around 0.4-0.5 mm (I can't get and actual measurement since I lost my caliper that I usually use for automotive purpose, I got a soft side for doing some moped mods too LoL) I measured it on my previous Infinity (I have 2 Infinities actually, the one that's going to be modified is the AN handle one :D). How thick should the walnut veneers supposed to be in order to achieve some speed boost, yet not making the blade to stiff ? Or maybe could you suggest what treatment/mods we should do to the walnut veneers to make them work optimally ? I really don't want to lose the 'feel'/touch (the only way I can describe this feel is : it feels really able to grab the ball which makes the blade more spinny than other blades, with same thickness and wood composition in my cheap-prized-blade collections), but I'm really looking forward for some extra speed from this mod :D I know this might sounds crazy, but maybe it's just me being to naïve in my personal quest : a near-blazing-fast 5-ply all-wood blade with good dwell and flex, though maybe I can handle some 7-ply all-wood/composite blade with thickness around 6mm max for extra speed department, but that's not an option, since it's so hard, nearly impossible to find blade with AN handle around here, and I'm sort of running out of cash, also I have to save some cash to buy forehand rubber's replacement soon, and the cost for this mod is only approx. $10. It's quite a lot of money here though for a college boy with some finance problems caused by hobbies like me LoL. Anyway, in few days I will receive 2 blades from my friend. One is a blade from 70's custom-made blade for ex-CNT trainer (don't know who used it and who made it, but that's all what my friend said to me, and it evidently seems true to me, since the usage of basswod top ply, that feels classic LoL), and the other one is one of the blade crafted by this 'blademaster'. If you don't mind, can I post the blade's pictures here mr. Leidy ? I really appreciate any comments and thoughts from you and other members as well :)
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comodoensis
Member Joined: 05/23/2014 Location: Indonesia Status: Offline Points: 61 |
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Dear Mr. Leidy, I am terribly sorry I can't upload the blade's picture. the maker didn't allow me to do, sine this blade is some kind of prototype he made; he only made 5 of it, and gave to several both active and retired province/national player in here. Actually I'd love to receive any comments and thoughts regarding this blade's structure by showing the pictures of it, but he didn't allow me to :( but maybe I'll break his rules a bit, by describing this blade :p
It is a 5 ply composite blade, I can't measure its thickness (again, because I lost my caliper), but by looking at it it is approx. 6.5-7.0 mm thick. the top ply is ayous (pretty weird though since I never seen myself blades with ayous top ply), thin titanium layer (I don't now it's a thin plate, mesh, or maybe other form of titanium, he won't tell me), and Pine as its center ply The most peculiar thing I find in this blade is the core/center ply. it is a single layer core like any normal 5 ply composite blade, but the strange thing is that it is formed by 3 pieces of wood ply. the only thing he said that he specifically arrange the wood alignment of each layer What does the center ply do with such adjustments like that ? thanks :D Edited by comodoensis - 08/09/2014 at 10:23am |
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Ross Leidy
Super Member Joined: 10/13/2011 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 402 |
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Smokin' Rapscallion |
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Tassie52
Gold Member Joined: 10/09/2010 Location: Australia Status: Offline Points: 1318 |
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Smokin' indeed! I'm guessing this process is going to win you a few new customers. Please try not to gas yourself using heroic quantities of industrial strength ammonia!
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jrscatman
Premier Member Joined: 10/19/2008 Status: Offline Points: 4585 |
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Ross,
As usual amazing looking blade. I have a request can you start another thread and post some pictures of blades that didn't turn out right. Just want to see what it looks like when things don't go as planned. |
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Butterfly MPS
FH: Donic Acuda S1 BH: Palio CK531A OX |
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SolidEvolution
Member Joined: 05/10/2014 Location: The Netherlands Status: Offline Points: 70 |
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Ross, I think you have reached a new height regarding "pictures don't do your work justice".
It's odd seeing this effect in such a large surface, almost sad to see it covered up with rubber. Throw people off completely and add a marble look handle
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Tassie52
Gold Member Joined: 10/09/2010 Location: Australia Status: Offline Points: 1318 |
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I found this in another thread, and I was wondering about the top ply used on the blade. I don't think I've seen anything like it before.
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Ross Leidy
Super Member Joined: 10/13/2011 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 402 |
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Wow, that's some interesting grain. I've never run across anything like that. Nice looking blade.
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Ross Leidy
Super Member Joined: 10/13/2011 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 402 |
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Cough, choke, sputter....
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Ross Leidy
Super Member Joined: 10/13/2011 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 402 |
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The ones that are totally unsalvageable are usually due to a mishap at the CNC machine. Fortunately, that doesn't happen very often. The next time I have one of those disasters, I'll be sure to take a photo and post it. A little carnage to cleanse the palette.
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Tassie52
Gold Member Joined: 10/09/2010 Location: Australia Status: Offline Points: 1318 |
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The blade is in the "Pictures of your blade" thread: http://mytabletennis.net/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=9722&PN=80#824943
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Ross Leidy
Super Member Joined: 10/13/2011 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 402 |
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Thanks. With such an active grain on the face of the blade, I usually go with a simpler grained wood for the handle to give the eyes a rest. But you're probably right - an all masur birch blade might look pretty nice.
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jrscatman
Premier Member Joined: 10/19/2008 Status: Offline Points: 4585 |
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Yikes, that's not Ross L Blade? You mean there's another one you on the planet? I thought from the handle - it was your work. That's pretty cool.....hey does this prices are going to start coming down? or will they double?
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Butterfly MPS
FH: Donic Acuda S1 BH: Palio CK531A OX |
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stiltt
Assistant Admin Joined: 07/15/2007 Location: Location Status: Offline Points: 984 |
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Hello Ross & all,
So that would be news: somebody is cloning RL blades??? |
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MAkira
Super Member Joined: 08/18/2014 Location: USA Status: Offline Points: 135 |
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this is possible?
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jrscatman
Premier Member Joined: 10/19/2008 Status: Offline Points: 4585 |
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Proof is in the picture!
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Butterfly MPS
FH: Donic Acuda S1 BH: Palio CK531A OX |
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