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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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It's agony waiting, but one of the positives of Ross having an
extensive waiting list is that it gives me time to think and plan. By the
time Ross was ready for me, I already had a number of designs. I
shortlisted four quite different ideas and then Ross and I discussed which one we
wanted to undertake.
Original idea for Weave: One of the other possibilities:
Once we had settled on the general design, we refined it in various ways. One significant part was trying to determine which timber would be used. The shape (shown here as Barna-knife - Barna for the blade shape and knife for the handle) had already been worked on for Lily, so it was refinement rather than starting from scratch. Here is the final Powerpoint slide I sent to Ross. Compare it with the final product and you'll see how Ross turns dreams into reality, and then some. The finished product: |
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aeoliah
Premier Member Joined: 11/18/2005 Location: Indonesia Status: Offline Points: 3215 |
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Hi Ross what is the fastest blade that you have made so far ? Please inform me what is the composition and weight.
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Member of the Single Ply Hinoki Club
Viscaria Super ALC C-Pen Rasanter C48 |
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liulin04
Premier Member Joined: 10/20/2003 Location: US Status: Offline Points: 6343 |
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holy cow, Ross has outdone himself yet again! Simply marvelous!!!
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Ross Leidy
Super Member Joined: 10/13/2011 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 402 |
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That's difficult to say since many of the blades that I build are one-offs and I don't get to try them. However, of the ones that I've used, I'm going to say that Effortless is the fastest. It's a 3-ply that's meant to capture the softness and speed of a 1-ply and the stability of a multi-ply. It's WRC-Kiri-WRC, about 9mm, and mid-to-upper 90's. |
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Ross Leidy
Super Member Joined: 10/13/2011 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 402 |
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Thanks!
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aeoliah
Premier Member Joined: 11/18/2005 Location: Indonesia Status: Offline Points: 3215 |
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I was trying to avoid thick blade.
Perhaps I will follow your suggestion to have a thicker Kiri on Rapscallion. maybe I can have something around 7mm. |
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Member of the Single Ply Hinoki Club
Viscaria Super ALC C-Pen Rasanter C48 |
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Argothman
Silver Member Joined: 12/20/2013 Location: The stars Status: Offline Points: 551 |
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Hey Ross, do you make and sell handles alone that can be attached to an existing blade? I love my blade, but these handles are exquisite, and I'd love to have one on my main racquet.
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Ross Leidy
Super Member Joined: 10/13/2011 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 402 |
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Unfortunately, no I don't. There are a couple reasons: The sealing/finishing happens after the grips are attached to the blade and I've completed the final smoothing. Retro-fitting a set of pre-finished grips to a blade is difficult to do without removing some of the finish. Also, the majority of the time (and therefore, cost) involved in building the blade due to the labor associated with the handle. The price I would need to charge for the grips alone would be more than folks would be willing to pay.
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jrscatman
Premier Member Joined: 10/19/2008 Status: Offline Points: 4585 |
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Hi Ross,
Is there a reason you don't use Kiri as core? I thought Butteryfly uses this a core for their blades? Thanks
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Butterfly MPS
FH: Donic Acuda S1 BH: Palio CK531A OX |
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Ross Leidy
Super Member Joined: 10/13/2011 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 402 |
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I use mostly kiri for the core of my blades.
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jrscatman
Premier Member Joined: 10/19/2008 Status: Offline Points: 4585 |
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oh, I looked at your website and under core - Kiri was not listed. That's why I asked. Thanks
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Butterfly MPS
FH: Donic Acuda S1 BH: Palio CK531A OX |
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Ross Leidy
Super Member Joined: 10/13/2011 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 402 |
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My website definitely needs to be updated. I just wish I had more time!
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Argothman
Silver Member Joined: 12/20/2013 Location: The stars Status: Offline Points: 551 |
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Would you ever consider being sent a blade and putting a new handle on it? This is not something I would do now, but if I ever become a successful tournament player I would definitely fork out some money on something personal like this. :) |
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Ross Leidy
Super Member Joined: 10/13/2011 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 402 |
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I've done this a couple times, but prefer not to do it. I don't like to take the chance of damaging someone else's blade when removing the old handle.
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Argothman
Silver Member Joined: 12/20/2013 Location: The stars Status: Offline Points: 551 |
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Fair enough. No sense in messing with things that don't really need to be messed with, after all! |
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Ross Leidy
Super Member Joined: 10/13/2011 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 402 |
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I don't often get the time to work on a blade for myself, but a couple months back I had chance to build this one. Since I haven't posted any photos in a while, I thought I'd share this one. The handle is the vase anatomic style.
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Tassie52
Gold Member Joined: 10/09/2010 Location: Australia Status: Offline Points: 1318 |
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Hmmm... Beautiful - as always. Three ply? Kiri core? Douglas fir medial? WRC outer? (I think I've seen somethin similar somewhere.)
Any thoughts on how it plays? Weight! Thickness? Edited by Tassie52 - 05/19/2015 at 8:45am |
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Ross Leidy
Super Member Joined: 10/13/2011 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 402 |
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Tassie - Oh, that's right - you did see this one before. It is indeed the one that I built at the same as I was building your last one. Yes, WRC outer, Douglas fir medial, Kiri core. I've not had a lot of playing time with the blade since then - busy life. But, it is fairly fast - a solid OFF, maybe edging into OFF+. This is not surprising with its 7mm thickness. Very flat rebound. The stiffness is countered with the 1mm thick soft WRC outers, so it can generate some nice spin. I don't remember the exact weight - I'm guessing mid to upper 80's.
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jrscatman
Premier Member Joined: 10/19/2008 Status: Offline Points: 4585 |
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Ross, With all the blades you build - do you have any standardized tests that you use to test the play ability of the blades? Thanks PS: As usual amazing looking blade.
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Butterfly MPS
FH: Donic Acuda S1 BH: Palio CK531A OX |
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Ross Leidy
Super Member Joined: 10/13/2011 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 402 |
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Since this is a part-time endeavor for me, most of my spare time goes into just building the blades. For new compositions that I'm considering adding to my lineup, I'll get the blade into the hands of some more experienced players for evaluation. I've received a lot of very helpful information that way.
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Ross Leidy
Super Member Joined: 10/13/2011 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 402 |
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Some fatt eye-candy.
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Tassie52
Gold Member Joined: 10/09/2010 Location: Australia Status: Offline Points: 1318 |
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But some of us need more details, please. Weight? Thickness? Handle? How do you expect it to play? When are you going to give it a test run? Details, fatt, details... please???
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Ross Leidy
Super Member Joined: 10/13/2011 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 402 |
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Sorry for not being clear. It's not fatt's blade - I just thought he'd appreciate the edge photos. The experimental blade is a 9-ply of WRC, about 83g, 5.7mm thick, Orange Agate Vase AN handle. It's slower than I had expected for all its stiffness, probably on the upper side of ALL+. Huge sweet spot as you might expect from all those plies. All those factors make it a great blade for blocking. The soft/springiness of WRC doesn't really come through with the thin plies as it does on blades with thicker WRC plies. Overall, it's a very predictable blade, but I miss the liveliness of a blade with a little more flex.
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jrscatman
Premier Member Joined: 10/19/2008 Status: Offline Points: 4585 |
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Very nice - I'm a little acronym challenged (a lot challenged actually) What is AWC and WRC?
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Butterfly MPS
FH: Donic Acuda S1 BH: Palio CK531A OX |
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Ross Leidy
Super Member Joined: 10/13/2011 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 402 |
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Arghhh! Two unclear posts in a row for me! AWC - Atlantic White Cedar WRC - Western Red Cedar and just for good measure: AYC - Alaskan Yellow Cedar POC - Port Orford Cedar |
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aeoliah
Premier Member Joined: 11/18/2005 Location: Indonesia Status: Offline Points: 3215 |
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Not me . I have already 4 or 5 RL blades, but for Christmas it should be a good looking blade, and due to the fact that I played J-pen, all blades look the same
Edited by aeoliah - 12/15/2015 at 3:17am |
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Member of the Single Ply Hinoki Club
Viscaria Super ALC C-Pen Rasanter C48 |
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Tassie52
Gold Member Joined: 10/09/2010 Location: Australia Status: Offline Points: 1318 |
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For a five ply, she plays so solidly, definitely in the Off - Off+ range. A friend tried her today and was consistently hitting everything long and he normally uses a carbon blade. It seems that Ross Leidy creations just get better with age. Ross, perhaps we need to find a project for 2016?
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aeoliah
Premier Member Joined: 11/18/2005 Location: Indonesia Status: Offline Points: 3215 |
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Billie Weaver ? I have never read it before. Did Ross make it ? what is the composition ? Thanks.
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Member of the Single Ply Hinoki Club
Viscaria Super ALC C-Pen Rasanter C48 |
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Tassie52
Gold Member Joined: 10/09/2010 Location: Australia Status: Offline Points: 1318 |
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Edited by Tassie52 - 12/20/2015 at 11:51pm |
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Ross Leidy
Super Member Joined: 10/13/2011 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 402 |
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I can always count on you for a challenge! |
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