Stiga Arctic Wood

How do you get a hard feel from a softwood?

BTW I looked at pictures of Pines in the Boreal forest, the Jack Pine could be it but only has Janka hardness of 570 which is about the same as limba

arg0 wrote: Siberian Larch / Dahurian Larch has about 1100 lbf Janka hardness, and other larches and pines have about 1100-1200 lbf. These values are about the same as Teak, some Walnut types, Oak, and come close to White Ash (used e.g. for Violin).

$83.83 at TT11

Wondering why yogi did not just copy it over...

About the top ply, I'm not sure: to me, it does not seem to be white ash, nor any related species. Above, I was betting on larch, but also in pictures of larch wood online I cannot find the tiny grooves (pores?) that the arctic wood has.
If these grooves are pores, then it must be some sort of hardwood, because softwood has no pores, as I just found out. This would exclude larch and pine, I suppose.

I agree with yogi on the other plies, should be the same as infinity vps.

Edited by arg0 - 06/23/2017 at 6:57am

Stiga claims the arctic wood grows above the arctic circle, so I checked again the tree species in the arctic treeline [1] and found my new best guess (which replaces all others): sorbus aucuparia, aka Rowan [2]. It is also called mountain ash, but mountain ash is also a common name for other tree species [6]. Note that the rowan species is unrelated to the true ash trees (genus Fraxinus) [2].
Again, the tree is quite unimpressive and looks nothing like the tree in the Stiga advertising video, but the grain is strikingly similar. See [3] fore more pictures. Rowan has a Janka value of about 1690 lbf according to the wood database [4], so it's definitely a hard hardwood.
Wood databse reports a Janka value of 1210 lbf for mountain ash [5], but this is for another species (Eucalyptus regnans), which does not grow above the Arctic Circle.

This is an image of a plank of sorbus aucuparia, doesn't it look familiar?


With this, my quest is over. Unless someone proves me wrong.

Source:
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tree_line#Typical_vegetation
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sorbus_aucuparia
[3] http://www.hobbithouseinc.com/personal/woodpics/mountain%20ash.htm
[4] http://www.wood-database.com/rowan/
[5] http://www.wood-database.com/mountain-ash/
[6] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mountain_ash
Save

Edited by arg0 - 06/24/2017 at 7:49pm

The handle of the arctic wood is too slender for my hand even with legend flared.

tom wrote: Deep down you have doubts - so it is not over - my guess.

True, I've doubts, but no means to clear them. Still waiting for kakapo's source, though pine seems really unlikely to me, now.
Maybe I'll ask Stiga whether my guess is right. I don't expect them to tell me, though...

@Yogi, is it much thinner compared to Legend handle on Infinity? 

It's been quiet here for some time.
I found this review on TT11:

Customer Reviews
16/06/2017 A BLADE WITH GOOD FEELING Review by Jin Yangyang

It's a 5 plies wood blade with hard outer veneers and thick 2nd veneers. It has plenty control and has good speed when attack. the Best is that it gives fine and smooth reflect when hiting. A wonderful 5ply blade in 40+ era.

I'd rather be a forest than a blade.
Yes I would,
If I only could.
I'm Arctic Wood.

One review I found on tabletennis-reference.com. Bing's automated translation is better.

Reviewer: Persimmon pea （Experience： more than 20 years）
2017/07/04

Original review
スティガに勤めている友人のご厚意で早めに貰いましたwお金は払いましたが。
あ、なお、ネオ3は、国狂です。
硬いなーと思いましたが、のわりには回転が非常によく、バランスがいいです。スピードがコントロールをよくしてくれていて、万能なラケットに感じました。
ただ、力がないとこのラケットは本領発揮できないですね。
筋肉自信ある人はぜひぜひ

Translated by Google
I got it early on behalf of my friend working for Stiga. W I paid the money.
Well, Neo 3 is a national devotion.
I thought that it was hard, but in spite of the rotation it is very well, well-balanced. Speed ​​has improved the control, I felt like a versatile racquet.
However, we can not demonstrate this racket without strength.
If you are a self-confident muscle you certainly

Translated by Bing
I got it early with the courtesy of a friend who works for Stiga W I paid the money.
Oh, and, neo-3 is a country maniac.
I thought it was hard, but the rotation is very good, and the balance is nice. The speed was good for the control, and I felt it to be a versatile racket.
However, if there is no power, this racket cannot be demonstrated.
People who have muscle confidence by all means

Overall 15/15
Speed     13/15
Spin     14/15
Control 13/15
Touch     14/15
Hardness     hard
Recommended rubber (Forehand) EARLY Kyo leopard 3
Recommended rubber (Backhand) Bryce High Speed

Someone on Yahoo posted the composition for the Artic Wood as Tamo, Kiri, Ayous, where Tamo(Tamo Ash) can refer to two trees - Fraxinus mandshurica var. japonica(Manchurian Ash) and Fraxinus japonica. The former is native to northeastern Asia in northern China (Gansu, Hebei, Heilongjiang, Henan, Hubei, Jilin, Liaoning, Shaanxi, Shanxi), Korea, Japan and southeastern Russia (Sakhalin Island), whereas the latter originates from the Japanese archipelago.

Hot mercy Martha!  You guys are quite the dendrologists.  Back when I was a sophomore in high school I compiled a leaf collection for a botany project and could tell a quercus rubra (red oak) leaf from an acer rubrum (red maple) one.