Cornilleau Gatien Blades

 Glory OFF

This is a 5 ply allwood blade, rosewood+spruce+ayous core. Basically the same wood plies as Stiga Rosewood 5, that I've never had any contact with.. So I can't make a direct comparsion.

Finishing of this blade is very good. ST handle is like old Stiga Bengtsson with the part where we put our thumb sanded for confort. The blade is light factory sealed, so I had no problem with splinters after I took out the rubbers.

Blade dimensions are: 15,2 cm x 15cm and 6mm thickness. It weights 87gr.

I glued one Tenergy 05 2.1 and another one 1.9 as a backhand rubber, It's not read heavy with this combo. Used Andro Turbo Fix glue, this rubbers are 1 month old, no boosted. First thing I noticed is the pronounced "ping" sound of some swedish blades. I really didn't like at first but I got used to it shortly.

The main feature of this blade is its gears. Now I understand better why some asian players like Stiga Rosewood 5 and Ebenholz 5, assuming that they are close.. It is so easy to use on short game and blocks, It feels a little slow on this situation, even with Tenergy 05. When driving the Glory turns out to be a solid OFF blade, not the same input/output compared to BTY ALC blades but when hitting hard it responds very well. It is not so flexible as I thought and it feels medium hard, due to its outer layers. It turns out to be a demanding blade for those who plays at mid distance or away from the table, for those I don't think it's the best option.

Pros: Balance, Gears, Finishing, overall build quality. Better for close to the table play or mid distance if you have enough power to generate yourself.

Cons: Price (retail price in Europe is 99 Euros), not so powerfull as some hydrid OFF blades, demanding on mid distance. It's not a blade for those who look for an offensive blade but want a minimum effort to get lots of power.



Best regards,

piligrim wrote: AMonteiro you are not going to review other 2 blades?

Gatien Absolum OFF+

7 ply wood 6,2mm thickness with ebony outer layer. ST handle is like old Stiga Bengtsson as Glory OFF but the FL handle is thinner compared to both Mater and Legend handles. It's a heavy blade, >90gr, but it feels balanced with Target Ultim 50 both sides. I didn't try with Tenergy of any kind.

Well, this is one of the fastest all wood blades I've tried so far. Feels very hard and rigid. Almost no flex on it. It should be good for short pips hitters.

What I don't really like on this blade is that such a hard outer layer makes it very low throw. Ok, it's faster than I like but it can be controled with slower rubbers but the low throw is the only reason I did not kept this one as I don't use super high throw rubbers like T05.

Also tried with Target Force 45 both sides and it offers a better arc on mid distance but still have a low throw on top spins. It can be adapted openning the blade face a little more but I prefer keep my blade over change my stroke.

Pros: power, balance, good build quality

Cons: price, weight, low throw (at least for me)

Is there any pros playing with Cornilleau blades? 

They look a lot like galaxy rosewood and ebony.