Review: 729 Faster 2-All (Blade)

Ok, so I've played with my blade long enough to give a review. I don't think many people have this blade so I'd thought I'd share.

The Faster-2 All is part of Friendship's '2008 Olympic' line that includes the Faster (wood), Stronger (arylate/carbon) and Higher (arylate) series. While listed as 'All,' the Faster-2 is a solid Off-. The head is 15 cm wide and 16 cm tall (same width as Primorac Off- but 1 cm taller). The blade is 7 mm thick and is a 5 ply: thick balsa middle, darker 2ndary ply and a sparsely grained (ayous?) outer. The flared handle is very thick, likely the thickest handle on a chinese style blade. Also, the handle is mostly straight but flairs out a tad at the very bottom. THis makes for a very flexible backhand. The bottom line is that my outstretched hand measures 9 in from thumb to pinky, yet doesn't feel crowded on this handle.

The Faster-2 is stiffer than the All+/Off- blades I've tried (Primorac, Stiga All CLassic WRB), allowing you to use softer rubbers more effectively. However, I wouldn't say that this balde is hard feeling-wise. Maybe Medium. This is probably due to the balsa layer's thickness. The palio and lkt xp that I used on it are very soft (>35 degree) sponged rubbers, yet I was able to drive, loop underspin, and counterloop with control. When I put these rubbers on my Primorac, it was very awkward to reloop topspin without the ball flying long because the Primorac was too flexible for sub 35 deg. rubbers. Also, the blade is very evenly balanced in comparison to a lot of blades that are head-heavy. I feel this gives better control overall. As with most Off- wood blades, your shots tend to have a faster 'second gear' speed (after the bounce). Blocking I found fairly intuitive, even with my 2.4 mm sponge on the fh.

I'd also call the blade fairly durable, since I slammed it into the table while trying to do a kreanga serve and it only made a small nick in the edge. I've heard about balsa blades that shatter when slammed; not this one. (the edge was sealed of course tho)

In all, I'd recommend this blade if:

1. You feel your hands are too big for most handles and you want a ~$20 solution
2. You want an all-wood off- blade with the stability to be used with soft sponges (or any sponge that soaks up glue)

If you fit into #1, then you may be surprised at how much having a stable handle soution can improve your play. I just wish that this series was more readily available (I got mine from Cole Ely, who only had one because they weren't available through the proper import channels). There aren't many big handled blades period,let alone all-wood ones with a stiff feel. Friendship is really missing out on some market share here.

That's cool to focus in on the grain.  You can see the spot in around the top of the handle where I didn't seal it.  If I get too close to the handle I sometimes touch it and it changes the color of the paint.