SDC Handmade Blades

Many people here like 5 and 7-ply all wood but I am afraid they are not the majority and the composite thing will always be missing to too many. I bet a 5+2 Innerforce style ZLC that presents the speed of a 1400hz (Viscaria speed) 88g blade would be popular. How about building 5 of them and sending them around? You make people pay for shipping and  they have to re-ship to somebody else after 10 days max.

There is a risk associated with the endeavor, one person will be late, another will forget etc...I imagine it's part of the risk of doing business but if you have a veto right on who can and cannot receive one, you might stay in control.

Another solution is to build a number of identical blades and selling them with a serious discount in exchange for a detailed review.

Good luck! (you do not really need any, you have been ripe for success for a while.)

This one has the same structure and about the same thickness as the blade from two posts ago, however it uses a thicker outer ply and thinner core. This gives it less speed, more control, more feedback, and a higher top spin arc than the other one, making it perfect for an allround top spin style.

Composition: Fineline / Glassfiber / Kiri / Glassfiber / Fineline

Weight: 86.1g

Thickness: 6.2mm

Freq.: 1162Hz

Balance: 3.3cm (Med)

Another Viscaria type composition, definitely my most requested blade, and for a good reason.

Composition: Koto / A-C / Ayous / Kiri / Ayous / A-C / Koto

Weight: 90.2g

Thickness: 5.85mm

Freq.: 1464 Hz

Balance: 1.8 (Very Low)

Lighter as in less dense. Kiri has a big variation in density, I have boards almost as light as Balsa and others almost as heavy as ayous.

It's hard to judge a blade without trying it, but theoretically speed wise it should be similar to the TB ALC but with a slightly higher throw. This one was sold almost immediately so it's no longer available, I can make a similar one but it will require a custom order. We can discuss that in private if your interested.

I've talked about Diolen fibre before, Diolen is a high tenacity polyester fibre and many manufactures use it as substitute for Arylate or Aramid (even tough they don't call it that) because it also provides a soft feeling. In the pictures we can see two different colors (red and black) but in this case I'm using a plain Diolen fabric, so no carbon is involved in the weave. This plain Diolen fabric is one of the softest I use, besides glass-fiber, so it provides some vibration damping along with a small increase in sweetspot and speed, although less than with ALC or I-C for example. However, it does retain more of a woody feeling and control, so it's a perfect blade for those that like the feel of an outer fiber blade, but without the speed increase that usually accompanies them.

Composition: Koto / Diolen / Ayous / Kiri / Ayous / Diolen / Koto

Weight: 84.6g

Thickness: 5.85mm

Freq.: 1270 Hz

Balance: 3.0 (Med)

Nice, you are scrutinizing my pictures...

Nothing to solve, the blade is perfectly legal, your technique is flawed. The cloth is 0.25mm thick, you can do the math.

No offense taken, sorry if I was a bit defensive. No need to hide the posts, full transparency. I've also tried measuring blades like that but it just doesn't work, we are dealing with a precision 0.01mm, so any tiny deviation will translate into a big error. Where does one layer end and the other begins? Sometimes it's not easy to see, especially with a composite layer. Regarding the legality aspect, I only do legal blades. I've had some unusual request but I won't do it if it means the blade will be illegal for competition.

It is normal that I compare you with Ross Leidy, you are the closest to what he used to do here with a twist: you really know how we think and you play yourself competitively while he is more of an artist. One thing I used to enjoy in his posts was the description of the handle and the woods used to make them. I strongly believe you would add value to your awesome thread by adding that. Also a picture of the inside of the handles before gluing would be great.

Have a great weekend!

stiltt wrote: It is normal that I compare you with Ross Leidy, you are the closest to what he used to do here with a twist: you really know how we think and you play yourself competitively while he is more of an artist.

Hipnotic wrote: I love Ross's work, he was one of my inspirations when I started doing this. But I think we have a different vision, I always prioritize the practicality of things, something I still carry from my Engineering days, while I think Ross puts a big focus on the aesthetics. For example, most of his handle designs are sealed, which enhances the wood, but it also the causes the handle to be slippery.

You are both right. 

I bought 4 blades from Ross and each of them looked like a jewel. Simply fantastic.

   

Maybe the reason is totally simple: A player knows better what  a player needs. 

And by the way: his blades are also not really ugly. 

   

My teammate's new weapon. Full credit to him on the design 😎

Composition: Black Walnut / Ayous / S A-C / Kiri / S A-C / Ayous / Black Walnut

Weight: 89.3g

Thickness: 6.05mm

Freq.: 1420 Hz

Balance: 2.8cm (Low)

Remember that wall I was building? This is it, something to evoke to my Civil Engineering background, a Viscaria type composition that has been my personal blade for some time.

In a previous post I explained how there are some things I can tweak during the building process to make a blade harder and faster, or softer and slower, but keeping the same exact composition. This is where the frequency reading comes in handy, Black Tag Viscarias are known for having a softer feel and a lower frequency peak of about 1380 Hz, and this was exactly what I was going for.

Composition: Koto / A-C / Ayous / Kiri / Ayous / A-C / Koto

Weight: 85.7g

Thickness: 5.7mm

Freq.: 1378 Hz

Balance: 2.6 cm (Low)

Sometimes I'm asked if I can replicate a blade I built in the past. In most cases the answer is yes, I keep records of all the builds so I can reproduce them in the future if necessary. This was such a case, a blade for a customer that wanted one just like his first.

Composition: Black Limba / Black Limba / I-C / Ayous / I-C / Black Limba / Black Limba

Weight: 87.5g

Thickness: 5.75mm

Freq.: 1290 Hz

Balance: 4.0cm (High)