American Hinoki Table Tennis Blade Reviews

by Varghese on January 31, 2009

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Here are some eye pleasing picturess of American Hinoki blades.

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About American Hinoki

There should be no room for a doubt. The American Hinoki table tennis blades are made in the great country of the United States Of America. They are custom made to the weight and with the minute details of your requirement. I have worked with American Hinoki to try out some of their experimental as well as demo table tennis blades.

WRC (West Red Cedar)/Basswood

The West Red Cedar comes from a Cypress family of woods. The Cypress Hinoki wood is being used in table tennis blades, although not as a simple piece of wood also called single ply. There are so many good qualities of Hinoki make them good blades. They have soft feeling but have extreme dynamic behavior the advanced players look for in a game. The single ply Hinoki blades are used by JPen or Penhold players. Now this trend is going to the shakehand players. The shakehand players have forgot this fact that the Hinoki blades can regain the spin and speed once they have attained through speed glues.

The WRC/Basswood American Hinoki blade has an excellent thicker handle. I have felt very comfortable in playing a extreme top spin game from both the wings. The vibrations on the face is very controlled. I don’t think a top spin blade should dampen the vibration. In this case, I think the basswood on the backhand side is controlling the vibration of the face.

I have tried various rubbers on this blade. I have tried Butterfly Tenergy 25, XIOM Omega II & III Asian & European rubbers. I liked the combination of XIOM Omega II Asian with the WRC blade. The XIOM Omega II Asian has hardness of 47.5 degree, but I have not felt the hardness of the rubber on WRC blade at all - extreme dynamic behavior is what I call it.

What is this basswood? The basswood has high energy absorption, so being used on slow blades. The basswood on one side of this blade to my surprise could stop a 100 miles per hour travelling ball to its knee. This deadness is surely from basswood as well as the way it is glued to one side of the hinoki ply. This is surely a blade for a looper who wants to block on the backhand and loop from the forehand.

I’m an active defensive player. I have felt the basswood is not a right choice for an active defensive player. The reason is basswood’s inability of generating forward force. Also the basswood creates a little high throw while blocking heavy tospin.

I have tried various defensive rubbers on the backhand side. I have tried TSP Curl P1R. I have tried Dr.Neubauer Anti Special also - not a long pips rubber but an anti-spin rubber. Except the fact my backhand can slow the ball down, it was hard to see any spin reversal or any spin at all. This has caused me to be severly punished by my opponents. I have seen them making mistakes when I have played a spin variation game, but it was not satisfactory.

NWC (North White Cedar)

I have felt a great deal of facial vibrations with NWC American Hinoki blade. This is surely a top spin blade. This was a demo blade, so lacked little craftmanship. I have heard from players as well as I have experienced myself that the craftmanship of American Hinoki is excellent.

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{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }

van fondas April 20, 2010 at 2:54 pm

hi, if the american hinoki basswood blade is not good for defense, then what all wood blade would you recommend for great spinny chops and control. thank you, van fondas

Richard Lim January 7, 2012 at 12:32 pm

What wood combination do you recommend for combination players?
I wish to have a blade with very slow in Backhand and to have maximum spin reversal…..and fast in Forehand like the feel on One ply Hinoki.

thanks,
Richard Lim

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