Oh? Atypical Inner Blades
After my piece the day before yesterday, “The Different Uses of Classic Inner and Classic Outer Blades,” everyone wanted me to write about atypical outer and atypical inner blades. So today, let us first sort out atypical inner-fiber blades.
First, a review. For typical inner blades, let me name three: the W968, Heima-tuned Max ZFC, and Hugo ARY-C.
These three blades really do highlight spin plus power. Under medium power they are steady and controllable, with speed that is not so fast. They rely more on spin to maneuver, but when you give power, they shine — after you fire, the ball quality is amplified and strengthened, so the bottom power is mighty, with a sense of power-based oppression.
The official numbered-edition W968. This is very typical. After you fire, it is very jet-like, with a turbo-effect accelerating loop — truly high explosiveness. But among the three above, it is also the one that most needs power output and is the hardest to borrow pace. A few causes: a thin handle, a large face, a balance point closer to the head. Without full power, it does not move much, especially on the backhand. The old 968’s backhand was not crisp; now that the face is not so large, it has improved a bit. But it still emphasizes active power generation. And active power on the backhand has a fairly high threshold for amateurs.
Heima-tuned Max ZFC. Many players have played this. It also highlights stable spin, with the spring-board after-power under big force. Thanks to the fiber, its support and rebound speed are quite good. But it is still a typical inner blade. Because at about 5.8mm thick, it is still a thin blade. Still: under small-to-medium power, spin dominates (even though its speed beats many inner blades); above medium power, it relies on the sense of power to intimidate the opponent.
Hugo ARY-C. Honestly, I only tried that Hugo ARY-C for a few minutes at the Sports Expo, but the forehand feel was fairly clear. It is also an inner green-aramid-carbon structure, but with a fuller grip. I felt its bottom power would beat the similarly inner-green-aramid-carbon Aula hybrid carbon, no weaker than the Golden Wa. As for why — whether the blade body is thicker or some other reason — I did not observe carefully at the time. But I still put it in the typical-inner category. I will keep playing it later.
So which are the atypical inner blades? First, one key way to achieve it: using a kiri core.
Tomokazu Harimoto SALC. This one is very obvious. Especially when you pair it with easy-to-drive rubber — first ensure you can drive through the rubber — then you will find this blade still leans toward transmitting power. Although it is inner SUPER ALC, it is not stiff. On the contrary, it is very easy to drive through, with a smooth feel and high error-tolerance.
Clearly, if you swapped its kiri core for an ayous core, it would not be this effect. Last year I had the factory make, on the Harimoto SA’s inner structure, one with a kiri core (which became the Miao) and one with an ayous core, with fuller bottom power, but with a relatively more obvious gap between non-firing and firing — better sense of power, but relatively harder to control, with a lower landing rate.
That is to say, the Harimoto SALC and the Miao, using kiri cores, appear easy to drive through after firing, rather than greatly increasing power. They belong to atypical inner blades. Actually the Donic Lind is about the same example. Just look at everyone’s feedback and you basically know: steady as an old dog, but bottom power that is middle-of-the-road. Right — this kind of kiri-core atypical inner blade is generally like this.
So is there a way to strengthen the sense of power? Yes. Two methods, and below are exactly two cases: the Tomokazu Harimoto SZLC (thickening) and the Cybershape (changing the face).
Tomokazu Harimoto SZLC. Overall thickness about 6.2mm. We know a thick blade has better stiffness. The Ovtcharov ALC also has better stiffness than the Inn ALC, because it is thickened, but it still has an ayous core and follows the traditional path — just that after stiffness rises, pace-borrowing speed improves somewhat. The Harimoto SZLC has a kiri core. So it strengthens hitting rather than looping. It can also rip very fiercely, but not in the typical inner way: maneuvering by spin under small-to-medium power, exploding bottom power under big force. Its spin is not as good, but its speed is much better, and its driving is more powerful too.
Cybershape. Also uses a kiri core. Recently I have been pondering a question: is the kiri-core inner blade really a trend, and how far can it go? But regardless, the answers to many questions can actually be diverse. At least, the kiri-core inner blade is one of the current trends. This category emphasizes controllability more, while among inner blades emphasizing the sense of speed and direction-change ability more. And the Cybershape, through changes to the face and sweet spot, further strengthens the sense of power. This is not the kiri core’s strength but the ayous core’s advantage. Also, the Cybershape still does not belong to the typical inner — because under small-to-medium power, it still does not rely on spin to contain the opponent.