Carbon vs. Wood Table Tennis Blades

A player steps to the ping pong table and uses the handshake grip, grasping the table tennis racket as he would the hand of an old friend. Teamed with the table tennis blade (paddle), he evaluates the competition. Then, with fierce determination, the game of table tennis begins - blade vs. blade - as each side battles to claim the 11-point victory.

The Weapon of Choice
The table tennis blade is chosen to block, hook, smash, drive, flip, and slice. The proficiency with which a player performs is based on the construction and engineering of the ping pong blade.

A wooden table tennis blade with rubber sheet on one or both sides was once the only choice. But advanced technology has combined carbon layers with wood layers, giving power shots more margins for error. Kevlar, arylate, aluminum, fiberglass, and titanium represent some of the additives that enhance table tennis blade performance. This state-of-the-art creation can produce a super-powered table tennis blade engineered for quick attack.

Addressing the Blade
Table tennis blades are usually constructed of thin slices of veneer. Basswood, spruce, mahogany, walnut, balsa, and cypress are some of the preferred woods for table tennis blades. The veneer and rubber assemblies of the table tennis blade determine the speed of the Stiga ping pong ball and success in executing shots.