Are there dumb blades & smart blades in TableTennis ?

[Darold]

I read about (click link >) smart rackets and dumb rackets in TableTennis.
But to drill down one step further, shouldn't there be dumb blades & smart blade to start with ?

[Vandolph]

This is actually a good classification.

Because symmetric blades with idential layer omposition on both sides of the blade are almost completely useless for smart racket users.

Theerfore it definitely would make sense to call symmetric blades as dumb blades & asymmetric blades as smart blades , most especially in the 40+ plastic ball ONLY era

[Prapti]

So are you calling over probably 95% blades on the market as dumb ?

[James Z]

So are you calling over probably 95% blades on the market as dumb ?

This is true. Only because all these blades have been designed with some fundamentally flawed myths & assumptions

1. Human backhand = Human forehand
2. Top spin style of play is the only proper way to play TableTennis
3. You can produce any stroke in TableTennis with equal consistency & power just using spinny inverted rubbers

etc

[Prapti]

So what are some examples of smart blades & dumb blades ?

[James Z]

So what are some examples of smart blades & dumb blades ?

In general all Japanese blades (such as Butterfly , Nittaku, Juic etc. ) & Stiga blades are dumb blades
This is because of the culturall bigotry against slim / long pips playing styles in Japan & any pips / anti styles in Sweden.

I will try to post a list of smart blades with reviews but these are mostly from Dr.Neubauer , Hallmark , Yinhe , Sanwei etc

I ahve seen 1 or 2 from RITC / Friendship / 729 also I think

There may be a few smart blades from Tibhar, Joola , DMS, SpinLord etc
I will check

[James Z]

But it is important to keep in mind that no production blade, smart or dumb exist for away from the table choppers.

This is becaus emost manufacturers call mid side blades ( around 166 mm or so in width & height) as oversizd
blades. And this is a bold faced lie.

For a chopper to remotely have a chnace in the 40+ plastic ball only era they need a blade at least 170 mm in both height & width.
And it should also be a smart blade.

There may be few custom made blades here and there but they are all usually dumb blades.
Unless you ask most custom blade makers will only assume you want a dumb blade. You have to make sure you order a smart blade in addition to its being at least 170 mm

[Navara]

Please refer to this topic for more information

(click link >) Smart rackets, dumb rackets and coaching malpractice