Darker Blades

What does it offer you?

A Kiso Hinoki layer on your blade gives you the unique feeling that the ball sticks (or 'hugs) to the blade, following the whole arc of your stroke. This does not only offers more control over where you place the ball, but it allows you to impart more spin on your loop. This gives you greater control over your loops, resulting in more consistency and great variety of spin.The soft feel of the wood is also ideal for blocking, giving you great control over the placement and return of the ball.

These properties are almost ideal for many types of table tennis blades, but unfortunately Kiso Hinoki is normally only used in the more expensive and premium quality blades, because the wood is rare (only grown in the Kiso region of Japan), and very expensive. Kiso hinoki is often used on the outer layers of the blade, but the greatest effect can be felt with a single-ply blade. Only a few manufacturer made genuine kiso hinoki blades, and even between them there are variations in quality.

Why Darker blades?

Darker is a Japanese table tennis blade manufacturer that was established in 1955 by Mr. Hidetaro Okada. They have always specialised in premium quality Kiso Hinoki blades. The craftsmanship of their blades is second to none, and they are well known to use only the highest quality of Kiso Hinoki for their blades. Their blades are not mass produced like most other manufacturers, but are made one by one so they they can be given the required attention to detail..From their decades of experience, they know what players need out of a blade, and using the highest quality materials results in some of the best blades on the market!

The Kiso Hinoki trees that are suitable for making blades, are often many hundreds years old. The distinct lines on the blades face represent a years, due the different growth rates between summer and winter. There are other types of Hinoki, but these feel quite different, and do not offer the same unique feeling and performance. Darker is well known and highly regarded for having stock of the highest quality of Kiso Hinoki wood, and combined with the decades of blade making experience, makes their blades are so special.

The most famous of their single ply blades would be the Darker Speed 90, which is by some referred to as the 'holy grail of table tennis blades'. The Darker 5P-2A and Darker 7P-2A are the most popular multi-ply blades.

The new Darker Sakura series are unique multi-ply blades that are designed to mimic 1-ply Darker blades performance.

Why buy Darker blades from OOAK Shop?

OOAK shop is the sole distributor for Darker in Australia, and is a trusted specialist table tennis store, and has been in business for more than 10 years, so you can be assured of expert advice and continued support.

Since we're players ourselves, and test a lot of our equipment, we understand the needs of players, and can therefore offer the best advice. If you have special requirements for your blade (eg a specific weight) we would be happy to discuss this with you!

Since we deal and communicate with the manufacturer directly, you can be assured that the products are genuine, and that they have been stored in acceptable condition and are checked before being shipped.

You can browse through find our Range of Darker Blades here in our shop, or you can contact us for advice. If there are blades we do not carry, we can usually order them in for on request.

You can view or download the Darker 2017 catalogue here (in Japanese but still useful for range and pictures)