Darker 7P-2A China Table Tennis Blade
Characteristics:
- 7 plies (3 x Kiso Hinoki)
- Weight approx 63~ 75g+/-3g
- Dimensions: 155 x 149mm
- Thickness: 6.5mm
- Ideal weapon of close to mid-distance offensive players
- Speed: Fast
- Control: High
Darker and Kiso Hinoki Wood
Darker is a Japanese table tennis blade manufacturer that was established in 1955 by Mr. Shutarou Okada. They specialises in premium quality Kiso Hinoki blades. The kraftmanship of their blades is second to none, and they are well known to use only the highest quality of Kiso Hinoki for their blades.
Kiso hinoki gives a soft feel to a blade, and gives you the feeling that the ball hangs on the blade while while to doing your stroke, gives you a lot of feel and control of the ball. The higher dwell time also allows you to add a lot more spin to the ball with less effort. The wood is also very dynamic, feeling slow on soft touch shots, and fast and powerful and fast strokes, which is an almost ideal quality for modern offensive players.
The Kiso Hinoki trees that are suitable for making blades, are often 100 to many hundreds of years old. The distinct lines on the blades face represent a years, due the different growth rates between summer and winter. Because these trees are unique to the Kiso region in Japan, and the trees take so long to grow, and only some parts of the tree are suitable for making blades, the material is expensive and only used in the highest quality range of blades. There are other types of Hinoki, but these do not offer the same unique feeling and performance. Darker is well known and highly regarded for having the highest quality of Kiso Hinoki wood, which is why their blades are so special.