Victas Blades

VICTAS table tennis blades — the wooden frame a custom racket is built on. Buy one once and keep it; the rubbers glued to it get replaced as they wear, not the blade. The range runs from 3-ply balsa to 7-ply carbon composites, and includes signature models for Koki Niwa, Koji Matsushita, Benedikt Duda, Liam Pitchford and Yuro Muramatsu. Manufacture varies by model: the AWARD, BALSA and EURO lines are made in Hungary, ZX-Gear in Japan, SWAT and Fire Fall in China.

VICTAS publishes three ratings out of 10 for every blade — speed, control and vibration — plus a shot-feeling code, so you're not relying on marketing adjectives. In that code, H1–H9 denotes a harder feel and S1–S10 a softer one, with MID between; the number grades the degree, not the quality, so a higher number isn't automatically the better choice.

Construction is stated as veneers plus any composite, and that's what actually determines feel. Blades are built from 3, 5 or 7 wood veneers. Where a composite layer is used, VICTAS names the material — Z-Carbon, Aramid Carbon, Fleece Carbon, ZX-Fiber or glass fibre — and whether it sits inner (next to the core, for a softer feel with added stiffness) or outer (directly under the rubber, for a more direct, faster response). An all-wood blade names no composite at all.

Across the range, blade thickness runs from about 3.9 to 10 mm and weight from roughly 62 to 93 g. Thicker and heavier generally means faster and less flexible, so decide which you're optimising for before you shop by name: start with the heavier blades if speed is the priority, or the lighter end if you want to keep things manoeuvrable. The BALSA and BLACK BALSA series are graded by core thickness — the number in the name, 2.5 through 8.5 — so speed rises and control falls as it goes up.

Handle shape is a variant, not a different blade. Flared (FL) widens toward the base and is the common choice; straight (ST) is even along its length and suits grip changes. Anatomic (AN) and Chinese penhold (CHN) exist on parts of the range — pick by what's comfortable in your hand.