Table Tennis Blade Selection Guide

How to choose a table tennis blade

Start with the band. A defensive blade is built to chop and block with control. An all-round blade puts control and placement first and still has the speed to attack when the chance comes, which makes it the usual place to learn. An offensive blade is built for topspin and speed. They are collections too: all-round blades and offensive blades.

Then the finer class, where a brand gives one. ALL−, ALL and ALL+ step from more control towards more speed inside the all-round band, and OFF−, OFF and OFF+ do the same inside the offensive band. Victas, Donic, Andro, Tibhar and Palio publish a class for their blades, and Donic often gives a range such as ALL+ to OFF−, drawn in the chart as a bar. Butterfly publishes the band only, so its blades are not placed inside one.

Why there is no single speed number. Each manufacturer rates speed and control on its own scale, so a 9 from one brand is not a 9 from another. This guide compares blades only on what the brands have in common: the band, the class, the build, the weight and the price. Butterfly’s own reaction and vibration figures are on our Butterfly blade specifications chart.

Build, weight and handle. An all-wood blade gives more feel and is more forgiving; a composite blade adds a carbon or other fibre layer for speed and stiffness. Lighter blades are quicker to move, heavier ones carry more through the ball. Flared (FL), straight (ST) and anatomic (AN) are handle shapes of the same blade, and penhold blades are made for the penhold grip. A blade needs two rubbers to become a racket; shop all blades.