스피어 블레이드,
하나 하나의 넥시 블레이드들이 그렇듯
이 블레이드도 분명한
목표와 추구점을 가지고 출발되었습니다.
중간층에 스프루스층이 들어간 넥시의 블레이드들은 덱스터와 컬러가 있습니다.
덱스터가 극강의
스피드를 목표로 제작되었다면 컬러는 좀더 마일드한 균형감을 목표로 제작되었습니다.
두 제품은 표면에 히노키를 사용하였으며 히노키 특유의
늘어붙는 듯한 감각이 잘 구현되어 있습니다.
넥시에서는 이 두 제품의 성공을 기반으로 하여 스프로스층의 성능을 극대화하여
이상적인
신제품을 구상하게 되었습니다.
스프루스층은 매우 경쾌하면서도 강한 스피드를 가지고 있는 소재로 얇아도 충분한 역할을 해 주는
아주
특이한 목재입니다.
스피어를 제작하는 과정에서 그 두께를 달리하기도 했고 또 겹쳐서 2겹을 사용해 보기도 했지만
굳이 두껍게 하거나
2중으로 하지 않아도 충분한 성능을 발휘한다는 것을 확인하게 되었습니다.
이러한 경쾌함과 속도감이라는 2가지 장점을 극대화 하기 위해서 이번 스피어 제품에서는
표면층을 얇은 림바층으로 교체하였습니다.
림바는 공을 푹 싸안는 듯한 느낌을 주는 소재로 매우 얇게 소재를 가져갔을 때 스피어의
속도감을 누그러뜨리면서 공을 감싸안아주는 듯한 안정감을 줄 수 있었습니다.
시타 과정에서 가장 특징적으로 평가되었던 것이 바로 이 푹 싸안아 버리는 듯한
느낌이었습니다.
현존하는 어떤 라켓보다도 공을 깊숙이 안아 주는 블레이드가 바로 스피어일 것입니다.
반면 이렇게 깊숙하게 안아 주는 감각에 크게 기여하는 요소가 하나 더 있습니다.
바로
두꺼운 중층 소재입니다.
중층 소재는 아유스 재질을 사용하였습니다.
아유스 재질은 퍼석퍼석하다 싶을 정도로 공을 부드럽게 잡아 주는
소재입니다만, 적절하게 사용하지 못하면 특징 없는 평범한 블레이드가 되기도 합니다.
사실 림바, 스프루스, 아유스라는 매우 보편적으로 사용되는 재질들을 가지고 새롭게 뭔가를 해
본다는 것이 쉽지 않아 보일 만큼, 이 소재들은 여러 블레이드들에 많이 사용되었던 재질들입니다.
그렇지만 저는 이 소재들을 사용한 다른 블레이드들을 보면서 항상 이렇게 생각해
왔습니다.
분명 뭔가가 더 있을 것이다. 여기서 만족할 수 없다.
균형감 있고 부드러운 블레이드면 파워가 부족했고
파워있고 빠르다 싶으면 퍼석거렸으며
날카로움이 부족했습니다.
빠르면서도 안정적이고,
그리고 엄청난 회전이 실릴 수 있는 그런 블레이드가 없을 것인지
고민하고 또
고민했습니다.
그 결과 중층을 늘리고 표층을 줄임으로써 새로운 형태의 균형감을 시도해 보기 시작한
것입니다.
스피어에 사용된 아유스층은 특히 부드러움을 목표로 선별된 재질들입니다.
매우 극단적으로
부드러워 전체적으로 공을 깊숙히 받아들입니다.
그렇지만 두꺼운 만큼 때려내는 힘이 매우 뛰어납니다.
공은 한순간 라켓 속을 뚫고
들어가듯이 라켓 안으로 감겨 들어가지만
두꺼운 중층 아유스가 뒷받쳐 내는 단단한 파워에 밀려 로켓처럼 되튕겨 나갑니다.
초일류 선수들이 가장 선호할 수 있는 두 요소,
극단적인 부드러움으로 싸안아 주는 첫
느낌,
그리고 속에서부터 우러나오는 단단한 반발력으로 되튕겨 주는 파워
스피어를 통해 새로운 감각의 세계를 경험하십시오.
아래는 영어 설명글입니다.
원문
주소 : http://www.mytabletennis.net/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=34874
Dear fellow friends,
I think table
tennis business seriously relies on how many friends you have. And now I decided
to come here more often, and to share more about how I run my brand
Nexy.
Currently, I'm not very good at English, and also not free
enough to reply all the questions, but I will try as much as I can to share what
I am doing with the people here.
So, this article can not be done
in one day, and I will keep on writing day by day until I can complete the whole
story of one blade; Nexy's SPEAR.
1.
What's the goal of SPEAR
Table tennis has been my number
one job for many decades.
I started it when I was 10 from my father, and I
really liked it.
But my father did not enjoy much playing with little son,
because it took money and time.
At that time, my house was not rich enough to
support my curiosity, and I could not keep on attending piano lesson, and
probably my father could not be able to take me to table tennis gym
often.
But he was really good player, and I could learn some basic
skills from my father.
It took more than 10 years for me to become
better player than my father since that time.
He promised to buy one bicycle
for me, and I wanted it badly, but could not win any game until I become a
university student.
Anyway, I became a student, and I joined table
tennis club there.
And there I had to change all things, because all the
basic skills was not right.
It was not easy process, but I went through
it.
I once tried to become a defensive player, and I could get chances to
test many kinds of blades and rubbers.
Probably, this story will
not be interesting for you. But I just want to say that those blades are not
short term work.
As a conclusion, even though I'm not a
professional player, nor a professional carpenter or something, but I can safely
say that I've been crazy about table tennis for very long time.
In
2005, when I started to run table tennis business, I found out that someday I
will run my own brand.
I was quite sure it's not only about money and
tradition.
Once I'm sure I can satisfy with what I make, then I can satisfy
many others, and that will lead my brand successful, that was what I could be
sure at that moment.
And I started to learn many blades' structure
and function.
It was not very hard, because I really liked
it.
So, all the blades made in Nexy are meant to satisfy me.
I
don't care about category.
5-pl, 7-ply, carbon, arylate carbon....new
products in each year...
...that's very far from the way I run this
business.
Once I start, I never stop before I'm satisfied.
So,
most of the blades are alike in some ways.
Fast, Spinny, well
balanced, good feeling.
Maybe it sounds very cliche, but surely these are the
purpose for my blades.
Seemingly (more over meaninglessly) too much
ideal is what I'm struggling to get with my blades.
And I don't think that's
not possible to achieve.
Of course there is a general course I
experience whenever I produce blades.
I really liked it, but after 6 months,
I found out better one will be possible.
And the best blade becomes less
perfect, and it gives its way to the next new blade.
But at any cost, I
release a blade when I really like it at that
moment.
Therefore, the purpose of the up-coming new blade
SPEAR is very the same as other Nexy blades.
Fast, Spinny, well
balanced, good feeling
2. Basic Idea about
SPEAR
If you look at my before blades, you will know that
I've been recently focusing on SPRUCE, which lies under the surface wood.
This wood is very attractive. With this wood, you can create
better speed without losing wooden feeling to carbon layer.
And this spruce
ply makes big sound and good feeling when you hit the ball.
But
when this ply comes too much close to the rubber, than the sound and feelings
are too much powerful, and the ball will not be spinny much.
So,
this material needs to come in the right place, which means that I need to find
the ideal thickness for the surface wood.
It's not possible to
decide exact thickness for all the surface materials.
I kept on
testing....and I found out Japanese Hinoki needs to be thicker than Limba or
Koto, when I want to harmonize this with Spruce.
Any ways, the
first idea has come from this spruce wood.
Actually, I finished all
the studies related with this material, from my experiences of Hurricane King,
Offensive classic, Ebenholz and several other blades.
But then
again, I thought why all those blades are not similiar to Stiga's clipper CR or
Butterfly's Korbel or SK7?
I think most other designers were fascinated too
much by this sprus material's lightness and speed.
So, they might not be
interested in producing a blade deep and soft. Probably they thought they need
to make the blades light and fast.
So, there I started to think
about this blade SPEAR.
When you use a SPEAR, the blade of SPEAR
should go through a target, to harm.
Likewise, when I name this blade as
SPEAR, I thought that....when you play with this blade SPEAR, you need to be
able to feel that the ball goes through your blade, just like a spear goes
through a target.
I mean you need to feel that your blade hugs the ball so
deep into it, that you think the ball becomes a spear into a
target.
I thought it's possible.
Because all this deep and soft
feeling can not be too much, if I harmonize this with SPRUCE's lightness and
speedy character.
There maybe I can get an ideal function.
Ok,
that was the basic idea I started from.
I will write more
tomorrow.
Just keep on waiting before I finish this story.
I
hope you can enjoy my writings.
3. Composition.
I
found out some people are trying to guess out the whole materials of my blades.
I can safely open all the materials for some blades, but for some other blades,
I don't want to tell.
For examples, I use some specific wood for Oscar and
Hannibal's center wood. And this wood makes my blades different from other
similiar blades.
If you tested, then you would agree that my
Hannibal and Oscar are not very dull at all, even though they have artificial
materials.
So, I heard that many people are saying that my Hannibal and Oscar
feels very natural, and have good feelings, without metal touch.
I
think the main reason lies on that center wood.
Any ways, I don't want to
reveal that wood.
By the way, regarding my next product SPEAR, the
composition is very simple.
It's as below.
Limba - sprus -
ayous - sprus - Limba
This is very the same structure with other
several kinds of classical blades.
But that's not all.
I have
known that this composition creates really good blade.
But as I told you in
the before writing, the material SPRUS is very very important factor to decide
the whole character of a blade.
And I could not be satisfied with all other
similiar kinds.
There must be some more to this composition.
So,
that was to make use of Sprus' speed jointed with thick center layer of Ayous
and thin Limba.
Here is the principle.
Regarding
Ayous, this material is very soft in the first touch, but deep inside, very hard
and resilient.
But this material is not easy to be well harmonized
with other materials.
When this ayous is thin, I found out some times it does
not affect on the blade enough, so you don't feel the difference.
And I was
sure that I need to make the Ayous thicker than other blades, by which I can
make people feel soft and even damp on the moment the ball goes into, but in the
end they need to find true power and resilience deep inside the
blade.
So, that's how I use this Ayous with my blade COLOR and now
with SPEAR.
Regarding Limba, I found out when I make the limba ply
thick, as I did with my Hinoki ply, then the feeling will be too much soft, and
I can not utilize the true good factor of sprus material. Sprus needs to affect
on the ball in some ways directly, not only through Limba,
indirectly.
So, I used very thin Limba.
After all,
Spear is a mixture of very delicate and subtle harmony.
Surface -
soft and embracing material, Limba...but thin...so the ball is affected also by
the second ply, which is fast and hard Sprus.
And then, the Sprus
is supported by soft and damp, but powerful and resilient material, thick
ayous.
It was not easy to prove that my belief was really
right.
I had to do lots of tests for long times, over and over again.
And
I could come closer to what I wanted little by little.
There was
one more factor I need to consider.
The total thickness of the blade.
If
the blade is too thick, then all the good things does not attract much any
more.
So, I had to make it not much thick, which influenced all the ply's
thickness in each tests.
And the final sample is around 6.5mm,
which comes between Color and Dexter.
During this
process, I tried several different compositions.
Here is one picture that
shows that I tried two sprus plies between Limba and Ayous.
And here is the final version.
As you know, the
structure is kinda classic.
But the center layer seems thicker than most
other similiar kinds.
And also the thickness of sprus is very key factor in
Spear.
Limba is thinner than most other Nexy blades' surface, which
make the ball goes deep.
The edge looks not nice.
Because I tested the
blade after cutting little by little.
The size of the blade is also very much
responsible for the feeling.
It's not only about balance, but also about
feeling and power.
When I cut 1mm, the blade becomes totally
different.
I tested the blade by 0.5mm cut for several times.
4. Why Korea?
Recently,
new Korean brand XIOM grew big very fast.
And I think Korean market initiated
and urged XIOM to become competitive in many ways, which perhaps affected on my
brand NEXY, too/
I don't want to analyze how XIOM could
develop that fast, but I can safely say there could be some reasons I can tell
you guys.
Korean players have been using Japanese
penholder blades for many decades.
Recently, lots of players are not using
Japanese penholder blade any more, but even for me, I used to play with that
when I was young.
When you play with Japanese penholder blade, your
main point comes from powerful top spin attack.
Normally, you know that your
back hand side will not be easy to make a point, so, you normally try hard to
play with your forehand side.
And once you get a chance, you need to exert
your full power, because the other player could make a safe return to your deep
back hand side, and in that case, it's almost impossible to move back and hit
the ball.
So, when you play with Japanses penholder blade, you tend to focus
on high power top spin attack.
Many people are not aware what is
the differance between top Korean players' looping and other normal amatuer
players' ones.
I did not know it also.
But by the time I started
this business, I could make the similiar kind of top spin attack, after long
years trainings, of course.
And I could be able to discern what makes the
differance.
When you make a top-spin drive with your fast movement,
and exact impact, the ball meets not only the surface of the rubber, but also
the wooden plate of the blade, because the speed of the blade is that much
fast.
In other words, if your movement of your racket is very fast
when the ball meets the racket, then the ball goes deep into the wooden blade
surface passing the rubber on it.
If you use thin and soft sponge,
then you will be able to feel that in each strokes that your ball touches the
wooden surface through the rubber every time.
But when the rubber is soft and
thin, even the ball touches deep into the surface of the blade, still the
returning ball is not very powerful.
But when you make a powerful
shot with that exact impact with hard and thick sponge, then your opponent can
not see the ball.
It flys like a rocket.
If the opponent blocks the ball,
still the blade can not stand the impact of that powerful ball, and that
vibration goes into the hands and wrist, making them shaking, and not able to
return the ball at all.
That's what Korean players are
doing.
Normally, many European players make that powerful shot from time to
time. But Korean players are not allowed to do practice without that powerful
impact.
All the Korean players are trained to do that powerful shot through
out the whole match.
Some times, it's not good, because they can
not learn tricky play.
But that has become long year tradition in
Korea.
Any ways, when you are dealing with those top
Korean players, all the equipment needs some more specialties.
And I've been
really careful about that point.
I can add some more
factors.
Korean market asks very high standard for all the products in many
fields.
And once your have good product, then the whole market reacts very
fast to it. But once your products are not perfect, it's not easy to survive at
all.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
In conclusion, my blades had to satisfy that powerful
shot from Korean professional players. And that helped me to set a right goal
for my blades.
If I add some more, Korean players, more or
less, play all round.
They play some times little bit away from the table
like European players, and sometimes very close to the table like Chinese
players.
And I have to produce a blade which is good at
close to the table, and also little bit away from the table.
SPEAR has those characters.
It's
very fast and spinny when you make a powerful shot; so powerful that the ball
can touches directly onto the blade surface pushing through the
rubber.
And it's powerful also away from the table, let alone close
to the table.
In order to satisfy those three points, I
studied mixture of different thickness and shapes over many samples.
And now
I'm much relieved and happy to find the final
answer.
