Choosing a Blade
This guide provides tips and information for choosing a Table Tennis Blade that best suits your style of play
The Blade is the heart of your paddle.
It determines how the ball feels on contact, how much control you have under pressure, and how much energy you expend during a match. Many players underestimate the blade’s role and focus too heavily on rubber. In reality, the blade sets the ceiling for consistency and comfort.
A well-chosen blade allows you to swing freely without fear of overhitting. It supports your technique rather than forcing you to adjust your strokes. Players who choose blades that match their level tend to improve faster and experience fewer plateaus.
Blade Construction & Selection
Blade construction plays a major role in performance. All-wood blades provide natural feedback and are often ideal for developing players. Composite blades introduce synthetic carbon & fibers that increase stability and speed. Inner-fiber designs soften the feel and increase dwell time, while outer-fiber designs produce a more direct, powerful response.
Your playing style should guide blade selection. Allround players benefit from flexible blades that emphasize control. Loopers need dwell time and balance to generate heavy spin. Power attackers often prefer stiffer blades that transfer energy efficiently. Close-to-the-table players typically value precision and quick recovery.
The most common mistake is choosing too much speed too early. Professional players use fast blades because their technique can control them. Most players benefit from equipment that supports margin and reliability.
Handle shape and blade weight matter more than many players realize. Comfort in the hand promotes relaxed strokes and reduces fatigue. A balanced setup improves recovery between points and helps maintain consistency late in matches.
Shakehand vs. Penhold
Shakehand and Penhold are the two basic blade types. If you hold the paddle like you are shaking hands, then you should choose a Shakehand blade. Over 90% of the blades we sell are Shakehand style. If you hold your paddle like you would hold a pen or chopsticks, then you should choose a Penhold blade.
Shakehand Style
For Shakehand players, Flared handles are the most popular, followed by Straight and Anatomic. The Donic Dotec blades have a unique cork handle that is designed for either a Left or Right-handed grip. Nittaku offers a few blades with a unique Ergonomic handle, which is comfortable for both Shakehand & Penhold grips.
Penhold Style
There are two styles of penhold blades: Chinese and Japanese Style. The Chinese Style is more popular, with a rounded head, similar to a shakehand blade head, with a smaller and shorter penhold handle. All Chinese Style penholds are suitable for putting rubber on either one or two sides of the blade.
The Japanese Style has a handle with a protrusion on one or both sides (often made of cork), around which the player wraps the index finger. The blade head is often more square in shape, but it can vary, so check the image. Some Japanese penholds are designed for applying rubber on just one side, while some are suitable for applying on either one or two sides.
Blade CLASS / SPEED / CONTROL
The CLASS rating of the blades range from the fastest rating of OFF+ to the slowest rating of DEF- (OFF means offensive, ALL means allround, and DEF means defensive). In general,
offensive-style players prefer blades ranging from OFF+ to ALL+.
Allround players prefer blades ranging from OFF- to ALL-. Defensive players prefer ALL to DEF- blades.
Paddle Palace has created a universal number rating system for SPEED and CONTROL so that blades from all the various brands can be compared on the same scale. In basic terms, the faster the speed rating, the farther the ball bounces off of the blade, given an equal amount of force. Keep in mind that generally the faster the blade, the more skill it takes to control it.
Each player's skill level, playing style, rubber used, as well as the interaction of those factors, have a large impact on the amount of speed and control that a player experiences. Therefore, the speed and control ratings are only a general tool for choosing a blade, as they are not an inherent quality of the blade.
Blade Weight
Most blades weigh between 70 and 100 grams before rubber is applied. An average weight is around 86 grams. Some players feel that a heavier blade provides more power but other players would disagree. Some players feel that a lighter blade is quicker, but again, there are varying opinions on this.
Remember that power and quickness is not just a function of the blade; it mostly depends upon the skills of the player. Like handle style, the ideal weight of a blade for you is the weight that feels best.
The weights listed are average weights for that blade, since individual blades will vary.
Blade Plies
The number of plies (wood layers) of a blade normally ranges from one to seven. Five-ply blades are the most common. Over 70% of players use an all-wood blade. There are many blades on the market that add thin plies of materials such as carbon, glass fiber, titanium or kevlar to an otherwise all-wood blade. These non-wood plies may add speed or a different feel to a blade. Some players feel that mixed-ply blades offer a larger sweet spot, and/or possibly result in added control. Whether or not a blade has non-wood plies, every blade has a unique feel, and only by experimenting will you discover what works best for your game.
For each blade, we indicate the number and composition of the plies. These are: W=Wood, C=Carbon, G=Glass Fiber, X=Texalium, T=Titanium, U=Aluminum, K=Kevlar, S=Synthetic, A=Arylate, R=Aramid, Z=Zylon, F=Fiber, D=Dyneema Fiber.
