Last Updated on October 24, 2023 by Sorin Petroj
To help make your shopping experience easier, we have compiled a comprehensive guide on some of the best Yasaka table tennis blades from 2023.
This article will give a closer view of some of the latest and high-quality blades from Yasaka. With so many different brands, types, and styles of blades on the market, it can be challenging to decide which is right for you.
Here we list our picks for the best Yasaka blades and compare each blade’s features and pros/cons.
Table of Contents
ToggleBest Yasaka Table Tennis Blades Selected by The Author
Yasaka Blade | Image | Price | Rating |
Best OVERALL $139.75 | 5/5 | ||
Best Budget $39.95 | 4.5/5 | ||
Best 5-ply Wood $49.95 | 4/5 | ||
Best for Fast Attacks & Blocks $59.95 | 5/5 | ||
Newest Blade From Yasaka $49.95 | 5/5 |
1. Yasaka Falck Carbon
It is available in Megaspin in the flared handle option only. Yasaka Falck carbon blade is perfect for a demanding player searching for the latest table tennis blade technology.
This is a specialized blade from Mattias Falck, a professional table tennis player who recently used the Yasaka Ma Lin Soft Carbon blade that raised his world ranking consistently. However, the Ma Lin blade was not as fast as he liked or rather preferred.
He then requested Yasaka develop a faster blade with as much ball feel as possible. So Yasaka constructed a blade with Japanese Premium Carbon (JPC) and four wooden veneers in exact thicknesses.
However, the only challenge that presented itself on the blade was the gluing method. A few months before the World Table Tennis Championships in 2019, Mattias started using the new blade, and luckily, his result was good. He proceeded to be using this offensive blade in all of his games.
Yasaka Falck Carbon Blade Features
- Speed – 102
- Control – 90
- Plies – 5 wood and 2 carbon
- Weight – 90 g
- Head thickness – 6 mm
- Sweetspot – superlarge
- Grip style – Flared
This blade can be recommended to any experienced table tennis player out there. It greatly balances speed and feels for any attacking player. These Yasaka blades would be a perfect option, especially if you love fast blades.
With as little as $ 139.75, you can get one for yourself.
2. Yasaka Sweden Extra
The original name of this blade is Yasaka Gatien Extra. It is manufactured in flared and straight handle types. Yasaka Sweden Extra is a traditional all-round blade with a new design and extra control.
It is much heavier and offers more power. And yes, these Yasaka blades are a part of the Yasaka Extra series made in Sweden.
This offensive blade has five wood veneers which is why it is heavy and quite thick. The classical veneer structure consists of 5 pieces of natural wood that are high quality making the blade more offensive.
The blade will give you perfect control and a superb feeling! It has a variety of spin variations which is also part of its many advantages. A similar model but slower and with good control is the Yasaka Sweden Classic.
YASAKA SWEDEN CLASSIC PING PONG BLADE PRICE!
The blade has a medium sweet spot occurring from the soft surface veneers that give the player a good feeling.
It works well, especially if your opponent is using serves. This blade exhibits high control and sufficient speed reserves when making forward-oriented offensive moves to put more pressure on your opponent.
Another world champion, Jean-Philipe Gatien, won the world champion title in singles in 1993 using this blade. This blade is named after him. Yasaka Sweden Extra Blade helped him reap massively and beat all his competitors.
Yasaka Blades Sweden Extra Features
- Speed – 82
- Control – 71
- Plies – 5 made of wood
- Weight – 88 g
- Sweetspot – medium
- Grip style – Flared, Straight, Chinese penhold
If you would love to experience the constant amount of control in every stroke you give, the variability of spins, and high precision during an offensive game, this is the blade to go for! Sweden Extra blade will give you excellent output you would never have imagined!
The blade costs $ 39.95. It is one of the best Yasaka blades that you can ever own.
3. Yasaka Goiabao 5
Yasaka Goiabao 5 is available in flared, straight, and Chinese Penhold handle types. ‘Goiabao’ is a Chinese word that means “nice wood.”
This blade is made from the perfect type of wood, which is of the highest quality. If you look at the blade, you will see how spectacular it looks, made from the finest wood.
It is very appealing and modernized. It is a very fast 5-plywood blade with a hard outer veneer and a relatively thick middle veneer. The second veneer is hand-selected Scandinavian pine. It has a lacquer finish.
This is the Yasaka blade veneer structure:
Hard outer ply-hand selected second ply-thick core
Yasaka Goiabao 5 was first released to the Chinese market in the winter season in the year 2015. After seeing how well it performed in the Chinese table tennis market, the manufacturers thought it would be readily acceptable in the European market and perform well too.
Luckily, it did. It is now one of the most preferred blades in the European market. These Yasaka blades are excellent for playing from far distances from the table and have very good control.
Yasaka Goiabao 5 Features
- Speed – 92
- Control – 63
- Plies – 5
- Weight – 90 g
This blade is made for fast attacks near the table or in mid-distances. The combination of the plies is ideal for great offensive play, including fast drives.
Goiabao 5 has a sealer from the factory for easy rubber removal when the need arises. It is not recommended for defensive players.
4. Yasaka Max Carbon 3D
The Max carbon Yasaka blades are available in flared and straight handle types. It has seven wooden veneers and two carbon layers. Two of the wooden veneers are complex, while the rest are soft. It also has the Yasaka 3D technology that results in a powerful blade with a large sweet spot, hence the title Max Carbon 3D.
It is also lacquered and has the new table tennis glue regulation. Yasaka Max Carbon 3D blade is one of the best because of its incredible speed. In the table tennis market today, faster blades seem to be gaining more popularity compared to slow ones. Table tennis players are constantly looking for a faster blade because they give much higher performance.
Besides the speed, it is also a very accurate blade. It is the ideal weapon for fast attacks and blocks. The 3D technique gives flexibility to rigid plywood.
Yasaka Max Carbon 3D Features
- Speed – 100
- Control – 69
- Weight – 90 g
- Plies – 7 (5 wood and 2 carbon)
- Grip style – Flared, straight handle
Some of the best players have recommended that the perfect rubber combination with this blade is the soft Yasaka rubbers with higher throw angles since they shows aggressive properties.
Soft rubbers will help balance the elements of the racket. This ideal blade costs $ 59.95.
5. New Yasaka Blades – Synergy
It is manufactured in anatomic and straight handle types. It is the newest blade in the Yasaka Blade series, with 11 pieces of wood. Many people would assume it is undoubtedly a heavy blade, but this is not the case.
The blade’s concept has changed. The Swedish wood maker uses Balsa wood for inner and thin outer plies. They could produce beautiful wood with a small weight of 82 grams. The wood plies are nine, and the remaining two are synthetic fibers.
The wood veneers have a thickness of less than 0.15 mm. They are combined with a composite material with high torsional strength. The blade is a powerhouse designed for the 40 mm ping pong ball. You will experience a great deal of speed with this offensive blade!
When you use synergy during your play sessions, you will immediately feel the difference from traditional constructions and enjoy playing table tennis. The sweet spot is extra large, giving it a good surface area.
Yasaka Synergy Blade Features
- Speed – 98
- Control – 69
- Weight – 82 g
- Plies – 11
The blade has a neutral response on medium impact compared to other balsa blades and has a general medium hardness.
Best Yasaka Table Tennis Blades FAQs
1. What is the difference between all-wood and composite blades?
A composite blade combines wood veneers and other materials like carbon fiber. According to the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF rules), the required tournament blade must be at least 85% weight of wooden material.
The carbon layers make the blade stiffer, giving it more speed and a larger sweet spot. Some players prefer all-wood blades because they feel the ball better and have better control.
However, there are many different carbon materials and constructions, and some carbon blades have a really good ball feel. You will also find some pure wood blades that are very fast.
2. What does the sound of a blade mean? (Higher pitch vs. Lower pitch)
A higher pitch means that a blade is fast. A lower pitch is just the opposite. However, this is not always true.
For example, a “balsa blade” can have a high pitch and, in some plays, feels fast, but when hitting very hard, the blade is not as fast. (Top players hardly use “balsa blades.”)
3. How does the number of wood layers affect play?
A blade with more numbers of wood veneers is generally faster. However, it is essential to note that the blade’s gluing method also affects the speed and ball feel.
4. How does blade weight affect performance? Why would a player prefer a light or heavy blade?
Many heavy blades have proven to be much faster than lighter blades. Most top players prefer a heavier blade, while beginners often want lighter-weight defensive blades, from which they can advance to heavier ones once they are more familiar with the game.
5. Which performs better, an all-wood blade or a carbon blade?
A carbon blade has to be changed more often than a pure wooden blade. The carbon material wears off more often when it is frequently used, and the blade loses some of its speed characteristics.
6. Do you recommend adding varnish or lacquer to seal the blade? Why? How often? Does this affect the playing characteristics of the blade?
In Yasaka’s factories, most of the blades are varnished. It does not affect the playing characteristics much (in theory, it is a little bit faster), but it protects the outer veneers when changing the rubbers.
This is the actual purpose of varnishing/lacquering. You can varnish your blade not so often, only when you feel it is wearing or needs the service!
7. What kinds of wood are used to make table tennis blades? How does the various wood affect the performance of a blade? (Could you be specific in naming woods?)
Yasaka manufacturers use many kinds of wood with other characteristics (weight, hardness, toughness, appearance) and different thicknesses.
Examples include abachi/ayous, limba, koto, different kinds of pine, walnut, wenge, santos, anegre, and balsa. Outer walnut veneers give a faster table tennis blade than limba if the construction and thickness are the same.
8. What is new regarding table tennis blade technology, and which trends do you see in the future?
The trend over many years is that more players are using composite blades. New carbon material might be available, and different gluing methods might develop.
9. What does it mean when a blade is “fast” or “offensive,” and how does it affect play?
“Fast” means the speed is fast. “Offensive” is aggressive. A faster blade is much more aggressive compared to a slow one.
10. What does it mean when a blade is “slow” or “defensive,” and how does this affect play?
A slow/defensive blade is not as aggressive and gives you good game control.
About Yasaka Table Tennis Blades – Brand & Production
Yasaka is one of the world’s leading table tennis equipment manufacturers, like blades and rubbers. Throughout the years, they have gained remarkable experience and skills in developing top-notch table tennis blades.
Yasaka’s accuracy has facilitated these blades to maintain a consistently high-quality product through their skilled personnel with excellent knowledge and experience, mainly in the blade production process and the close cooperation with high-class players and coaches (for example, Olympic champion Ma Lin).
Yasaka’s headquarters are in Tokyo, Japan, and the blade factory is in Tranas, Sweden.
Many players have succeeded in using Yasaka products. For example, the latest World Champion in 2021 – Mattias Falck, won the gold medal in men’s doubles with Yasaka.
His partner was a Swedish player called Kristian Karlsson. This was in the world championships that took place in Houston.
Yasaka began its blade production in 1992 in Tranas, and their first ever successful blade was Yasaka Extra, produced in 1993. Their blade production continued, and in 2020 they introduced two world-class blades; the Falck Carbon and Falck W7.
Best Yasaka Table Tennis Blades – Conclusion
These are just our opinion of the best Yasaka table tennis blades people should try in 2023.
From their defensive to offensive blades, Yasaka table tennis has you covered with the latest and most innovative ping pong technology.
With over 70 years of experience in manufacturing table tennis products, they have produced some of the top-selling blades on the market, like the Sweden Extra and Ma Lin Carbon, and continue to be a very popular choice among blade users.
If you have another superior blade in mind, do let us know in the comment section below. Thanks for reading!
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