Tibhar Dynamic JC Darko Jorgić

     I recently tested the 7-ply all-wood Tibhar Dynamic J7 Darko Jorgić (J7) blade and found it to be an excellent addition to Tibhar’s existing range of all-wood 7-ply blades, being slightly slower, stiffer, and more linear than the Samsonov Force Pro Black Edition and Bernadette Szocs Signature 1. This time, I am reviewing its namesake, i.e., the Tibhar Dynamic JC Darko Jorgić (JC), a 5+2 ply composite blade reinforced with Dyneema® carbon fibers, i.e., the strongest fiber in the world on a weight-by-weight basis. This blade is named after - and used by – the recently crowned European Top 16 champion, Darko Jorgić from Slovenia.  

    According to Tibhar, the JC confers enormous power and penetrating force to topspin strokes. However, since the Dyneema carbon fibers surround the core, rather than being directly below the top veneer, the blade promises to offer good touch. 

     Tibhar assigns speed/control/strategy ratings of 9/8/OFF, 8+/9-/OFF-, and 9/7/OFF to the JC, J7, and Fortino Pro DC Inside (FPI) blades, respectively, the latter of which is another 5+2 ply composite blade from Tibhar that I recently reviewed. In other words, the JC promises to be as fast as the FPI but with improved control.  

      The JC arrives in Tibhar’s new standard black cardboard box, which sports Tibhar’s black-and-red logo. The box is lightweight but offers excellent protection but can be difficult to open. The blade’s name is printed on the FH side of the dark straw-colored playing surface, which quite clearly has been treated with some type of varnish. The BH side is devoid of any text. The handle is very dark grey with two sets of thin white stripes running the length of the handle. The blade name is inscribed in a silver trigonal oval metallic tag that is embedded on the FH side of the handle, whereas the BH side is without any tags. The bottom of the handle is adorned with a silver Tibhar tag. While the playing surfaces are ultra-smooth, the blade edges and upper part of the handle are surprisingly sharp, though I didn’t notice this during gameplay. The wings do not appear to have been sanded but the blade was comfortable to hold nonetheless. 

      A quick comparison revealed that the J7 and JC have completely different ply compositions. Focusing on the latter, the JC has a thick ayous core, which is surrounded by a thin layer of Dyneema fibers, a relatively thick penultimate ayous ply, and a thin limba outer ply. The playing surface of the JC has the following dimensions (height x width): 157 mm x 150 mm with a thickness of 5.8 mm. The FL handle has the following dimensions: length ~99.5 mm, width ~25.4-34.0 mm, and height ~22.4-24.3 mm. The test blade weighed 88 g and produced a main resonance frequency around 1475-1505 Hz. This is to be compared with 1291 Hz and ~1420 Hz for the J7 and FPI, respectively, indicating that the JC is faster and/or stiffer. 

Testing Protocol

      I evaluated the J7 using well-used sheets of DHS Hurricane 3 (2.15 mm, black, provincial version, 40-degrees blue sponge, one thin layer of Haifu Sea Moon booster) in my FH and Spinlord Waran II (2.0 mm, red) short pips in my BH. The rubbers were attached using one layer of Revolution 3 medium viscosity glue. I tested these set-ups over 4-5 sessions playing a mix of regular and match-like drills against my regular high-level practice partner (two-winged looper). Neottec Neoplast Pro 40+ training balls were used throughout this test. 

Playing Characteristics

Initial Impressions

      The JC is well-balanced, with a center of gravity that is tilted ever so slightly towards the blade head. Accordingly, the JC feels lighter than one would expect from an 88g blade. Despite its short handle, the blade is comfortable to hold, in part due to the narrow wings, which encourage a loose and comfortable grip. 

Driving

     The JC produces a supremely crisp feeling on FH and BH drives, which will leave you without a doubt that you are playing with a composite blade. However, while the feeling is sharp and precise, it also has some wooden tones to it, presumably because the Dyneema fibers surround the core rather than being placed below the outer ply. I enjoyed brilliant consistency on FH and BH drives, despite the high inherent speed of the blade (mid-to-high OFF).  

Looping

     The feeling produced when FH looping with the JC is sharp and precise. The loops are fast, with long and rather flat trajectories, which renders them dangerous. However, due to the relatively short dwell time, spin generation is only average and the throw angle quite low, necessitating a more open bat angle when FH looping against long backspin pushes. This, at times, renders the FH openers, susceptible to counterattacks, although the opponent has little time to get into the correct position.  

      The JC’s crisp feeling and power reserves render FH loop-to-loop rallies far from the table a breeze. Once again, however, it is important to hit the shots with a slightly more upward motion to generate the arc needed to clear the net. Limited physical effort is needed to bring the shots on the other side of the table due to its high speed. However, it is important to be in the correct position when executing these shots with the JC, as the margin for error is smaller than with other blades due to its stiffer nature.  

      I enjoyed good consistency on my BH short pip openers against long pushes. While these shots were quite dangerous by themselves, I often followed them up with a flat BH drive that put my practice partner under pressure. The BH openers are facilitated by the JC’s flat trajectory and high (but not insanely high) speed.    

Flicking

      Flicking might be the JC’s weakest suit. Precise timing of the shots is necessary as the blade’s stiff nature and short dwell time reduce the window of opportunity, especially on FH flicks. BH flicks executed with the softer short pip rubber seemed to be a little more forgiving as imperfect timing could be compensated by the greater wrist flexibility on these shot types. However, if timed correctly, the JC works great for FH pancake-type flicks. 

Blocking

     In my opinion, blocking is the JC’s strongest suit among many strengths. The blade redirects the energy from incoming topspins during warm-up drills, into sharp-feeling, fast, and flat FH and BH blocks, producing a crisp cracking sound in the process and giving me excellent consistency. Even better though, the high stability and ultra-crisp feeling of the blade, coupled with its mid-OFF speed, allowed me to take a step further back than usual during match-like drills and block very fast topspins with complete authority, resulting in near unreturnable blocks. I cannot recall when I have felt this level of confidence from mid-distance.   

Smashing and Flat Hitting

      Unlike the J7, the JC is plenty fast and produces super-fast smashes and slapshots, so long as the shots are well-timed.  

Short Game and Pushing

    With the JC being fast and direct, I fully expected that my pushes might suffer from low spin and consistency. This turned out not to be the case. On the contrary, the sharp feeling, especially whilst executing long FH pushes, gave me the confidence to aggressively dig underneath the ball, resulting in fast, deep, and seemingly spinny pushes that put my practice partner under considerable pressure. For a blade this fast, the JC also provides excellent control on short pushes and touch shots, as it is a rather linear blade with limited catapult. Thus, I was able to play these shots low and tight, minimizing the opportunities for my opponent.   

Serves

     The JC’s sharp feeling and excellent balance gave me precise control of the service contact, allowing me to produce high-quality short pendulum backspin serves, as well as long and dangerous side/top-spin, serves with excellent consistency.

Conclusion

      The Tibhar Dynamic JC Darko Jorgic is an outstanding 5+2 ply composite blade and my favorite Dyneema-fiber-containing blade from Tibhar. It is definitively a blade that is geared towards advanced-to-professional level aggressive players. It offers the stiffness and solidity of 7-ply all-wood blades that I need for my BH short pip driving/blocking style, yet it has the flexibility that facilitates FH topspins, all while offering excellent control in the short game. This is a blade that can be used from all distances. Excellent job, Tibhar!!

 

 

 

 

 

About the Reviewer

     Patrick 'Pong Professor' Hrdlicka is a table tennis enthusiast with a Ph.D. in chemistry who combines his analytical and experimental skills with his love of table tennis in order to test and review a wide range of table tennis equipment.