Dynamic properties across the board
The previous sections have described what a blade is made of: plies, species, handle, finish. What remains is to see what that blade does when the ball strikes it. The properties that follow — speed, stiffness, weight, head size and balance — were defined in chapter 2 as general vocabulary for equipment. Here they are made specific in the context of the bare blade, before the rubber enters the equation.
Blade speed. Manufacturers assign each model a speed figure, sometimes out of ten, sometimes out of a hundred. That figure measures the speed of the blade alone, without rubbers, and reflects how much energy the structure returns on impact. But the speed of the blade is not the speed of the assembled bat. The rubber adds its own restitution — especially a tensor rubber with a catapult effect — and the interaction between the two is not a simple sum. A blade classified as OFF- can play like OFF+ with the right rubber, and the other way round. Speed ratings serve to compare blades with one another within the same catalogue, not to predict how the finished bat will play. The gap between blade speed and assembled speed is expanded on in 8.6 and in 11.2.
Stiffness, flex and vibration. Three faces of one phenomenon. When the ball strikes, the blade deforms briefly — that is the flex — and then recovers its shape, returning energy. A stiff blade deforms little, responds fast and transmits little vibration to the hand; a flexible blade deforms more, holds the ball a fraction longer and vibrates with greater amplitude. Stiffness depends on the number of plies, the species used and, above all, the presence or absence of composite, as explained in 8.2. Flex is neither good nor bad in itself: it is tactile information. A player who modulates the stroke with the wrist exploits the flexing to load spin; a player seeking consistency on fast strokes prefers the blade not to yield. The relationship between stiffness and dwell time is developed in 2.5 and 2.6.
Weight. A bare shakehand blade weighs between 75 and 100 g on most models. That range looks narrow, but twenty grams of difference are felt on every stroke, above all in long sessions. Weight depends on the species — balsa is far lighter than ebony — on the total thickness of the blade and, in composite blades, on the fact that synthetic fibres are usually lighter than the wood they replace. The weight of the blade governs the total assembled weight, which is addressed in 11.5. Here one operative rule is enough: more weight brings more inertia and passive power to the stroke, but demands more force to accelerate the bat. For players with limited physique — veterans, juniors, three-hour sessions — the weight of the blade is the first filter of selection.
Head size and effective area. The standard head measures about 157 × 150 mm, but there are models that are wider, longer or slightly oversized. A greater area widens the useful contact zone and forgives off-centre impacts, which translates into a more generous sweet spot — a concept defined in 1.4. In exchange, a large head weighs more and generates greater aerodynamic drag when the bat is moved. Most players do not choose a blade by head size, but it is worth knowing that the differences exist and that a few extra millimetres can compensate whoever strikes off-centre frequently.
Balance. A blade can concentrate its mass towards the head, towards the handle or distribute it neutrally. The balance depends on the relationship between the weight of the blade and the weight of the handle, as described in 8.3. A head-balanced blade produces more passive power — the inertia works in favour of the stroke — but proves slower in transitions and blocks close to the table. A handle-balanced blade feels lighter than it weighs and eases fast wrist movements, at the cost of losing some mass at the point of impact. The relationship between balance and swingweight is detailed in 2.7.
None of these properties acts alone. A light, stiff blade plays completely differently from a light, flexible one, even though both register the same weight on the scales. It is the combination that defines the character of the blade, and that character is only completed when the rubbers are glued on — but that belongs already to Part IV.