Butterfly ‘SK Carbon’ was released in 2017 together with ‘SK7 Classic’ as one blade family. ‘SK7 Classic’ is the renewal product of ‘SK7’ which had been sold during 1999~2015, and ‘SK Carbon’ can be considered as the carbon fiber version of new ‘SK’ series. The main purpose of the application of carbon fiber is not to increase elasticity but to reduce weight. The construction of ‘SK Carbon’ is very thin 3+2 ply construction, and by the application of this construction, Butterfly succeeded to reduce the weight of blade significantly while keeping high elasticity level of 7-ply wood blade. Thanks to its light weight, moderate elasticity as a fiber blade and reasonable price, ‘SK Carbon’ is strongly recommended for the players who lays emphasis on cost-performance. Also, its great balance and ease of use make it one of the best fiber blades for entry players.

‘SK Carbon’ is the carbon fiber version of new ‘SK’ series. In Butterfly blade range, ‘SK’ series serves as an affordable blade family for starters. However, the proper player level of ‘SK’ series isn’t limited to entry level.

‘SK Carbon’ is a carbon blade that is very easy to use thanks to its thin construction, light weight and moderately high elasticity

Blade construction is 3+2 construction like ‘Primorac Carbon’ which is a very fast carbon blade. But, ‘SK Carbon’ isn’t as fast as ‘Primorac Carbon’ because it has much thinner construction. Overall thickness is around 5.2mm. Top layer is Koto and center layer is Kiri. (There isn’t middle layer.) TAMCA 5000 which is the woven carbon fiber of Butterfly is inserted between the top layer and the center layer of ‘SK Carbon’.

Head size is 157mm x 150mm which is the regular head size of Butterfly. Average weight of measured pcs. is 80.6g. We can find many pcs. whose weight are under 80 gram.

The transparent plastic lens of typical shape is applied at the foreside of handle. And, at the backside of handle, small rounded hologram lens is applied.

Like the other Butterfly blades, there is squared Aluminum plate with new Butterfly logo at the end of handle.

The brief information of blade is printed on the foreside of the head.

There isn’t printing on the backside of head. But, there is small rounded hologram lens at backside of handle.

Shakehand is available in two types of handles – FL (flared) and ST (straight). And, we can also select Chinese Penholder (CP) version which is not shown in the picture.

The shape of FL (flared) handle is different from the Butterfly standard FL (for most of Butterfly blades including ‘InnerForce Layer’ series) or Butterfly semi-wide FL (for ‘Viscaria’, ‘Fan Zhendong’ series and so one). The width is around 26mm (at top) ~ 27mm (at bulge) ~ 26mm (at narrowest section) ~ 34mm (at the end), and the thickness is around 23.4mm (at thumb) ~ 24.4mm (at the end). Although it appears thick in terms of size, it is somewhat slim when held because the cross-sectional shape is more shaved than the typical FL handles of Butterfly.

The ST (straight) handle which isn’t shown in picture is also slimmer than regular Butterfly ST handle although the size in number is identical (= width 28mm x thickness 23mm).

The rounded hologram lens which has been applied from 2014 is now one of the symbol of Butterfly blade.

‘SK Carbon’ and ‘SK Classic’ were released together in 2017. Two models shares the basic design as ‘SK’ series. The main advantage of ‘SK Carbon’ and ‘SK Classic’ is that those two blades provide high performance while being low in price.

Two models are distinguished from each other by coloring. The theme color of ‘SK7 Classic’ is dark blue, and that of ‘SK Carbon’ is black. And, two lines in sky blue and dark gray respectively make the harmony with base colors. Inside lens, yellow and silver work as point colors respectively.

The color of hologram lens of ‘SK7 Classic’ is orange while that of ‘SK Carbon’ is green.

Following are the performance indices of SK Carbon (avg.weight = 80.6g) :

– Ep = 1.74

– Ec = 1.75 (Ec/Ep = 1.00)

– Vp = 1.33

– Vl = 1.33 (Vl/Vp = 1.00)

Please note that above are average values and can be updated by further measurement.

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