I just popped open a tube of Kason KS-45 Standard feathered shuttlecocks, and played a bit with them this morning. My opponent has a pretty strong smash... but something that I,ve never seen happen before happened. Usually, my feather birds die gradually... they lose chunks and peices here and there. But this time, on a particular smash, one of the birds just went *flat*. I mean, the cork itself seems to have broken, without breaking away from the skirt, and the skirt itself, which should be cone shaped, was flattened, as if you had folded a coffee filter, or left a phone book sitting on the bird for a day. So here's my question, anyone used Kason birds before? Anyone seen this "pancake" scenario before? The rest of the KS-45 tube seemed to have okay birds, considering the price (cheaper even than mavis 300s, which is why i got a tube just to try them out) or powerful smash... or defect? Or does anyone have any beef with kason birds?
Here's the spec from www.racketsupply.com: KS-45 Standard KS-45 is an entry-level practice shuttlecock. The low price is ideal for players who are serious about playing badminton and want to have the right start. It is the best-priced among all Kason shuttlecocks. Although the feather has some minor cosmetic flaws with average durability, KS-45 has excellent flight. The cork base provides players with better and more accurate shots. Grade: Practice Feather Color: White Flying Speed: 77 Composition: Feather: Goose feather Base: Cork base Therefore, I assume it might be a combo of various reasons, such as basic quality, defect, and smashing power.
that happend to me too when i was using ashaway standard shuttle.1grade higher than the practice standard shuttle
Ah okay. It's unfortunate that others have lost birds the same way, but i suppose fortunate that I'm not the only one. I've also seen a bird go through a slightly too-narrow hole in a net and get feathers stripped out like that when they got caught. I never really used feathered birds before, so I'm used to nylon skirts tearing or the cork heads breaking off. The pancake thing was totally new... Does that ever happen to nylon birds as well? I'd imagine probably not... but then again...
I have seen it done before a few times off the same guy, an immensely powerfull smash but no technique what so ever
Which guy? F**s** ? I can think of one guy in particular who kills the shuttle (to the extent that it's afterwards unusable) with an immensely funny and messy smash. Who knows how he manages to keep the shuttle for so long on the string bed while dragging and smashing it at the same time. Oh, Merry Christmas, Dill (all 30mins or so that is left of it ).
There're 2 types of smash. A fast smash and a hard smash. A fast smash is done when your racquet head hit the shuttle w/ a slice angle creating a faster speed. A hard smash is when your racquet head hit the shuttle in direct impact which has a slightly slower speed but heavier punch to receive it. I believe the "pancake shuttle" is due the the way your friend hit it ..... the "hard" way. But of coz, the shuttlecork's quality is also a key factor too.
The nylon bird's skirt is usually more durable than the feather pieces, therefore, I never saw the pancake shape on nylon bird before. However, several times, I did saw the nylon bird's skirt got entirely "folded" after some hard smash.
kason birds IMO are rahter weak. The cork/skirt is very weak. After half a game, you need to replace the bird usually. The skirt is quite fragile to smashes, it tends to bend inwards quite often. This is the top of the line Kason bird too , which i got frmo racket supply.