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After the Borko experiment I contacted Kevin at AmericanHinoki.  Kevin makes 1-ply blades only out of a variety of north American woods (some of which are cypress, hence the name).  After a bit of a chat we decided on a 9mm thick Lutz Spruce blade which he assured me wouldn't be too fast and more or less in the same family (all++) as the flexible 5-plies I'm used to. 

Fast forward 9 days and the blade is in my sweaty little mitts (see pic below, provided by Kevin).  The blade has a pleasantly prehistoric, Barny Rubble-ish look to it.  I don't know whether to glue rubbers on it or go out and club a dinosaur.  If I painted it blue it would be perfect in the hands of a mean little smurf.  I mean, let's get this out of the way: it's thick and the cork handle is gigantic.  The handle is that way on purpose and Kevin kindly provides a couple of sheets of sandpaper so players can sand it down and customize the shape to fit their hand.  This particular feature is very appreciated by yours truly as I can't seem to find handles big enough these days.  Bouncing a ball on it gives a satisfyingly crisp click sound and I can tell right away that the sound of the blade is going to be good and it's going to have very little vibration.  The latter worries me a bit naturally but we'll see.  I'm also wondering if it's going to be on the fast side.

Which leads us to my current quandry: do I go ahead and slap the T05 from the 550 on it for tomorrow's usatt Berkeley open?  So tempting, believe me readers, I waffled and wish washed back and forth on this all day but in the end decided against it.  Problem number 1: the sheets might be cut too small and someone at the tourney might call me on the bare wood rule.  Problem number 2: I don't have time to treat the edges against dings and the internet's advice as well as Kevin's is to treat the edges of a 1-ply as they get damaged more easily than a plywood blade.  Problem #3: the handle really is pretty chunky and will probably take some time to experiment with and sand down to the right size.  Though right now it doesn't look like I'll be taking much off. 

So there you have it: the 1-ply experiment has begun.  Handsome little beasty...