How long does it take to oxidize? I have rubbers that I left with the plastic on it for 20 years, but still looks like its new.
I also have rubbers that are 15 years old without plastic on, but just left in a basic racket case that still maintains its softness and grip.
I'd love to hear other people experiences too. I just dug out a few old paddles that were lightly played with and then left in storage (with plastic covers) in a dark, cool, and relatively dry place for 13 years.
Two of the paddles had rubbers in very good shape... almost like new. These were Dawei 2008XP.
Two of the paddles had rubbers that were even tackier than before. Almost seems like rubber is slowly breaking down into goo, but it's still early in its stages. These are Dawei Inspirit Ultralight.
I will likely replace the Inspirits but will keep the 2008XP's.
I haven't had them go hard/crack/get brittle, and if anything, experienced the opposite.
To be honest, I don’t know, it will depend on many factors, what the ‘mix’ is of the rubber, temperature, humidity, how and where stored, exposure to sunlight etc.
Hi,
From the photo I was expecting the age to be more than 8 years!!!,
I don’t recognise the brand / rubber name - Kung Fu, there’s no ITTF number on it either.
Maybe some of the others have seen this rubber before?
The main thing is to store and protect the bat very well if you are not going to use it for a longer period of time.
Use rubber protection sheets, plastic bags, some of the larger resealable sandwich bags are good, you can fit the whole bat in, get most of the air out and zip it up!! Then put in a good quality bat case, if you really want to you can pop in a silica gel pad to ensure any moisture is absorbed, this is a good idea if it’s just the blade you are storing without rubbers on,
Even for ‘normal’ use, when I’m playing 2 or 3 times a week, I use rubber protection sheets, and a good quality double bat case.
