Leaving extra rubber on blade when cutting? (Ma Lin)

schen · Mar 17, 2013

Hey everyone (I'm new to posting here),

I noticed while watching a Chinese feature on Ma Lin, that he leaves a fair amount of extra rubber off the edges of his blade. I was wondering if there was any particular advantage to doing this? I would think cutting it like that would make the risk of snagging the rubber off the blade during pushes a bit worse...

Screen Shot 2013-03-17 at 11.17.15 AM.jpg

John_Pish · Mar 19, 2013

hmmm.

well i know some rubbers tend to shrink after you glue, maybe they are giving a little extra for that.

or maybe they just dont care. they get new rubbers constantly, there isnt really a point is making it look nice

UpSideDownCarl · Mar 19, 2013

Oh, that might be on purpose. There is this technique where you cut the rubber bigger and nearer to the wings and handle, it is even more. I think they call that flippers. It gives you more click and speed glue feel. It feels great. I cannot fully figure out why. But it feels really good.

hipnotic · Mar 19, 2013

I think he just boosted the hell out of those rubbers and didnt bother to cut them after

schen · Mar 19, 2013

huh interesting, i'm going to try that later tonight or tomorrow then

UpSideDownCarl · Mar 20, 2013

UpSideDownCarl said:
Oh, that might be on purpose. There is this technique where you cut the rubber bigger and nearer to the wings and handle, it is even more. I think they call that flippers. It gives you more click and speed glue feel. It feels great. I cannot fully figure out why. But it feels really good.

Oh, by the way, I don't think it is legal, but it feels great. I should try and get a picture of what I am talking about near the wings, where the rubber fans out a tiny bit further from the blade.

With this, it is possible that Ma Lin did not do it. That it is just because the rubber got reboosted and expanded more after having been cut. But it would be strange for someone at that level of play where they change sheets when ever they want and their rubbers have been boosted to the level they want before they get put on and they never use a sheet for more than a week, that this would be because a rubber was cut and then boosted more. And having your rubbers like that does give you a really good feeling.

But it also seems strange that he would cut them like that when it could get his bat disqualified from a tournament.

So hard to say what is going on there.

schen · Mar 21, 2013

Which rule makes it illegal? Based on what I saw in the CNT's bat pictures, a few of them had this flipper cut at the China Open 2011 (and I assumed they played with them cut that way)?

(I don't have enough posts to post a link to another thread on this forum apparently...)

By the pictures from that thread, it looks like Zhang Jike is also cutting in a similar way

UpSideDownCarl · Mar 22, 2013

schen said:
Which rule makes it illegal?

I have to be honest, I do not really know. I just was told by two different pros that, even though it feels great, that if you cut your rubbers like that in a tournament they can disqualify your racket.

fnord · Apr 24, 2013

I might have missunderstood the rule below but in case covering materials includes rubber and topsheet and not only edging tape I found this:

The covering material shall extend up to but not beyond the limits of the blade, except that the part nearest the handle and gripped by the fingers may be left uncovered or covered with any material.

Source: ITTF Handbook 2012/2013 Rule 2.04.04

Hence it's illegal at ITTF tournaments in general by definition, but considering that the China Open is also supervised by the CTTA they might abandoned that rule at this tournament.

I would be glad if someone could post some pictures of blades prepared that way, I can't really imagine the description of UpSideDownCarl.

Maybe you could explain it yourself once again a bit more detailed, thanks in advance

.

UpSideDownCarl · Apr 24, 2013

fnord said:
I might have missunderstood the rule below but in case covering materials includes rubber and topsheet and not only edging tape I found this:

Source: ITTF Handbook 2012/2013 Rule 2.04.04

Hence it's illegal at ITTF tournaments in general by definition, but considering that the China Open is also supervised by the CTTA they might abandoned that rule at this tournament.

I would be glad if someone could post some pictures of blades prepared that way, I can't really imagine the description of UpSideDownCarl.

Maybe you could explain it yourself once again a bit more detailed, thanks in advance .

Well, that is definitely a rule that would make that way of cutting your rubbers against the rules.

The next time I am hitting with someone who cuts their rubbers the way I described, I will try and take a picture of it.

decoy · Apr 24, 2013

i leave mine slightly overhanging to protect the blade

Svttc · Apr 26, 2013

Well sometimes if you use a thick pair of scissors, the blade will not be completely flush against the side of the blade, so a little bit of rubber will stick out. It has happened to me a lot of times.

UpSideDownCarl · May 6, 2013

UpSideDownCarl said:
Well, that is definitely a rule that would make that way of cutting your rubbers against the rules.

The next time I am hitting with someone who cuts their rubbers the way I described, I will try and take a picture of it.

Now I have photos of those fins, wings, or flippers, what ever it is called:

I believe the Swedes all used to do this, Waldner being one of them.

HLDang · May 6, 2013

UpSideDownCarl said:
Now I have photos of those fins, wings, or flippers, what ever it is called:

View attachment 3716 View attachment 3717

I believe the Swedes all used to do this, Waldner being one of them.

Curious, what are the "advantages" of having your rubbers cut like this?

bricephan · May 6, 2013

I also cut my rubber a bit off the blade, as my friend (pursuing professional TT athlete) and my coach told me that the extra rubber off could help protect my blade. Among blade and rubber, I am sure you just usually change your rubber. Of course I should admit that cutting that way cause to snag the rubber off the blade, but it's fine though 'coz I glue my rubbers as a often routine, like twice or even more per week if I play frequently. Time to time gluing rubber also helps me to get good feeling of touching the ball. That's all advantages I could tell

schen said:
Hey everyone (I'm new to posting here),

I noticed while watching a Chinese feature on Ma Lin, that he leaves a fair amount of extra rubber off the edges of his blade. I was wondering if there was any particular advantage to doing this? I would think cutting it like that would make the risk of snagging the rubber off the blade during pushes a bit worse...

View attachment 3534

UpSideDownCarl · May 6, 2013

HLDang said:
Curious, what are the "advantages" of having your rubbers cut like this?

The theory behind having that excess rubber, particularly in that fin shape, near the wings of the blade is it gives the rubber more control and more speed glue sound and feel. It is strange. I did not think it would actually work when I first saw it. But when I hit with it, I was impressed. It did that. I think, perhaps, because those fins can move and vibrate when the ball sinks in.

Tinykin · May 6, 2013

UpSideDownCarl said:
The theory behind having that excess rubber, particularly in that fin shape, near the wings of the blade is it gives the rubber more control and more speed glue sound and feel. It is strange. I did not think it would actually work when I first saw it. But when I hit with it, I was impressed. It did that. I think, perhaps, because those fins can move and vibrate when the ball sinks in.

I think you are forgetting your speed glue days.
It's cut like that so that the rubber is easier to remove, especially if you do it regularly. I think the pro players were pulling your leg.
BTW, it would take a really fastidious umpire to fail a bat for that overhang by the handle in ordinary national tournaments.

UpSideDownCarl · May 7, 2013

Tinykin said:
I think you are forgetting your speed glue days.
It's cut like that so that the rubber is easier to remove, especially if you do it regularly. I think the pro players were pulling your leg.
BTW, it would take a really fastidious umpire to fail a bat for that overhang by the handle in ordinary national tournaments.

Nah, I felt it. It is true that that makes sense that it might make it easier to pull off and put back on in the speed glue days. But I felt what it did. If you hit with two blades that you saw glued on, and you know how the rubber was glued and boosted and you feel one next to the other, there would not be much doubt.

WiWa · May 7, 2013

I think the 'flippers' is not what schen meant with his question. But making the rubber slightly larger than the blade is maybe just a practical thing (easier to cut that way) or because the rubber might shrink after being glued to the bat. In the picture of Ma Lin's bat, it is only a few millimeters. I doubt that's illegal. If it was illegal, you could just carefully put edgetape around it and nobody would know

UpSideDownCarl · May 7, 2013

WiWa said:
I think the 'flippers' is not what schen meant with his question. But making the rubber slightly larger than the blade is maybe just a practical thing (easier to cut that way) or because the rubber might shrink after being glued to the bat. In the picture of Ma Lin's bat, it is only a few millimeters. I doubt that's illegal. If it was illegal, you could just carefully put edgetape around it and nobody would know

It is true, the thread was not about those fins. I had made a response that I have seen people do the fins, and with the fins they normally cut the rubber a little larger around as in Ma Lin's racket in the photo at the top. But, then when I described the fins, some people wanted to know exactly what I meant. The photo does the description better than words would have been able to.

And when I did test it, because I did not think it would do anything, it felt pretty good. I think I might cut my rubbers that way next time I put new rubbers on my bat.

Leaving extra rubber on blade when cutting? (Ma Lin)

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