Blade maintenance?

[XpingpingpongpongX]

Do I need to worry about blade maintenance? After playing, I would use water to clean the rubbers. And usually I would get a bit of water at the edge of the blade. I believe some amount would be absorbed into the wood. And over some period of time, would that affect the wood and/or the adhesive and change the blade characteristic? Maybe I need to be extra cautious when I clean the rubbers? Anyone lives in very humid environment and has some experience?

 

[ThePongCommenter]

That is correct, all blades get softer over time and avoiding moisture is impossible but doing what you can to do this will prolong the life. Of course if you use water based glue it is unavoidable. So all blades will get softer over time. Many higher level players change their blades fairly frequently because of this but if you're an amateur player and it doesn't bother you then you can use it as long as you want, just knowing it will be softer and weaker.

 

[NextLevel]

That is correct, all blades get softer over time and avoiding moisture is impossible but doing what you can to do this will prolong the life. Of course if you use water based glue it is unavoidable. So all blades will get softer over time. Many higher level players change their blades fairly frequently because of this but if you're an amateur player and it doesn't bother you then you can use it as long as you want, just knowing it will be softer and weaker.

Pros train a lot and swap rubbers a lot and sometimes use extra additives a lot as well so comparing their needs to ours can be a bit misleading when we might change rubbers every 3- 6 months and not reglue rubbers in between or add other moisture containing performance enhancing chemicals. So I think frequency of use and regluing must be accounted for when thinking about the impact of moisture on blades.

 

[ThePongCommenter]

Pros train a lot and swap rubbers a lot and sometimes use extra additives a lot as well so comparing their needs to ours can be a bit misleading when we might change rubbers every 3- 6 months and not reglue rubbers in between or add other moisture containing performance enhancing chemicals. So I think frequency of use and regluing must be accounted for when thinking about the impact of moisture on blades.

Yeah definitely, but it will happen in time nonetheless

For most amateur players it could well be 5 years before the softening effect is significant

For pro players, could be within 6 months or a year

Training intensity also factors in

 

[Tony's Table Tennis]

water is terrible, at most a lightly damp sponge should be used. don't let water get into the core of the blade...
if too much water, it will damage your blade

put Silica gel packs in your racket case

 

[XpingpingpongpongX]

water based glue is the mainstream now right? I guess I will need to be careful when I clean the rubbers. And silica gel pack is a good idea!

 

[BlopChock]

Do I need to worry about blade maintenance? After playing, I would use water to clean the rubbers. And usually I would get a bit of water at the edge of the blade. I believe some amount would be absorbed into the wood. And over some period of time, would that affect the wood and/or the adhesive and change the blade characteristic? Maybe I need to be extra cautious when I clean the rubbers? Anyone lives in very humid environment and has some experience?

You definitely want to avoid getting water on the edge of the blade - keep it on the rubber only! As Tony says, a slightly damp sponge (preferably distilled water to avoid spreading minerals all over the surface) will be much safer.

A lot of people speak well of Revolution 3 cleaner and rejuvenator (but again, a lil dab will do ya, and keep it off the blade itself).

When dry, cover with protective sheets.

Store it in a cool, dark spot - sunlight is deadly to rubber durability.

 

[kapahoo]

Seal the blade?

 

[thisisit]

dehydrate the blade to about 7% before you put on new rubbers

 

[lodro]

Seal the blade?

Yep you are the only one who makes sense. 😂
If one properly seals the blade and includes the edges as well, what's there to worry about, neither the cleaning -water nor the water of the glue will then soften the blade.

 

[golden_son]

dehydrate the blade to about 7% before you put on new rubbers

Yes, you can throw your blade in while making jerky

 

[lodro]

Yes, you can throw your blade in while making jerky

when it will be all done nicely I won't be interested in the blade BUT do please send me the jerky 😁

 

[thisisit]

Yes, you can throw your blade in while making jerky

BTY Golden Viscaria jerky flavour.

sealing the blade with a good PU varnish helps a lot, but you may not want to coat the blade with enough varnish that would make it actually watertight(if you can do it at all). you need at least 9-10 coats to even be close to making a piece of wood watertight.

using 4-5 coats of marine grade varnish would make the blade watertight, but after that the blade would be more fitting for rowing and less for tt.

"sealing the blade" as people here refer to, is applying a thin coat of varnish(water or solvent based) or tt sealing products(most of them are water based PU varnishes that come in bottles that have tt specific logos on them) on the blade, which does make the wood more resistant to moisture absorption, but it doesn't make it watertight, so moisture will still accumulate inside the wood.

dehydrating the blade with a food dehydrator gets rid of excess moisture, but you'll need an electromagnetic moisture meter too to actually measure the moisture content of the blade.

most people handle the moisture accumulation problem in a different manner. they just don't care ). when they feel like they need a new blade, they buy a new blade.

as with anything, you can nerd out a lot about tt ancillary stuff, but if your goal is to become a better tt player, this kind of concerns just eat away at your time that could be spent training or reviewing techniques or matches.

 

[XpingpingpongpongX]

most people handle the moisture accumulation problem in a different manner. they just don't care ). when they feel like they need a new blade, they buy a new blade.

as with anything, you can nerd out a lot about tt ancillary stuff, but if your goal is to become a better tt player, this kind of concerns just eat away at your time that could be spent training or reviewing techniques or matches.

I don't worry about moisture. I worry about water when I clean. I guess I should use a dampened towel or some TT cleaning products, instead of water directly. I just hope my blade could last over 10 years and still plays like at least 70% new.

 

[thisisit]

I don't worry about moisture. I worry about water when I clean. I guess I should use a dampened towel or some TT cleaning products, instead of water directly. I just hope my blade could last over 10 years and still plays like at least 70% new.

this is like saying: "i don't drink alcohol. i only drink whiskey on wednesdays"

 

[Tyce]

If you worry spilling water when you clean... You're using way too much water.

 

[lodro]

using 4-5 coats of marine grade varnish would make the blade watertight, but after that the blade would be more fitting for rowing and less for tt.

fair enough but we are not really talking about "waterproofing" we are only suggesting to seal the surface of the blades "from the worst".
Also all the worry that many punters express about the waterbased glues is not really justified because we do let the glue dry out before we offer the rubbers up to the wood,
right ?

 

[thisisit]

fair enough but we are not really talking about "waterproofing" we are only suggesting to seal the surface of the blades "from the worst".
Also all the worry that many punters express about the waterbased glues is not really justified because we do let the glue dry out before we offer the rubbers up to the wood,
right ?

my unsolicited advice is: don't stress about this stuff.

applying a thin coat of PU varnish makes more of a difference for preventing splintering rather than preventing moisture buildup. softer wood definitely splinters more easily than harder wood. and by wood, i'm not referring to tree species, i mean the actual wood(the species does have a correlation with hardness though) so an average limba blade would benefit from it more than an average ebony blade.

in the end, if your focus is on playing and not blade collecting or doing research, you should focus on that. blades are consumables and you can get high quality blades for as low as $50. i'm not trying to promote a careless attitude towards your equipment, i'm just saying don't rank equipment maintenance to high on your tt priority list.

 

[lodro]

my unsolicited advice is: don't stress about this stuff.

we don't stress about it, talking and writing a load of crap comes completely natural to me