Big Upset with W968 Golden Grand Slam Version

[SeyhunAliYalçın]

Hello everyone,

I recently purchased a DHS W968 Golden Grand Slam blade. Since this blade is not sold in my country, I had to buy it through an intermediary service. After receiving it, I verified the serial number on the official website and confirmed that the product is completely authentic.

However, I encountered a serious problem. After gluing rubbers onto the blade using Butterfly Free Chack glue and playing with it for a while, I decided to remove the rubber. When I did, the top ply of the blade was severely damaged and parts of the wood surface came off with the rubber.

I also experienced the exact same issue on the other side of the blade when removing the rubber there as well.

Honestly, I was very surprised and disappointed to see this happen on such an expensive blade. I did not expect something like this from a product at this price level.

I contacted DHS support via email and included the blade’s serial number along with photos explaining the situation, but unfortunately I have not received any response so far.

Has anyone here experienced something similar or knows what I should do in this situation? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you.

 

[joshmak10]

Unfortunately DHS blades are known for that. Commercial ones especially but even W968s are prone to this too. That is why most people seal the blades. I've never had a 968 blade but I had provincial versions and this happened all the time when I removed rubbers. Sorry to hear about this, but luckily this is still playable.

And this, my friends, is why Butterfly blades are the way to go...

 

[SeyhunAliYalçın]

Unfortunately DHS blades are known for that. Commercial ones especially but even W968s are prone to this too. That is why most people seal the blades. I've never had a 968 blade but I had provincial versions and this happened all the time when I removed rubbers. Sorry to hear about this, but luckily this is still playable.

And this, my friends, is why Butterfly blades are the way to go...

Thank for your reply, I didn't know that i had to seal the blade before i glue it... There's no ''gluing recipe'' on the box or somewhere regarding the blade itself. So that, i glued it normally...

But fortunately, I know a guy who makes custom blade himself, I send the blade to him to repair, As he told me he had to replace the limba outer surface and put new one on it... But i don't know whether blade will perform as it is before or not...

 

[joshmak10]

Thank for your reply, I didn't know that i had to seal the blade before i glue it... There's no ''gluing recipe'' on the box or somewhere regarding the blade itself. So that, i glued it normally...

But fortunately, I know a guy who makes custom blade himself, I send the blade to him to repair, As he told me he had to replace the limba outer surface and put new one on it... But i don't know whether blade will perform as it is before or not...

Yeah personally I don't seal my blades at all because for me it slightly changes the feeling, so i just pray and hope with DHS blades...to no avail most of the time.

 

[ShakehandJpenCpenEnjoyer]

Rip...

Today i put my fextra 7 under running water and scrubbed with kitchen sponge, out of rage (DO NOT DO THIS). To my surprise that didn't make any splinters. Kinda crazy how 15€ racket is "stronger" than w968.

 

[SeyhunAliYalçın]

Yeah personally I don't seal my blades at all because for me it slightly changes the feeling, so i just pray and hope with DHS blades...to no avail most of the time.

Lets see, how it will be after the repair... But i dont think it will perform the same.

 

[golden_son]

Today i put my fextra 7 under running water and scrubbed with kitchen sponge, out of rage...

But...why? 😶

 

[victormanriquey]

Yes sadly I have tore quite a bunch of DHS blades until I recently started sealing, then all is fixed and feeling was fine. It sucks, but it is what it is

 

[Creek]

Welcome to DHS blades without sealing… the quality is aweful.
Really feel sorry for you and your money 😕

 

[MOJOJOJO-74]

Unfortunately I've had this issue with DHS blades, but not to this extent 😮 Lacquering definitely helps, but maybe for that blade, you need to peel off rubbers very very slowly to it doesn't happen again 😢

 

[Gekko]

Stories like this make me so angry at the companies that don't warn people. Honestly it's disgusting.

But yeah, DHS and Stiga are known for this.

Do NOT seal your blade. It will change the feeling. What you need to do is sand it. Go from low grit to high grit. Once it's all smooth, I like using a receipt (like from supermarket) and place a later of plastic over it like that.

Please look this up and once again I'm sorry that happened to you.

 

[ShakehandJpenCpenEnjoyer]

But...why? 😶

I used a "sticky glue" from a craft store instead of normal table tennis glue (out of curiosity).
I thought i could remove it using acetone but it was not the case.
And also i wanted to "test" how far can i abuse a racket. Lol.

 

[ShakehandJpenCpenEnjoyer]

Do NOT seal your blade. It will change the feeling. What you need to do is sand it. Go from low grit to high grit. Once it's all smooth, I like using a receipt (like from supermarket) and place a later of plastic over it like that.

Wait what? A receipt paper as a sealer?

 

[kevin.c]

I have the same blade and the first thing i did was to seal the blade on all surfaces including the handle.
Would recommend you using DHS no 15 glue as the glue is easy to peel during removal. I did this a few times due to attempting to glue on a very hot day (37degs C) where the glue went dry before i could spread it evenly.
The sealing definitely helps to prevent splintering.

 

[Gekko]

Wait what? A receipt paper as a sealer?

Yes, the thermal plastic type.

 

[K.K]

i know someone that uses VOC glue as a temporary seal. he puts voc glue, waits one hour, then one layer water based glue on it and normal glue procedure with water based glue two layers on the rubber. but you need to do it everytime you glue new rubbers on

 

[M4rc0H]

Or you can also use hairspray for temporary sealing. (not a big fan of this)
The best method for me so far: quickly apply the sealant to the blade and wipe it off with a lint-free cotton cloth so that only a very thin layer remains.

 

[Wakkibatty]

Some woods are just prone to this kind of stuff unfortunately, limba being a prime example (most other softer, spinny hardwoods have the same problem). . If you *don't* seal the blade properly It's pretty hard to stop it happening.

If it happens to you a lot with different blades then I would also look at the humidity at which you store the blade and/or choose to glue up at. Outer woods are more prone to splintering like this when their moisture content is high, as excessive moisture in the outer veneer layer weakens it (which is why water based rubber glues cause it to happen so much). If you glue up on a dry, less humid day then you reduce the chances of it happening a little bit.

This once happened to me when i was making a blade -- I had some masking tape on the surface of a blade, and removed it in a careless manner without thinking. A huge fiber came off right down the middle of the blade that went almost to the medial layer! Talk about being cheesed off !! 😂😂

On the flip side, there are some Australian outer woods out there where it's almost impossible to lift a fibre even if you try (not that I would ever recommend it!!) Typically it's the harder outer layers that are less prone to it, and many Australian hardwoods are naturally harder and more dense than other similar species from different continents. That said there are also some some mid-density australian woods which are naturally resistant and don't lift fibers -- two of my premium blade models use outer woods like these, but even with these blades I still recommend sealing the playing surface.

Otherwise you can change to a blade that uses a softwood like hinoki as an outer layer. You don't lift fibers with softwoods outers like hinoki or Sköllawood, as there's literally no fibers in the wood to lift. 🙂 Only hardwoods have fibers to them, softwoods (hinoki, pine, western red cedar etc) have tracheids instead of fibers, so they aren't prone to this problem.

 

[Lazer]

Some woods are just prone to this kind of stuff unfortunately, limba being a prime example (most other softer, spinny hardwoods have the same problem). . If you *don't* seal the blade properly It's pretty hard to stop it happening.

If it happens to you a lot with different blades then I would also look at the humidity at which you store the blade and/or choose to glue up at. Outer woods are more prone to splintering like this when their moisture content is high, as excessive moisture in the outer veneer layer weakens it (which is why water based rubber glues cause it to happen so much). If you glue up on a dry, less humid day then you reduce the chances of it happening a little bit.

This once happened to me when i was making a blade -- I had some masking tape on the surface of a blade, and removed it in a careless manner without thinking. A huge fiber came off right down the middle of the blade that went almost to the medial layer! Talk about being cheesed off !! 😂😂

On the flip side, there are some Australian outer woods out there where it's almost impossible to lift a fibre even if you try (not that I would ever recommend it!!) Typically it's the harder outer layers that are less prone to it, and many Australian hardwoods are naturally harder and more dense than other similar species from different continents. That said there are also some some mid-density australian woods which are naturally resistant and don't lift fibers -- two of my premium blade models use outer woods like these, but even with these blades I still recommend sealing the playing surface.

Otherwise you can change to a blade that uses a softwood like hinoki as an outer layer. You don't lift fibers with softwoods outers like hinoki or Sköllawood, as there's literally no fibers in the wood to lift. 🙂 Only hardwoods have fibers to them, softwoods (hinoki, pine, western red cedar etc) have tracheids instead of fibers, so they aren't prone to this problem.

My worst rip happened to and old and very dry primorac carbon. It has a hinoki outer so those woods you mentioned are not immune to this. I also had a rip on a spruce top. The safest way to remove a rubber is slowly side to side or diagonally (across the fibers).

Cheers
L-zr

 

[mihalichtheone]

Happened to me with some (not all) Stiga and DHS blades, it really depends on the wood.
Sealer is a must on every blade, I just personally use very thin 1-2 layer of sealer (revolution one) and it doesn't change the feeling at all (like really, you don't even notice it when it dries).

When glueing with DHS #15 or other glue with the same properties it always comes off easily and doesn't splinter.

And I must add, it probably doesn't mean that the blade is of bad quality. There's a reason why many play with w968 or Stiga Dynasty (blades that prone to splinter), it's probably still good manufacturing process, it's just that some woods are more prone to splintering than others.

tldr: use revolution sealer with very thin layers are you're fine.