Sponge shrinking

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As the self professed king of baby oil boosters, I can say this much. The baby oil treatment is more of a physical treatment rather than chemical treatment as is my understanding. Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but my assumption with paraffin oil is: the release of voc gasses resulting from the chemical reaction (caused when the PO, glue and sponge come into contact) permeates the sponge and causes it to expand and stretch(kind of like a balloon). However, the gasses escape eventually, the sponge returns back to its original size, but the sponge has been lightly damaged/dried out by the PO. After enough PO boost treatments, the sponge becomes unplayable. I believe (and I may be wrong) this is why PO boosting shortens the life of your rubber, but the results are great.

With baby oil, it has been my experience, that the oil itself is absorbed by the sponge, causing it to expand permenantly, and while there is an initial release of gases, it is the absorption of oil and not the absorption of gases that boosts the sponge. I'm incline to thing so, because in my experience rubbers boosted with baby oil never shrink back (and I have a few that stretch way to much and won't undome and stick to a paddle). While the performance is not as great as PO (or so i've heard), it is markedly better than without the BO treatment, in fact I have a H3 neo I've had on my paddle for nearly 3 years that is still tacky and still extremely lively that I don't need to replace!!!!!
 
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I have shrinked ELS dan FSX both together.. Used them since Mid 2017, every month I re-glued both sponges.. They shrink bit by bit each month.. Until last January, they shrinked about 3 mm from all sides (top, sides, below).. I Used Water Based Glue, use only hand not roller to attach the rubber.. Last Time I tried to rolled stretch the rubber, well, both reached the top side, but not the sides, it left the sides open..

This time I try T05 and T80, hopefully no shrinking.. Water based glue, attached by hand.. My previous tenergy(s) 05 shrunk..
 
says I would recommend all wood. Samsonov Alpha sgs is the...
says I would recommend all wood. Samsonov Alpha sgs is the...
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Very soft sponged rubbers tend to shrink *on the blade* if not glued solidly.
Glue them properly and if you're unsure, cut them with flaps overlapping the blade to make sure. If it shrinks then fine, you still have it covering the blade. If not, cut the flaps (if you want) :)
This is more of a problem if the climate is extreme and your rackets undergo temp changes (best to keep in some case that's at least somewhat climate resistant). Soft sponges like that are delicate.

Don't boost soft rubbers, it will not help. It will just ruin them.
 
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