is baby oil a effective booster?

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If one hate or frown upon boosting, then just use Butterfly rubber. They are so good, you can use it as they are, straight away from the packaging.

On a personal note, I use Falco brand myself. To me, the boosting process is a labour of love, a work of art. It is like a ritual. It gives a sense of confidence boost.
 
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What I have experienced with Haifu Seamoon Booster and boosting DHS H3 41deg, Yinhe Big Dipper 38/39deg and DHS H8-80 38deg is that you, with harder sponges get a more "alive" rubber. The H8-80 is a softer rubber, so the effect isn't so big there.

I guess the effect is better with harder sponges, as they softens up a little bit, and at the same time the top sheet is a bit stretched, making the setup a bit more bouncy. Now this isn't a huge difference from the original unboosted sponge. The H3N doesn't become a Tenergy :D thankfully, so you still have control in the short game as well.

I understand that many players mean that boosters are against the table tennis regulations, but I can't find any good documentation about this. Could someone please point me in the right direction?
 
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I'm thinking of buying a baby if it's cheaper in the long run. They are cheap where I live except delivery time takes months.
But how to extract oil from the little one? Is there any video of the process? I know they leak some liquid stuff, is that good for boosting?
Before anyone attacks me I know it's illegal (to boost) but my doctor says booster is recommended nowadays. He probably plays tt I guess.
 
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I understand that many players mean that boosters are against the table tennis regulations, but I can't find any good documentation about this. Could someone please point me in the right direction?
This is just because you asked. I don't care about boosting one way or the other. But here is the statute from the rules of table tennis that states that adding some form of chemical that changes the playing characteristics of the rubber is against the rules:

"2.4.7 The racket covering shall be used without any physical, chemical or other treatment."

That is on page 33 of the 2021 ITTF Handbook:

https://documents.ittf.sport/sites/default/files/public/2021-04/2021ITTFHandbook.pdf

Hope that is helpful. I don't think it should be the rule. But that is the rule. When ITTF banned Speed Glue, they also banned using any kind of chemical that could change the playing characteristics of the rubber.

But the truth is, at the pro level, everyone is using something to enhance the playing characteristics of the rubber and for someone who just plays for the enjoyment of playing, does it really matter if you are boosting?

 
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This is just because you asked. I don't care about boosting one way or the other. But here is the statute from the rules of table tennis that states that adding some form of chemical that changes the playing characteristics of the rubber is against the rules:

"2.4.7 The racket covering shall be used without any physical, chemical or other treatment."

That is on page 33 of the 2021 ITTF Handbook:

https://documents.ittf.sport/sites/default/files/public/2021-04/2021ITTFHandbook.pdf

Hope that is helpful. I don't think it should be the rule. But that is the rule. When ITTF banned Speed Glue, they also banned using any kind of chemical that could change the playing characteristics of the rubber.

But the truth is, at the pro level, everyone is using something to enhance the playing characteristics of the rubber and for someone who just plays for the enjoyment of playing, does it really matter if you are boosting?

...................and of course one can then only wonder what good it will do, at pro level, to inspect the opposition's racket before the match.
Player A looks at player B's racket and sees a Hurricane 3 but what is it ???? Provincial, National, Special selection ??? or what ?
Is the rubber boosted or not boosted ? Who can tell ?

For my level of play boosting a rubber is simply an "interest", occupational therapy if you want. I often use a boosted pair of rubbers on one blade and the same , but un-boosted rubber on a identical second blade. It does not give me an advantage or make me a better player nor has ever anybody complained about it.
Should we have 2 different handbooks ?
Maybe the top 100 males and females should be strictly policed and sanctioned, as for the rest ...........................😊

 
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...................and of course one can then only wonder what good it will do, at pro level, to inspect the opposition's racket before the match.
Player A looks at player B's racket and sees a Hurricane 3 but what is it ???? Provincial, National, Special selection ??? or what ?
Is the rubber boosted or not boosted ? Who can tell ?

For my level of play boosting a rubber is simply an "interest", occupational therapy if you want. I often use a boosted pair of rubbers on one blade and the same , but un-boosted rubber on a identical second blade. It does not give me an advantage or make me a better player nor has ever anybody complained about it.
Should we have 2 different handbooks ?
Maybe the top 100 males and females should be strictly policed and sanctioned, as for the rest ...........................😊

When ITTF banned Speed Glue, they said it was because of health reasons. The thing that shows that this was a false premise for the ban is that, when they instituted the ban, they also banned chemicals like booster oils that DO NOT present any health risk.--

I believe the actual intention was to slow down the game. Ironically, this caused all the TT companies to develop and market faster equipment. The intention behind making the ball larger was also to slow down the game. Changing to the plastic ball was as well. And with each change, the TT companies made faster and faster equipment and the end result is that the game is faster now than it was back in the days of the 38mm ball and speed glue because, with a bigger ball that is slower and has less spin, you can simply hit harder without worrying about the effects of the incoming spin as much as you used to have to.--

Ironically, this also had the effect of making it harder for Defensive players to compete because, with a slower ball that has less spin and is easier to just pummel, it is harder to do the things that caused defensive play to be more effective. So, the end result is that serves and short pushes are much easier to attack and there are many more players who play with a similar style of all out attacking. As this style of play has been successful, many of the other unique styles of play that used to exist are becoming more rare.--

An interesting experiment: If you pull out a 38mm ball (I actually still have some 38mm Nittaku 3*** balls from the 1990s) and try to use it with todays equipment, you will wonder how anyone ever played with a 38mm ball because of how much faster and how much more spin is on the ball. But, back when the 38mm ball was used, most of the top pros used 5 ply, all wood blades with rubbers like Sriver or Mark V (and speed glue). :)

 
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What I have experienced with Haifu Seamoon Booster and boosting DHS H3 41deg, Yinhe Big Dipper 38/39deg and DHS H8-80 38deg is that you, with harder sponges get a more "alive" rubber. The H8-80 is a softer rubber, so the effect isn't so big there.

I guess the effect is better with harder sponges, as they softens up a little bit, and at the same time the top sheet is a bit stretched, making the setup a bit more bouncy. Now this isn't a huge difference from the original unboosted sponge. The H3N doesn't become a Tenergy :D thankfully, so you still have control in the short game as well.

I understand that many players mean that boosters are against the table tennis regulations, but I can't find any good documentation about this. Could someone please point me in the right direction?
I understand for hard tacky rubber, you boost to soften it up or break-in the rubber faster. I, personally have not boost soft rubber such as H3-60 et al. I wonder if you boost it, will it turn mushy? Have you tried it before friend?

 
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I understand for hard tacky rubber, you boost to soften it up or break-in the rubber faster. I, personally have not boost soft rubber such as H3-60 et al. I wonder if you boost it, will it turn mushy? Have you tried it before friend?

Yes, it will get "mushy" if you apply too much.

Think about this.

It is the vapor that files the pocket in the sponge that you want. The liquid does not compress much so if you saturate the sponge with booster, it will not do well until enough of the booster has evaporated because the booster itself does not compress. It is the vapor that compresses. If you apply too little there will not be enough booster to evaporate for long and the effect will be short lived. In other words there is a "sweet spot" . Not too much, not too little.
 
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This is just because you asked. I don't care about boosting one way or the other. But here is the statute from the rules of table tennis that states that adding some form of chemical that changes the playing characteristics of the rubber is against the rules:

"2.4.7 The racket covering shall be used without any physical, chemical or other treatment."

That is on page 33 of the 2021 ITTF Handbook:

https://documents.ittf.sport/sites/default/files/public/2021-04/2021ITTFHandbook.pdf

Hope that is helpful. I don't think it should be the rule. But that is the rule. When ITTF banned Speed Glue, they also banned using any kind of chemical that could change the playing characteristics of the rubber.

But the truth is, at the pro level, everyone is using something to enhance the playing characteristics of the rubber and for someone who just plays for the enjoyment of playing, does it really matter if you are boosting?

Thanx :) I just wonder if I'm allowed to glue the rubber to the blade then? :D It's a kind of treatment as well, and if it gets dirty, could I even clean it?

After all it's only the top sheet being approved by the ITTF, right? Well. I'm not a top player in any way, so I don't really care so much about this. There are so many players still using speed glue, so this rule is a bit toothless anyway.

One thing that could bother me sometimes is that it seems like boosting sounds a bit illegal in other players ears, while they selves speed glue their rubbers, defending it with that 'everyone always have done this since the dawn of time', and 'it's too hard using VOC free glues'.

 
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Thanx :) I just wonder if I'm allowed to glue the rubber to the blade then? :D It's a kind of treatment as well, and if it gets dirty, could I even clean it?

After all it's only the top sheet being approved by the ITTF, right? Well. I'm not a top player in any way, so I don't really care so much about this. There are so many players still using speed glue, so this rule is a bit toothless anyway.

One thing that could bother me sometimes is that it seems like boosting sounds a bit illegal in other players ears, while they selves speed glue their rubbers, defending it with that 'everyone always have done this since the dawn of time', and 'it's too hard using VOC free glues'.
If you read the whole section on racket and rubbers these questions are sort of addressed. But some of what you are talking about is that the rules are ridiculous and cannot be enforced and that is true. And some of what you are talking about is that people are ridiculous and make excuses for themselves and that is also true.

So, I won't argue with any of that. To some extent the ITTF's ban on speed glue and boosters was about $$. The money they would make in approving a whole slew of new equipment. And that does cost $$.

I believe the ITTF's approval of "rubbers" is actually Rubber/Sponge combination. Like, I am not sure it would be legal to use a Tenergy Sponge with a H3 topsheet or vice versa. But, this also is something they can't really enforce and if we are playing in clubs and not in ITTF sanctioned tournaments, I am not sure any of this is worth thinking about.

So, how does DHS put out so many different versions of H3 where it is the same topsheet with different sponges? I believe ITTF just ignores these things.

 
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If you read the whole section on racket and rubbers these questions are sort of addressed. But some of what you are talking about is that the rules are ridiculous and cannot be enforced and that is true. And some of what you are talking about is that people are ridiculous and make excuses for themselves and that is also true.

So, I won't argue with any of that. To some extent the ITTF's ban on speed glue and boosters was about $$. The money they would make in approving a whole slew of new equipment. And that does cost $$.

I believe the ITTF's approval of "rubbers" is actually Rubber/Sponge combination. Like, I am not sure it would be legal to use a Tenergy Sponge with a H3 topsheet or vice versa. But, this also is something they can't really enforce and if we are playing in clubs and not in ITTF sanctioned tournaments, I am not sure any of this is worth thinking about.

So, how does DHS put out so many different versions of H3 where it is the same topsheet with different sponges? I believe ITTF just ignores these things.

I think the best solution would be to have a maximum exit velocity value for a bat rubber combo where you shoot a ball with a certain velocity onto a bat and then measure the rebound velocity or distance. Baseball metal bats are actually tested like that.

Issue with that is that it is expensive to measure and you would need to test before every match.

An alternative would be to increase ball size by a millimeter every 5 years to accommodate for faster equipment or you make tables more rough and slow (which is what they did in tennis)

 
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I believe the ITTF's approval of "rubbers" is actually Rubber/Sponge combination. Like, I am not sure it would be legal to use a Tenergy Sponge with a H3 topsheet or vice versa
The approval is for the topsheet only.
However some people argue it is not, since ITTF requires to send in samples with sponge in max thickness.
But, the way I see it, if the whole package was approved then you couldn´t ever combine another sponge (different hardness) or version of same sponge (thinner) with the same topsheet, since that would only be approved with the Max. (Which they require to see if the whole rubber doesn´t exceed 4.0 mm)

And adding to that, ITTF also requires to send in the retail packaging with the rubber, and that surely cannot be part of the whole approved product or you would have to carry it in case of racket controls?

It is not uncommon to sell single ITTF approved topsheets and all sorts of sponges to combine them with, mainly in China.
(I found this from a shop elsewhere: "This is 729's original and most spinny topsheet. This can be combined with one of the sponges that we have available to make a custom Rubber.")

So, if you manage to separate both your t05 and H3 topsheets from their sponges and glue them back on to the other sponge there´s really nothing that prevents you from making these personalized Hybrids.

And baby oil, it´s just not worth the effort in my opinion. It´ll take some time to find out how much for which performance, and for a different rubber you´d start anew. This process is much easier with other boosters, I think.
 
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If you read the whole section on racket and rubbers these questions are sort of addressed. But some of what you are talking about is that the rules are ridiculous and cannot be enforced and that is true. And some of what you are talking about is that people are ridiculous and make excuses for themselves and that is also true.

So, I won't argue with any of that. To some extent the ITTF's ban on speed glue and boosters was about $$. The money they would make in approving a whole slew of new equipment. And that does cost $$.

I believe the ITTF's approval of "rubbers" is actually Rubber/Sponge combination. Like, I am not sure it would be legal to use a Tenergy Sponge with a H3 topsheet or vice versa. But, this also is something they can't really enforce and if we are playing in clubs and not in ITTF sanctioned tournaments, I am not sure any of this is worth thinking about.

So, how does DHS put out so many different versions of H3 where it is the same topsheet with different sponges? I believe ITTF just ignores these things.

DHS mindset: just say it’s the same rubber, they won’t notice.

 
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I think the best solution would be to have a maximum exit velocity value for a bat rubber combo where you shoot a ball with a certain velocity onto a bat and then measure the rebound velocity or distance. Baseball metal bats are actually tested like that.



Limiting the maximum speed after impact is not the way to do it. What you are talking about is measuring the coefficient of restitution. There should be no limit. I don't think a limit is practical. Also, there is such a thing as too fast to control.



Issue with that is that it is expensive to measure and you would need to test before every match.

Not really, a high speed camera could do this but what is even simpler it to drop the ball from some height and see how high it bounces.
An alternative would be to increase ball size by a millimeter every 5 years to accommodate for faster equipment or you make tables more rough and slow (which is what they did in tennis)
NOOOOOOOOOO! Table tennis is for the players. We don't need equipment or rule changes every couple of years.

I don't care if someone boost or not. It doesn't make them a better player and from what I can see on this and other forums is that people boost with the wrong thing or don't boost with the right amount.

Also, the ITTF approval for rubbers only seems to apply to the top sheet. Think about it. Many rubbers come in 3 sponge thickness. I have even seen a case where the different thickness of sponge were not made of the same material/sponge hardness.
 
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An alternative would be to increase ball size by a millimeter every 5 years to accommodate for faster equipment or you make tables more rough and slow (which is what they did in tennis)


NOOOOOOOOOO! Table tennis is for the players. We don't need equipment or rule changes every couple of years.

Funny. I thought Dominikk was joking. Funny to see someone act as though that was a serious comment. hahahahaha.
 
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Funny. I thought Dominikk was joking. Funny to see someone act as though that was a serious comment. hahahahaha.
Most of the stuff that is written here is like a joke to me. It is hard to tell the difference between what is intended as joke or just simple ignorance.
 
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