I sealed the entire blade, handle included, with 1 thin layer of quick drying polyurethane, which I immediately wipe off with a makeup sponge after application. I then put the blade over the heating vent for a few hours, waited for it to dry completely, then sanded the whole blade lightly. First with 1000 grit sandpaper, then for the blade face 600 grit gently, then for the blade edge and blade face edge with 320 grit very, very gently.
I then glued an used sheet of D09C and T05FX and got some short testing done with my Amicus Prime. First impressions:
Short touch is shockingly good. It's got excellent feel and the ball noticeably bounces less than the old HL5. I've been practicing the short off the bounce pushes against half-long pushes, the goal being to have my push bounce at least twice even though the incoming push would be half long. I clearly had a better success rate than the HL5. That was even the case when I switched to the T05FX, a bouncier rubber. I suppose that part isn't very surprising since these shots are more blade dependent as the sponge is not very engaged.
To complement my short push training I've been training the FH flick too. With this shot it was also immediately apparent that the 968 is more crisp. There's a noticeably more "ping" sound with medium strength shots in general. The ball gathered a good bit more pace than the HL5 with a light flick. I use the same heavy backspin, half-long serve from the robot to practice this shot, so it's difficult to perform a power flick, so can't compare there.
Moving on to BH practice, the increase in crispness and the more apparent "ping" sound is again evident with BH counters. It's a bit quicker, but not as noticeable as with flicks. The level of crispness is still definitely less than the Viscaria or TB ALC, but it's a significant improvement over the HL5. I'd say it's about halfway between the HL5 and Viscaria. T05FX is indeed a playable rubber on the 968 now, but against heavier topspins I think I still prefer the dwell D09C offers. The D09C just really grabs onto the ball when facing high speed/spin shots. On BH loops from mid distance, it starts to feel much more like the HL5, with a more pronounced cracking sound, and speed feels similar as well.
Moving on to FH counterloops, I set the robot to 23 speed (max 25, too unreliable at that speed), and spin +5 (+6 IMO is a bit unrealistic and +7 is just ludicrous). This actually feels similar to the HL5. The loud cracking sound is back, the high dwell is back as well. It does feel faster with a bit less dwell than the HL5, and if you don't hit it quite right or with full power, you'll hear a bit of ping sound creeping in. This is one part where it's not immediately better and took a bit of adjustment.
TL/DR comparison between 2022 W968 (numbers version) vs 2014 HL5:
Short game has a softer touch, and more crispness with flicks, overall big improvement.
BH is a lot crisper, but not at Viscaria level.
FH feels like a faster, stiffer blade, but not by much and remains a high dwell blade with a woody cracking sound when looped hard.
Overall a more balanced blade than the extremely FH dominant old HL5 and thus more suitable for the modern game.
