Difference of sealers?

[DukeGaGa]

Good thing I got a free Ding Ning blade when I bought some H3 National Blue Sponge a few years back when I went for a tech summit in Beijing, I think the blade is meant for autographs. Anyways, time to take it out and try the minwax poly on it to see how it looks. My local Lowe’s have a few in stock, I’ll take some pictures along the way of the application.

btw, I put Joola varnish on the handles of my blades, don’t really feel a difference of feeling after applying, and the total weight gain is around 1g after drying completely (2 layers each side).

 

[UpSideDownCarl]

Good thing I got a free Ding Ning blade when I bought some H3 National Blue Sponge a few years back when I went for a tech summit in Beijing, I think the blade is meant for autographs. Anyways, time to take it out and try the minwax poly on it to see how it looks. My local Lowe’s have a few in stock, I’ll take some pictures along the way of the application.

btw, I put Joola varnish on the handles of my blades, don’t really feel a difference of feeling after applying, and the total weight gain is around 1g after drying completely (2 layers each side).

If you want to see a video of me sealing a blade while clowning around with Der_Echte several years ago, there is one in this thread. I am using MinWax Wipe On Poly so.....

https://www.tabletennisdaily.com/fo...6-The-UpSideDown-Method-of-Sealing-Your-Blade

It is good that different people can have different opinions on the same subject. Every handle I have used that was sealed drove me crazy. Not sure how I would feel about oil on the handle. But I know I don't like sealants like Poly on it, even if it is a very thin layer.

Everyone has a right to have different preferences.

I am confident that handle has absorbed plenty of sweat. I am also confident it feels better as a result of that. Is it a little dirty? Yep. I am good with that too. There is no question this racket has been in battle.

 

[DukeGaGa]

If you want to see a video of me sealing a blade while clowning around with Der_Echte several years ago, there is one in this thread. I am using MinWax Wipe On Poly so.....

https://www.tabletennisdaily.com/fo...6-The-UpSideDown-Method-of-Sealing-Your-Blade

All I want to say is... dude, you can almost do a 180 split 😂. I wish my legs are that flexible, good thing my arms and wrists compensate for that, for example I can touch my right/left wrist with my right/left hand just by curling my wrist, and I can flip my arms forward and back while holding on to a pitching wedge in both my hands.

 

[UpSideDownCarl]

All I want to say is... dude, you can almost do a 180 split 😂. I wish my legs are that flexible, good thing my arms and wrists compensate for that, for example I can touch my right/left wrist with my right/left hand just by curling my wrist, and I can flip my arms forward and back while holding on to a pitching wedge in both my hands.

Once upon a time I was a little younger.

And I did perform in the circus.

 

[UpSideDownCarl]

 

[PingBirdPong]

I see why it’s “upside down” Carl😉

 

[MAXIMUS]

Well ,i respect all ideas guys,i read on this webpage for long but i dont log in much,anyway the sealing issue will be forever on,we need to understand that are so many groups of people of level and skill and commitment to the game ,ive seen so much video material from all continents..., begginers...advanced....well advanced and those that play in some league in their clubs......people that start well from scratch and develop well ,change their equipment when their level requires and spend when needed and i met believe when i say truly stingy individuals)that will not spent for a roll of toilet paper and keep a rubber for 18 months and give advices to the youth in the club(not talking about coaches).......going back slowly to sealing,in short if you are Timo Boll and change rubbers every few days or replace 6 wood blades(6x170€=1020) at once every 6 to 12 months maybe that fine to keep the best feel of the wood,if not, seal with table tennis sealer thin layer on front and back to keep from humidity(being liquid always is humid,many say no cause is glue,but all liquid is wet) from glue,handle too,is the worse maybe,sucks up to 5-8gr a year from hand sweat,if you seal handle does not change the way the wood play is only the rubber area,sealing the rubber area changes so little to nothing in the feeling unless you are Ma Long or his team mates),handle being slippery?¡well in my case no issues,i dont fell incapacitated in the play.do not seal with brush¿¿¿¿¿as ive seen some brands will give too much,use the one that has in the top a round sponge that will help to keep it thin.not sealing by the end of one year 20-40% of your blade is NOT THE SAME,heavier,stiffer... affects your topsin and you will change your mechanics,some will say ..mine is fine like new),the funny part,is not the same you just got used to play with the "expired"one,no more soft or flex,like a veggies cutting board from your kitchen,sucking water all week long.i need to go guys i need to help a team mate slapping 2 new rubbers vega x black max and donic s1 red max on his new tibhar stratus powerwood,he aske me for a woody off looping blade intermediate+ level,i got it for him from a shop i have discounts for 35€,half price from those of bigger names,its 5 plies not supposed to be that fast good developing mechanics,today afternoon my club here in valencia hosts Spain Championship Women highest level,yesterday training .....pff from some other galaxy...keep it up guys big shake wherever you are

 

[DukeGaGa]

So... computer decided to restart for an update without prompting, this will be fun remembering what I typed 20 minutes ago...

Anyways, the Ding Ning blade is a heavy 7-layer blade, at a whopping 101.8g. And one layer of Minwax oil based wipe on poly, plus 12 hours later, it weighs in at 102.5g (0.7g difference). Which is about the same as what I get with one layer of Joola varnish, I usually put on 2 layers and the weight increases about 1-1.2g afterwards (0.5-0.6g per layer).

I also tested glue application and peel, and this is what I found (the glue I'm using are normal and medium viscosity Revolution No.3):

• Poly sealed blade is easier when applying glue, very easy to get a even spread, and the glue sticks to the surface quite well (we'll come back to this later).
• The spread is also quite even and easy on varnish sealed blades, though the glue is not sticking to the surface as well. It causes some trouble when applying a second layer, sometimes the first layer gets peeled off if I'm using normal viscosity glue, it's like the water in the glue when applying the second layer dissolves the first layer a little, but that's just my observation. However if I let the glue dry for a longer time (~30 minutes), not just wait till the glue appears transparent, the problem goes away (mostly).
• The peel is not as good on the poly sealed blade, at least not with this blade. It feels pretty much identical compared to non-sealed blades I have and I can see tiny splinters forming on the surface (see last picture). So maybe I didn't put enough sealant on? Or maybe I need to let it dry even more (I'm under the impression that it's supposed to dries in 1-2 hours, and I gave it 12 hours)? I definitely have put sealant on there since the weight has increased.
• Varnish sealed blades have a really easy peel, rubber just comes off with minimal effort. But this is not without its downsides. The problem is with boosted rubbers that has domed up pretty good, the edges of the rubber doesn't stick on since it just pulls the glue off the blade surface.

So, I'm going to try sealing the blade again with wipe on poly, and let it dry for 24 hours and see how that goes.

Update: After taking off the rubbers I weighed the blade again, and it's now 102.9g, so the first layer of wipe on poly definitely didn't protect against water in the glue. Maybe the first layer was too thin? For the second layer I just put on, I used a more liberal amount, and this time I used a foam brush to apply it. I let it sit for a few minutes, then wiped off the excess with some paper towels. I also sanded the blade a little before putting on this second layer. Hopefully this makes a difference, we'll see how it goes tomorrow.

 

[DukeGaGa]

Forgot to post this due to me trying to explain science to someone, and playing at the club this afternoon. Tried out short pips on the backhand, still need to remember to adjust the angles and strokes but it feels pretty good so far.

Anyways, back to the sealant problem. As mentioned yesterday, before the second layer of Minwax wipe on poly I sanded it down, and I noticed the weight of the blade has increased to 102.9g, which means to me that the water in the glue still got into the wood after the first layer. After the second layer of wipe on poly, and 24 hours of drying, it now weighs 103.4g. So the weight difference per layer is getting even closer to the Joola varnish, and it seems like either 12 hours isn't enough for wipe on poly to dry completely, or the first layer penetrated the wood surface a bit (I believe this is the reason).

On to the glue application and peeling. The blade surface feels rougher to the touch compared to blades with Joola varnish. The application was pretty much the same as yesterday still even and easy, the glue still sticks pretty good as well. However, there's no splinters after peeling the rubber off, but since this is only one data point I can't say for sure if it's the poly doing its thing or just I got lucky. And the peeling still isn't as easy as the Joola varnish, this could be an upside or downside depending on what you wish for.

So the conclusion for now is, if you want the glue to stick just as well as bare wood, use wipe on poly (or similar products). But one layer is definitely not enough (splinters after peeling off rubber and weight increasing), so at least two layers are required. If you want easy rubber peeling, use Joola varnish (or similar products). But since I'm not convinced two layers of wipe on poly is actually enough to prevent splinters, I'm going to test a few more times just to see how it goes.