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it's comfortable for shakehand.No doubt penhold. Could be one of those 順風 (Tailwind)/盾牌 (Shield Brand)/Friendship/DHS premades from the 70s to early to mid 90s. Pretty well made.
where the gue is flaking I removed it myself.Yes, it's legal to leave the gap. Not very comfortable in my experience (if you're playing shakehand) but otherwise fine. That layer under the old sponge is weird, though. Best guess is something to do with how they glued it; premades aren't usually meant to be disassembled. See where the glue is flaking off a bit at the bottom? There's a pale layer that almost looks like there's another ply of wood above the layer where your fingers would rest. Very weird. Honestly I'd just throw it away and buy a fresh blade 😅.
I removed some more of it.where the gue is flaking I removed it myself.
you can sort of try to remove it.
but there's like another layer below.
I can't seem to get to a layer that is pure solid wood.
I will definitely add some rubbers and play with it.
I'm not planning to play wang chuqin in the next few weeks so the legality in ittf doesn't bother me so much.