Old Nittaku H3

[TensorBackhand]

I just put on this old Nittaku H3 orange turbo. I last boosted and used it 3 years ago and its just been sitting in ziploc.

The booster effect still remains, as its still very bouncy.

The topsheet doesnt look very nice...but it still feels tacky and very grippy.

How well do you think the rubber can still perform? Is there anything i can do to make it look better?

 

[Loop Lob Smash]

Given recent comments by @Tony's Table Tennis @kungumam and others, I'm just relieved that you're not trying long pips

 

[dingyibvs]

I just tried out a sheet of presumably unboosted old Nittaku H3, the topsheet looks like crap and there isn't any tack left, but performed surprisingly well in some practices against robots. I thought it'd feel like very dead and muted like unboosted H3, but it felt a lot more crisp and clear. I think I'm gonna get a new sheet and try it out as well.

 

[lodro]

View attachment 28480

I just put on this old Nittaku H3 orange turbo. I last boosted and used it 3 years ago and its just been sitting in ziploc.

The booster effect still remains, as its still very bouncy.

The topsheet doesnt look very nice...but it still feels tacky and very grippy.

How well do you think the rubber can still perform? Is there anything i can do to make it look better?

Never mind the looks, it is performance that counts. 😁
BTW. I got a H3 neo and a standard H3 rubber on a blade for years, not even in a ziplock bag, just the clear plastic protectors on the rubbers and stashed away in a simple racketbag. Ever so often i take it out and have a play and both rubbers are still sticky and bouncy like they were newly boosted and they look much worse than yours.😂

 

[TensorBackhand]

Given recent comments by @Tony's Table Tennis @kungumam and others, I'm just relieved that you're not trying long pips

I actually bought the Yinhe Qing LP rubber to mess with people who I don't like. But I never cut it and glued it yet. But maybe one of these days I will set it up.

Having never played with LP before, but having played against LP, I'm very confident I could do some real damage with LP. I just need to learn the blocking angle and punch rebound.

But I'm not sure if LP or antispin is better. Which is better for messing up your opponent?

 

[TensorBackhand]

Never mind the looks, it is performance that counts. 😁
BTW. I got a H3 neo and a standard H3 rubber on a blade for years, not even in a ziplock bag, just the clear plastic protectors on the rubbers and stashed away in a simple racketbag. Ever so often i take it out and have a play and both rubbers are still sticky and bouncy like they were newly boosted and they look much worse than yours.😂

I've heard of people using toothpaste on old rubbers to make them look newer. Anybody tried this? Does it work and does it damage the rubber at all?

 

[Scarfed Garchomp]

But I'm not sure if LP or antispin is better. Which is better for messing up your opponent?

If you want your opponent to mess up just because you touched the ball with a funky rubber, LP for sure. Anti plays more straightforwards, so it tends to depend more on your ability to twiddle/steparound and how well you can attack backspin with it.

I've heard of people using toothpaste on old rubbers to make them look newer. Anybody tried this? Does it work and does it damage the rubber at all?

The concept behind toothpaste is that it is a mild abrasive, I don't think abrading a rubber will make it look newer but it might remove old and oxidized rubber from the topsheet. If any thing I'd just use something like a melamine sponge/magic eraser in place of toothpaste

 

[lodro]

he concept behind toothpaste is that it is a mild abrasive, I don't think abrading a rubber will make it look newer but it might remove old and oxidized rubber from the topsheet

Yep, this works but of course one needs to use a tooth paste that has got some abrasive stuff in it.
I just tried it on my old neo and there was some red discolouring on the rag i used to rub the paste into the rubber. There might even be a very slight increase of the stickiness but i can not measure this. If there is just a light greyish "bloom" on the surface, the tooth paste-trick might remove this.

 

[dingyibvs]

So I just ordered a new sheet, gonna put it on the TB ALC and try it out, see how a new sheet with tack and a bit of factory boost plays. When I was testing out BH rubbers I tried T05, T05fx, T64fx, H3 40 (unboosted), H8-80 37, D05, and D09c. I ended up picking the hardest rubber the D09c, I wonder if I should've tried even harder feeling rubbers now that I've found this old Nittaku H3 orange sponge so appealing. I also found the H8-80 and D05 pretty appealing, so I must prefer hard rubbers on the BH side.