Penhold sanding + Index finger and thumb placement

[ProgramCrazy]

Hello everyone! I recently tried out a friend's Ma Lin Extra Offensive and I liked it so much that I had to get one. Now that I have slapped some rubbers on it, the only thing left that I need to do is to sand the wings.

I am a little OCD though, so I want to make sure that I do it correctly because I want to use this blade for a long time. If you fellow penholders out there could post a picture of your blade I'd appreciate it.

I also have a question with my grip in particular (which may have been a result of previous sanding jobs). During a forehand stroke or RPB, my index finger moves up the handle when putting pressure on my thumb. Here are some pictures of what I mean.

Here's my grip in the relaxed state

Here's my grip when pressure is applied between the thumb and backside fingers (During forehand and RPB).

I feel that when applying the pressure between the thumb and backside fingers, it should look more like the top picture. Do I need to have a deeper grip? My index finger currently sits in the sanded wing between my 1st and second knuckle.

If you guys have advice and/or can send pictures of your grip as well, I'd appreciate it!

Thanks!

 

[davizoosk]

On forehand the pressure is on all fingers touching the rackets, all.
On backhand the pressure is on thumb and middle fingers.

More straight fingers will compensate more the forehand and you will lose a some wrist mobility on backhand
More curved fingers more wrist mobility and variation on backhand, on some cases more power. You will lose pressure and power on forehand due to the lack of stability of wrist.

Applying this logic, more deeper the grip will compensate more the forehand and lose some litte of backhand.

Xu Xin have a deep grip and 3 straight fingers touching the backside of racket.
Dang Qiu have a less deep grip, like the second photo of yours.
Compare this two players. Obvious their playstyle is different non because of their grips but have a certain interference.

 

[Lycanthrope]

You don't have to do it once for all. Slightly sanding it first, and then go deeper gradually.

My experience is that the grip in the second photo is not a normal grip, it happens when I barely hold the racket after a long forehand rally.

 

[Dominikk85]

Taking off material is easier than adding material. So don't sand down too much wood at once.

 

[DukeGaGa]

I’ve helped sand down blade shoulders for my friends before. Usually I start from 300-400 grit sand paper, create the curvature I want and finish up with 1500-2000 grit to smooth it out. And the important part is to just get rid of the straight angle while taking off as little material as possible, so go slow and test frequently during the sanding process.

 

[ricospin]

You shouldn’t worry about applying pressure. Finger pressure is something that’s very minimal and negligible for amateurs like myself and most players.

I have long held the opinion that the best grip is the one that can do it all. Rpb, forehand and whatever.

https://youtu.be/oraRAxlU54A

i made a video taking all about grips! Curved versus straight and a bunch of other topics related to grip.

in regards to finger pressure- don’t over exert this idea your grip should have a natural pressure to it. I talk about this in the video iirc.

 

[ProgramCrazy]

I’ve helped sand down blade shoulders for my friends before. Usually I start from 300-400 grit sand paper, create the curvature I want and finish up with 1500-2000 grit to smooth it out. And the important part is to just get rid of the straight angle while taking off as little material as possible, so go slow and test frequently during the sanding process.

Here are my sanding jobs of my previous rackets. Do they look alright?

https://ibb.co/DtdwRvC
https://ibb.co/02SnK7k
https://ibb.co/HXqQQg7
https://ibb.co/rZbYWTD
https://ibb.co/Fq3k8RZ
https://ibb.co/7jnhTxy

Thanks!

 

[DukeGaGa]

Here are my sanding jobs of my previous rackets. Do they look alright?

https://ibb.co/DtdwRvC
https://ibb.co/02SnK7k
https://ibb.co/HXqQQg7
https://ibb.co/rZbYWTD
https://ibb.co/Fq3k8RZ
https://ibb.co/7jnhTxy

Thanks!

Looks pretty good to me. 👍

 

[ProgramCrazy]

You shouldn’t worry about applying pressure. Finger pressure is something that’s very minimal and negligible for amateurs like myself and most players.

I have long held the opinion that the best grip is the one that can do it all. Rpb, forehand and whatever.

https://youtu.be/oraRAxlU54A

i made a video taking all about grips! Curved versus straight and a bunch of other topics related to grip.

in regards to finger pressure- don’t over exert this idea your grip should have a natural pressure to it. I talk about this in the video iirc.

Thanks for the video!

So when you do a forehand drive/loop or RPB, do you just rotate the wrist and forearm instead of applying pressure to the thumb to change the racket angle?

Also at about 0:50 and 1:42, you mention that the pressure on the Index finger shouldn't go past the second knuckle. The pressure on my grip is between the first and second as you can see here - https://ibb.co/9wjMmXL (this is the racket that isn't sanded yet). Is this okay or should the pressure be down more toward the second knuckle.

Thanks!

 

[ricospin]

Thanks for the video!

So when you do a forehand drive/loop or RPB, do you just rotate the wrist and forearm instead of applying pressure to the thumb to change the racket angle?

Also at about 0:50 and 1:42, you mention that the pressure on the Index finger shouldn't go past the second knuckle. The pressure on my grip is between the first and second as you can see here - https://ibb.co/9wjMmXL (this is the racket that isn't sanded yet). Is this okay or should the pressure be down more toward the second knuckle.

Thanks!

This is okay for now when it isn’t sanded. I would sand my blade till there is no rubbing and friction on my hand. Essentially making it so that the blade is 100% comfortable on the hand. Make sure to sand the part that you feel uncomfortable with and trust your feeling.

if I feel that the blade feels too thick under the fingers I sand the top ply. If it’s the index usually the top ply and then rolling off the sides.

The perfect amount of sanding allows for you to find your grip w/o adjustment. Meaning once you hold your racket you have little to no adjustment on it.


about Knuckle pressure on the index, do what feels natural. I think mine is similar to yours. There should be no strain on the hand.

I don’t apply any pressure to my fh and or rpb.

I’ve been experimenting with a couple things:

squeeze upon contact

closing angle on high power shots. I don’t have too much thoughts on this because I haven’t experimented enough. Closing via slight wrist rotation is what I’ve been doing recently. the problem with finger pressure via thumb is you might just have hand tension after the shot. I am still trying to figure out a good happy medium about this.

 

[ricospin]

Here are my sanding jobs of my previous rackets. Do they look alright?

https://ibb.co/02SnK7k
https://ibb.co/7jnhTxy

Thanks!

Personally I would sand the wedge out (the pointy bit ) but if it doesn’t bother you- there is no problem

 

[Dominikk85]

I like it sanded a lot on my index finger side (lefty).

However I made the mistake of using a knife to try to cut away a little more and cut away too much.

Then I used UV resin glue to fill it up again

https://ibb.co/FW2b0W2

 

[v1v1-42]

Hello. How cut and glue the rubber to play with a penhold racket?
I played in shakehand style for 10 years. Now I restart in penhold.
But how I glue rubbers gap to have confort? Is it better to place fingers on the blade or on rubbers?

Do you sand both finger locations, on FH side?

 

[Dominikk85]

I sand a little on thumb side but a lot on index finger side

 

[Tony's Table Tennis]

here is mine

 

[ricospin]

here is mine

that viscaria looks so nice!

any of your students get the new fzd alc?

 

[v1v1-42]

here is mine

Why do you paint a white line on Viscera FH?

I watch in video, Felix Lebrun, playing with fingers on full FH rubber. Is it better and for what ?

 

[Zion]

The grip so different on all cpen players. What feels good for me dosent feel good for another one. Like several stated use what ever grip makes u play the best and feel the best.
But fun to see what others prefer 😀