Yasaka Sweden Extra

[rokphish]

I have two left hands when using spray, and I'm not lefty. Hard to make it even.

If your blade is expensive, and/or you have many blades, just get that small bottle sealant. Costs about $10.

 

[UpSideDownCarl]

Yep. $10.00 is about what a bottle of MinWax Wipe-On Poly costs and it has enough in it to seal about 200 blades.

 

[NextLevel]

A Sweden extra is about $45 from the most expensive retailers. Last blade I would consider expensive. I might even go back to it some day.

 

[Jirrex]

$10.00 isn't the end of the world indeed and friends of mine might want to use it too.
Minwax products don't seem to be available in Europe, so I should search for an alternative. I took a quick look and it seems there's quite a lot of different products available. You happen to know if acrylic lacquer is also suitable?

 

[rokphish]

just use the tt sealant product such as xiom i-sure, or others... it's very easy to use to newbie... that small bottle of 25ml could seal 27 blades on my count (i emptied one bottle sealing 27 blades in one go), but i also seal the handles. so that small bottle could easily seal 50-60 blades easy.

yes, it's a bit expensive compared to a bottle of winmax like Carl said, which can seal about 200 blades. but in perspective, not many people would have that many blades any way. cough... cough...

 

[UpSideDownCarl]

I wonder if there is a product in Europe that is equivalent to MinWax Wipe-On Poly.

I am actually not sure if it is any different from any old Polyurethane sealant with some solvent added to make it thinner. But the packaging sure makes Wipe-On Poly convenient.


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[UpSideDownCarl]

just use the tt sealant product such as xiom i-sure, or others... it's very easy to use to newbie... that small bottle of 25ml could seal 27 blades on my count (i emptied one bottle sealing 27 blades in one go), but i also seal the handles. so that small bottle could easily seal 50-60 blades easy.

yes, it's a bit expensive compared to a bottle of winmax like Carl said, which can seal about 200 blades. but in perspective, not many people would have that many blades any way. cough... cough...

rokphish, your coffers are filled with the stuff that EJ dreams are made of.

 

[Jirrex]

just use the tt sealant product such as xiom i-sure, or others... it's very easy to use to newbie... that small bottle of 25ml could seal 27 blades on my count (i emptied one bottle sealing 27 blades in one go), but i also seal the handles. so that small bottle could easily seal 50-60 blades easy.

yes, it's a bit expensive compared to a bottle of winmax like Carl said, which can seal about 200 blades. but in perspective, not many people would have that many blades any way. cough... cough...

I don't really have doubts whether these dedicated table tennis products work or not, but they seem to have one thing in common: they seem overpriced and not just a little. Glue, sealants, cleaning products, you name it. As for glue, it seems Copydex (Tear Mender) is a solution that's way cheaper than whatever table tennis glue (appears to come really close to Revolution Nr.3 glue). As for sealants, we have Minwax Wipe-On Poly that Carl recommended in this thread. For cleaning products, (demineralized) water seems to work just fine.

If certain table tennis products are far superior to their cheap alternatives, I don't see any reason not to buy then. But this doesn't seem to be the case.

 

[rokphish]

you are right. for glue we use plain ole latex, $5 for 1 liter of the stuff. yes, you read that right, $5 for one liter, 1000 ml.

for sealing, i actually buy a version of polyurethane also 1 liter, cost about $15-20. i also buy one of that little sealant because i like using it. it's practical, and hassle free for me. when i used it up, i pour more of stuff into that bottle and seal away.

for those like doing handy stuff, and/or have other use for the remaining polyurethane, go ahead and buy that.

for those who wants the convenience, don't need too much of the stuff, can get the small bottle as alternative.

i was just pointing out that even though that one small bottle seems to cost a bit, it can be used for a lot of blades, certainly more than enough for average person, or even small tt clubs. say $10 for the small bottle. can be used for 50-60 blades or even more. say 50 blades. $10/50 = $0.2 for one blade. that's practically free.

even if used only for sealing a couple of blades and wasted the rest, it's only a waste of some 20ml of stuff. getting a can of poly to seal a couple of blades, that's a waste of a big tin of stuff. want to keep it just in case find use for it later? sure, get ready to fill up the house/apartment with another stuff which would be forgotten and found only years later with a few inches of dust.

 

[Jirrex]

You are right, unless you own a shop or for larger clubs, these lifetime+ supplies don't have added value. It also happened to me more than once that I bought a larger quantity of something which ended up in the garage after only using it just once . But something like Polyurethane lacquer can also be bought in much smaller quantities than 1 liter for example. There are several hardware store near my place and unfortunately there's no table tennis store nearby. In that case it would be a more interesting option to buy it in the hardware store, rather than ordering on a table tennis webshop because I would also need to pay shipping costs.

 

[UpSideDownCarl]

Yep. Despite the version I like, any polyurethane wood sealant will work. Try to put a very thin coat on.


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[gmiller2233]

I really like the newer waterborne polyurethane's. Minwax being my favorite, it's a great over the counter product. But there are others that would work fine. I have a lot of experience using different types of water based acrylic polymer type products so I'm very comfortable using them. I usually cut it with water 50-50 when using it on a blade I put it on and rub it off sometimes depending on the blade I may use two layers. The clean up is easy with water and no fumes.


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[Jirrex]

Yesterday I went to the hardware store and bought a small can of Polyurethane (satin). Apparently people like Minwax Wipe-on Poly a lot for sealing blades, but as you know it isn't available outside the US. So I thought, why not try to make it myself. From what I've read, Wipe-on Poly is basically a thinned PU varnish and thinning varnish shouldn't be too hard to do yourself . Tomorrow I will buy a bottle of mineral spirits, and mix it with the Polyurethane in a 1:1 ratio to start with. Of course I will first try it on a piece of plywood before using it on the blade.

 

[Jirrex]

Today I did a test on a piece of plywood and after putting two really thin coats on it, I noticed the color of the wood changed quite a bit:



I already thought that the sealed wood would become a bit darker, but was expecting smaller differences. When sealing with Wipe-on Poly, you get similar results? I also would like to know if you sand the blade before and after the sealing proces and how many layers you put on it. The wood seems properly sealed, I tested it with some water.

 

[Jirrex]

My apologies for the thread bump. but I would like to get a little bit of information before I start sealing my blade .

 

[UpSideDownCarl]

I had meant to reply. But man, I've been busy.

Don't worry about the color change. It looks good. With Wipe On Poly, I don't really notice the change. But I never pay attention. When I do mine it takes at most, 3 min for both sides and I don't look back. Hahaha.

You shouldn't need more than one coat. One very thin coat. But two is fine.

I don't sand before or after.

Baal uses hairspray. Think about it. That is really all you need. A very thin coating to keep the glue from damaging the wood and to make it so the rubber comes off fairly easily. But you also want the rubber to stick on. Too much sealant and it is harder to keep the rubber on; in other words, too much sealant and the rubber will start separating because it can't grab the grain of the wood through the sealant.

It is a dance between making it so the glue does not damage the rubber but does bond the rubber to the wood solidly enough.

There was another thread where someone was complaining about how he can't get the glue to keep the rubber on the blade. Hie had been going from glue to glue trying to find something that had a strong enough bond.

It turned out that it he had sealed the blade with multiple, thick layers of sealant and no glue for TT was going to work for that scenario. All you need is a thin layer.


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[Shuki]

@carl have you ever actually had a blade splinter or get damaged when taking a rubber off? I haven't and I don't seal my blades. I've used about 8 different glues, most commonly blue contact. Glued well over 100 paddles together too.


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[rokphish]

I had personally had brand new OC splintered and damaged after the very first taking off the rubber. That was when I was using speed glue. At that time I had already known about sealing but didn't heed the warning.

Never again.

I saw bunch of blades from various brands splintered and damaged (other people's).

 

[Jirrex]

I had meant to reply. But man, I've been busy.

Don't worry about the color change. It looks good. With Wipe On Poly, I don't really notice the change. But I never pay attention. When I do mine it takes at most, 3 min for both sides and I don't look back. Hahaha.

You shouldn't need more than one coat. One very thin coat. But two is fine.

I don't sand before or after.

Baal uses hairspray. Think about it. That is really all you need. A very thin coating to keep the glue from damaging the wood and to make it so the rubber comes off fairly easily. But you also want the rubber to stick on. Too much sealant and it is harder to keep the rubber on; in other words, too much sealant and the rubber will start separating because it can't grab the grain of the wood through the sealant.

It is a dance between making it so the glue does not damage the rubber but does bond the rubber to the wood solidly enough.

There was another thread where someone was complaining about how he can't get the glue to keep the rubber on the blade. Hie had been going from glue to glue trying to find something that had a strong enough bond.

It turned out that it he had sealed the blade with multiple, thick layers of sealant and no glue for TT was going to work for that scenario. All you need is a thin layer.


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Thanks for the reply. Completely understandable that you haven't been able to reply due to your daily duties.

I noticed that the feel of the wood hardly changed, so I might seal the handle too.
Since I want to use edge tape, I'm thinking about sealing the edge as well. Is that something you do too?

 

[UpSideDownCarl]

Sealing edge is good. You can also put more sealant on the edge if you wanted.

I used to seal handle and liked that. Then I started liking how the wood absorbs your sweat when it is not sealed. And how the wood on the handle feels without being sealed. But it is totally a personal choice.

As far as blades splintering. Yes, Shuki, I've had it happen.

Personally, I seal my blades because I like them sealed. I like the wood protected from the water in this stupid water based glue. I like the old glue WAY better. But the old glue is not so good to use on tensor type rubbers. It causes them to expand too much. And if you like leaving your blades unsealed, it doesn't matter to me.


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