OSPblades Forum Testing

aeoliah

Good quality all wood table tennis blades and wooden instruments; like violins and guitars tend to improve, the more you play with them and with age.

It's a direct result of the wood opening up due to the vibrations, that pass through a table tennis blade or a musical instrument; the more you play with them and over time. Effectively the wood is said to be "breathing more easily" and resonates more as a result.

The more resonant feel translates into a better feel in an older blade and a better sounding guitar; which musicians refer to as "mojo".

That is what pllsystem is referring to; when he refers to biochemical processes and why those old Stiga's feel so good to play with.

In the case of a good quality acoustic guitar, like a Martin D28; it sounds good to start with and it's sound will improve most noticeably over the first six months; whilst continuing to improve over the next thirty years, but at a much slower rate than the first 3-6 months.

I remember getting the chance in 2004, to play with a 1966 Martin D28 and it's the best D28 I've ever played. It was the working guitar of an Irish Folk player, who'd used it as his gigging and recording guitar for 38 years.

It's the reason why John Frusciante, formerly of Red Hot Chilli peppers, prefers to own and play with vintage Fender Stratocasters; as they too have that "mojo", that a new one doesn't.


p.s. You only need a thin layer of sealant to prevent splintering and as long as you keep it thin, by wiping any excess off the blade quickly and allowing it to dry for 24 hours; it will only soak into the surface of the outer ply.

Some players will apply one thin layer and leave it to dry for 24 hours, before lightly sanding with a fine sandpaper, in order to smooth the blade surface and then repeat the process with a second thin layer.

This method does work very effectively and you end up with a slight change in feel.

But the rate at which the blade opens up will hardly be effected, because the main volume of wood in a blade, is the inner plies and they will still be opening up; at the same rate; irrespective of whether the blade has a thin coat of sealant or not.

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One caveat to bear in mind is, stick to using a thin sealant; like the blade varnish TT manufacturers sell; when sealing a blade.

Don't use a thicker varnish for sealing a blade, as that can change a blades characteristics altogether. A good example was someone who used Yacht varnish to seal his Clipper Wood; which resulted in an even stiffer blade and made it "unplayable"




Edited by Peter C - 07/14/2010 at 3:51am

I agree with most that a light seal (enough to get into the wood) is enough to protect from splintering.

Too much sealer and it will affect the blade some how.

I had a 5 ply hinoki blade that i put too many coats of sealant on when water based glues were first introduced. 3 coats and despite using high grit sandpaper you could still clearly see the sealant. So i used turps and let it soak for a few minutes then proceeded to remove the sealant. Once it was removed, i used rubbing alcohol to take away any excess turps (and the smell) and let it air dry for a couple of hours. Last thing i would do is a bit of light sandpapering on the surface before i attach the rubbers to it.

Now the blade plays much better. Just not sure if the turps changed the wood properties a little after reading the above post about using oils.


Edited by kelvinyoong - 07/14/2010 at 4:18am

At the same time I think we should pay attention to adhesion between upper ply and sponge of rubbers.. Too much varnishing can make low adhesion and it alters your combo absolutely.

right...

Edited by PLLsystem - 07/14/2010 at 10:41am

I hereby inform you that OSP Expert ALL+ has just been launched. I offer free P+P for the first 10 buyers... 

Edited by PLLsystem - 07/14/2010 at 12:15pm

I think you looked at the veneer thickness at the neck where it is rounded so it seems to be thin but its regular. We call that outer ply black or dark limba. Sorry but I am not able to tell more about the constrution.

Is the picture of Expert All+ shows a sealed blade ? I came to this conclusion because of the color.

Peter C, thanks for your informations.
I sealed all my blades lightly (except one which I have overdone it).

aeoliah wrote: Is the picture of Expert All+ shows a sealed blade ? I came to this conclusion because of the color.

tompy wrote: Sliced veneer is not peeled by rotation but like slicing cheese. This type of veneer is used much more then rotary-cut veneer at least as outerply for  blades in the range of 50 -70 dollar...

so good cuts of wood are actually more expensive than carbon composites?

whoa.

I quote Master Palatinus approach - we discussed about that area.

tompy wrote: Sliced veneer is not peeled by rotation but like slicing cheese. This type of veneer is used much more then rotary-cut veneer at least as outerply for  blades in the range of 50 -70 dollar. Rotary cut outer and second ply veneers I have used for bulding many blades and as long as the core and the gluing where good the blades played reasonably well but the outerply,s don.t look to nice and the problem with gluing is that as the wood is never a smooth surface the gluelayer is always thicker and harder. The price difference is significant a factor five to ten or something maybe more. Sawn veneers are even more expensive but have a minimum thickness of over 1 mm, more suitable for the core layer. On the yinhe video you can see how yinhe - as a big firm - does use blocks of about the size of a tabletennis blade and slices after drying and dampening not rotary-cut. Mass produced sliced veneer the wood is often "cooked"  for days with chemical substances to become soft (just like cooking potatoes or beans) slicing the veneers is much easier and cheaper but the wood looses a lot of the original characteristics like elasticity and stability. So within sliced-veneer there is quality difference also. But it,s certainly a video for their higher priced blades. I suppose that quality and less quality is often combined. Cheap veneer for the inner plies and more expensive outerplies for the babe-factor.  With all veneers of good quality and using hideglue or something the wood will not absorb the glue and less glue can be used. Even with a hardish glue like hideglue as long as it,s elastic the blade will feel soft but with a very tight/elastic bond between the layers meaning no energy loss between the layers and optimal stability even for relatively thin blades. Undoubtedly custom-builders like palatinus or Borko (and firms also) have many more "secrets" that give variation in quality more or less significant but I think this gives a general idea about what factors can make the differences in quality and price.

 

tnx for the help tompy

Certainly offensive, a bit head balanced table tennis blade, stiffer and some g heavier than OSP Virtuoso.

Yes, Martin is his son. Plays in the highest national championship team 'Wink AC'. The whole team plays Palatinus blades for sure.

Edited by PLLsystem - 07/19/2010 at 3:59am