OOAK Table Tennis Forum

I agree with your wife

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Hi ross , are you still with us, and still makeing blade's?????, well I live in Australia so I cant come round and ask you what I want to know, tryied to make a blade which came out a disaster, I thought I could make blades to pass the time as I dont work, anyway I bought some Balsa and a piece off Koto, .06 veneer, when I stuck it all together and clamped it and left it for 12 hours useing carpenters glue, from the handle to the head from right to left it had warped, made another one and the same happend again, has this ever happend to you, or is it that the veneer is to thin????, or the glue shrinked and made it warped, hope you cn help me with some info, James.

Hi Stanly,
Several important points to keep things from warping.
The thin plys can be bought in pairs. Buy TWO, not one. Then you can match the sheets so the grain is the same on both sides.
Glues like Elmers carpenter glue works great. But, it is water based and it takes time for the moisture to leave the wood. In a press, it is trapped so when you take it out of the press, things can happen. If you have wooded platens, (the pieces the wood is clamped between,) they will absorb some of the moisture. Metal platens will not.
Use Very thin glue layers and lots of pressure. The best is a vacuum press. It can dry the moisture in the press. The vacuum vaporises the moisture and removes it.
One trick is to leave in the press for a day, then put layers of newspaper under both platens and press again. The paper takes out more moisture.
Five ply blades are less likely to warp. With 5 plys, you can run the second ply horizontal. That helps.
You can use epoxy, Makes a faster blade, when dry, will not warp. Poly glues also work well.
In hobby shops, they sell THIN plywood. 1/32", 1/16" and even 1/64". Try putting 1/64" under your top ply.
Have fun, good blades CAN be made but there is a learning curve.

Hide glue works well and have used rice glue when fixing cracked on ply hinoki blades and that worked exceptionally well
tOD

Did you use "real" hide glue that you must heat up? It is a pain and too short a working time for veneers.

Hmmm, I have actually made it, some years ago, not that I, or those near me enjoyed the boiling of the cow bones:)

The commercial product I have used most recently requires typical advance preparation. Some people say overnight, I have done it in less with good success. I have found that having every thing ready to go and using a large brush makes the use in TT blades doable. Keeping the glue on a warmer aids the process.

My original work with it was in the construction of mountain dulcimers and guitars. It does clean up rather easily. In the acoustic instrument building I never used a chemical added to water proof it, but have always done so with table tennis blades.

One of my favorite projects was a mandolin in the general shape of a large table tennis blade. Not particular playable as either a TT paddle or a mandolin, sorry to say.
tOD

I play banjo and have seen some home made instruments at bluegrass meets. Always wanted to build my own banjo. McDonald kit about $2500.

Is the hide glue you use waterproof? Do you add anything? Wonder what would happen in the high humidity of China?

I took a blade I made to China that was non-symetrical, balsa core, very soft, thin ply on one side, fiberglas and two hard plys on the other. It was stable in the U.S. for almost a year. After two months in China, it warped almost 3/4" from side to side. It was sealed with 3 coats of Poly too. The walls and cieling dripped water for the two months.

I had two other blades with me (symetrical) one glued with Elmers Carpenter Glue and one with a Poly glue. Both of these were OK.

I would like to play with a mix of Nittaku Shake Def and Boll Spark.

Hinoki
Arylate
Willow
Carbon
Hinoki

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I took a tip from Bernie Hock and his efforts to build a non-warping blade, as to gluing He did have his semi-secret formula. You can use formaldehyde to mix in with the hide glue to help guard against water damage.
tOD

Here's a few photos of my latest. Thomas (tOD) challenged me to build a super slow blade, and I gave it a shot. It's yet to be seen if it's truly a slow blade - I only have my own other blades to compare it against. I'll let Thomas be the judge.

Composition: limba-balsa-lebanon cedar-balsa-limba, ash edge band, 5mm
Handle: western red cedar, asymmetric
Final weight: 67.5g

Before sealing:


After sealing:


Profile:

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Ross
Handcrafted Table Tennis Blades

Absolutely beautiful. Looking forward to taking it for a test drive.
tOD

I did have a chance to hit with it a little bit last evening and the blade worked well. It is far from the norm I am used to using, but there was a natural feeling to it in my hand that isn't easily explained. Sometimes i have purchase a new pair of new shoes or a suit and when I first put the item(s) on they just felt stuned to my body. That is something of the same experience I had with the U-S-B (Ultra-slow blade).

The blade is a work of art, even non-table tennis playing folks were amazed at the quality of the fit and finish of the blade. Even the presentation and packaging were absolutely top flight. More tomorrow. Thanks Ross

This is a real piece of art! Congratulation!

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Capoblanco

Blade: Dotec Ovtcharov All +

FH: Friendship 802-40 2mm
BH: DMS Transformer 1mm

This latest blade looks incredibly well made Ross, again, I'm impressed by the quality of the finnish, not only the accuracy of construction. Really light too, I guess the ash edging is needed in this case more than most. It would be great to see some mark or text on your blades, I will upload a short tutorial on the method I use later. Thanks for giving me a bit more motivation to keep experimenting.

adam

Wow, fantastic looking blade!!!

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