OOAK Table Tennis Forum :: Reducing the weight of blades the easy way

Elvis56 wrote:

Update: tested on full power and the blade layers started to separate

Sorry to hear that your experimentation cost you a blade.

I put 2 of my blades in the oven around 3 months ago for around 3 minutes to try and lose around 3 grams from the original weight. This would be more to remove the embedded sweat from the handle and also a little bit of the water based glue that seems to penetrate the blade.

On the first blade that gained around 3 grams from 93 to 96 grams I got this back to around 91 grams by giving it 2 goes - one for 3 minutes and then again for 2 minutes. On weighing the blade last day it was 94 grams but only risked 2 minutes in the oven to bring it back to 93 grams. On both occasions I used around 150 degrees Celsius. I had been pretty liberal with cleaning the rubbers with a very damp sponge and I had no rim tape on.

None of my blades were sealed and I certainly wouldn't be giving a Clipper CR the oven treatment since it has a resin similar to a sealed blade.

On balance I wouldn't be doing it again and would prefer to put the blade in a clamp for compressing rubbers and leave the whole bat sitting upright on top of a radiator leaning against the wall for around 15-20 minutes.

One could take the rubbers off a blade and leave it in direct sunlight outside to dry out naturally. If I wanted to accelerate the drying time of a room I would normally use a de-humidifier and an infra-red heater. So if it was too wet outdoors leaving the blade near a de-humidifier could be a more sensible option and will not be as aggressive / risky as the oven.

Author:	Elvis56 [ 03 Mar 2014, 22:49 ]
Post subject:	Re: Reducing the weight of blades the easy way
A_R_T wrote: Very interesting experiment. I'm curious if the blade were to put in microwave instead of oven. Have you tried ? I've thought about that but it seems less controllable to me and there could possibly be a problem with metal bits on blades. I'll see if I can try an old all wood blade on microwave setting. Update: tested on full power and the blade layers started to separate

Author:	haggisv [ 04 Mar 2014, 16:31 ]
Post subject:	Re: Reducing the weight of blades the easy way
Fascinating experiments Elvis56 I don't know at what temperatures glues may start to weaken, but if we can find out, you might be able to achieve the same thing with a lower temperature (normal oven, not the microwave ) by leaving it in for much longer.

Author:	Multispoke [ 04 Mar 2014, 21:23 ]
Post subject:	Re: Reducing the weight of blades the easy way
Elvis56 wrote: Update: tested on full power and the blade layers started to separate Sorry to hear that your experimentation cost you a blade. I put 2 of my blades in the oven around 3 months ago for around 3 minutes to try and lose around 3 grams from the original weight. This would be more to remove the embedded sweat from the handle and also a little bit of the water based glue that seems to penetrate the blade. On the first blade that gained around 3 grams from 93 to 96 grams I got this back to around 91 grams by giving it 2 goes - one for 3 minutes and then again for 2 minutes. On weighing the blade last day it was 94 grams but only risked 2 minutes in the oven to bring it back to 93 grams. On both occasions I used around 150 degrees Celsius. I had been pretty liberal with cleaning the rubbers with a very damp sponge and I had no rim tape on. None of my blades were sealed and I certainly wouldn't be giving a Clipper CR the oven treatment since it has a resin similar to a sealed blade. On balance I wouldn't be doing it again and would prefer to put the blade in a clamp for compressing rubbers and leave the whole bat sitting upright on top of a radiator leaning against the wall for around 15-20 minutes. One could take the rubbers off a blade and leave it in direct sunlight outside to dry out naturally. If I wanted to accelerate the drying time of a room I would normally use a de-humidifier and an infra-red heater. So if it was too wet outdoors leaving the blade near a de-humidifier could be a more sensible option and will not be as aggressive / risky as the oven.

Author:	A_R_T [ 05 Mar 2014, 01:47 ]
Post subject:	Re: Reducing the weight of blades the easy way
Multispoke wrote: Elvis56 wrote: Update: tested on full power and the blade layers started to separate Sorry to hear that your experimentation cost you a blade. I put 2 of my blades in the oven around 3 months ago for around 3 minutes to try and lose around 3 grams from the original weight. This would be more to remove the embedded sweat from the handle and also a little bit of the water based glue that seems to penetrate the blade. On the first blade that gained around 3 grams from 93 to 96 grams I got this back to around 91 grams by giving it 2 goes - one for 3 minutes and then again for 2 minutes. On weighing the blade last day it was 94 grams but only risked 2 minutes in the oven to bring it back to 93 grams. On both occasions I used around 150 degrees Celsius. I had been pretty liberal with cleaning the rubbers with a very damp sponge and I had no rim tape on. None of my blades were sealed and I certainly wouldn't be giving a Clipper CR the oven treatment since it has a resin similar to a sealed blade. On balance I wouldn't be doing it again and would prefer to put the blade in a clamp for compressing rubbers and leave the whole bat sitting upright on top of a radiator leaning against the wall for around 15-20 minutes. One could take the rubbers off a blade and leave it in direct sunlight outside to dry out naturally. If I wanted to accelerate the drying time of a room I would normally use a de-humidifier and an infra-red heater. So if it was too wet outdoors leaving the blade near a de-humidifier could be a more sensible option and will not be as aggressive / risky as the oven. A safe alternative is to put the blade in a dish dryer which basically blows warm air. Never tried this myself, but I think should work fine.

Author:	Pipsy [ 06 Mar 2014, 09:25 ]
Post subject:	Re: Reducing the weight of blades the easy way
Interesting to read. However, I'm surprised that this post isn't in the experimental section. These experiments could be dangerous or destroy a blade (microwave? especially with iron or plastic parts on the handle?). And, as mentioned, probably the weight loss is only temporarilly. Also, I wonder why the effort is done to reduce the weight of a blade by some gramms. I think both for chopping as for looping, a heavier blade has more power & benefits. Chosing lighter rubbers is a much more effective way to reduce overall weight.

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Author:	dazzler [ 06 Mar 2014, 16:12 ]
Post subject:	Re: Reducing the weight of blades the easy way
maybe the weight reduction can become longer lasting with a thin coat of varnish straight away or would this take the weight right back?

Author:	Elvis56 [ 06 Mar 2014, 17:15 ]
Post subject:	Re: Reducing the weight of blades the easy way
There may be some placebo thing going on here but I do feel the blades play more stable after they have been in the oven. At first I treated 2 of my 3 defplay blades and the one that hadn't been in the oven didn't feel right anymore. Put that one on the oven as well and it plays like the other 2. Could it be that the oven treatment evens out the glue layers? Or maybe evens out weight balance. As I wrote before the defplay plays different after it has been in the oven, I didn't notice much difference on the Matsushita in a direct comparison to a 12 gram heavier blade.

Author:	Nimzo [ 24 Mar 2014, 04:53 ]
Post subject:	Re: Reducing the weight of blades the easy way
Do you start counting the time after the oven has reached it's temperature? Or do you put the blade in the oven and then start the heating process?

Author:	Elvis56 [ 24 Mar 2014, 04:58 ]
Post subject:	Re: Reducing the weight of blades the easy way
Nimzo wrote: Do you start counting the time after the oven has reached it's temperature? Or do you put the blade in the oven and then start the heating process? Put the blade in the oven and then start heating, no pre- heating of the oven. It's been a while since I started the oven thing, I'll see if I can weigh a few blades again to see if the weight changed.

Author:	foam [ 24 Mar 2014, 05:06 ]
Post subject:	Re: Reducing the weight of blades the easy way
Microwaves will separate a blades plies very quickly, done that experiment myself a long time ago when I was pulling a blade apart. I'm surprised the oven doesn't to the same to be honest. I prefer my blades to weigh 90-95 grams so I've actually been known to put a fine oil in the core to speed up the aging process and get the weight up.

Author:	Elvis56 [ 24 Mar 2014, 05:13 ]
Post subject:	Re: Reducing the weight of blades the easy way
Microwaves destroy blades quickly, that's definitely true. The oven process seems to be ok give or take a few problems (melting lens, exploding handle on kvu, discoloring) 2 out of 3 of these problems were because the temperature was too high. The only problem at 150 degrees was the kvu with the foam in the handle, the heat caused the foam to expand.

Author:	Nimzo [ 24 Mar 2014, 08:19 ]
Post subject:	Re: Reducing the weight of blades the easy way
Have you tested a longwr time i, the oven with f.e. 50 degree?

Author:	Elvis56 [ 24 Mar 2014, 08:32 ]
Post subject:	Re: Reducing the weight of blades the easy way
Nimzo wrote: Have you tested a longwr time i, the oven with f.e. 50 degree? Lowest setting on my oven is 150 but I guess lower temperatures would work as well or even better/less chance of something going wrong.

Author:	Nimzo [ 24 Mar 2014, 15:35 ]
Post subject:	Re: Reducing the weight of blades the easy way
Are we talking fahrenheit or celsius?

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Author:	Elvis56 [ 24 Mar 2014, 17:22 ]
Post subject:	Re: Reducing the weight of blades the easy way
Nimzo wrote: Are we talking fahrenheit or celsius? Celcius