OOAK Table Tennis Forum

Anybody here ever added weight to their blade using something like lead or tungsten tape?

I'm knowledgeable when it comes to customizing my tennis rackets, but I've never previously thought of doing the same with a table tennis blade. I've got a second blade coming but it's a commercial one, so the weight will be much lower than my current blade. I was thinking of customizing the second blade as I would a tennis racket. I depolarize my tennis rackets but I'm assuming it would be better to polarize a table tennis bat.

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Standard Setup 1
Blade - Joo Sae-Hyuk ST
FH - DHS Hurricane 3 Neo 2.2mm
BH - TSP Curl P1r 1.5mm

Standard Setup 2
Blade - Joo Sae-Hyuk ST
FH - DHS Hurricane 3 Neo 2.2mm
BH - TSP Curl P4 1.5mm

Hardbat Equipment (Former Full-Time Hardbat Player)
Blade - Marty Reisman custom 5 ply Hock
Rubber - Yasaka Cobalt Alpha OX

How to add weight will depend on the balance.

If head heavy with rubbers then add some weight to the bottom of the handle. If head light then try 2 or 3 layers of edge tape or for weight add some lead tape on either side under edge tape.

Queue Der Echte.

"Beast" Mod...
Der_Echte did a modification (aka the "Beast Mod") where you fill in the hollow handle of certain blades with glue and small pieces of metal. It worked very well, and resulting in a faster more nimble blade. The counter weight makes it less head heavy and it actually "Felt lighter" on swings. Both he and another member (UpsideDownCarl) actually both play with this mod.

Here is the thread to the "Beast Mod" that Der_Echte did. There are a few threads out there, so not sure if this is the most current iteration.
https://www.tabletennisdaily.com/forum/ ... -Beast-Mod

Lead tape...
I did the lead tape thing too, toward the end of the handle. It worked fine, but again ended up being more of a pain. I secured it very well with grip tape, and it still tended to slide. The lead tape itself had adhesive. But here's something I didn't like. It crept out of the grip tape, and developed a sharp point. I ended up cutting myself on it, which is not a good thing since it's lead. Lead tape is really meant more for adding weight to parts of tennis rackets and golf clubs that the user does not typically contact with his hands.

Ultimately, I decided it was too much work and that I ended up preferring the hollow handled version of my blades (I played more defense back then). I may revisit this now that I'm back on the double inverted kick, but I really love my JRE the way it is. The best part of the beast mod while I had it, was on banana flicks. I can't do them now with a conventionally weighted blade, but with the modified blades, it was super easy.

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To add weight to the handle just stick a coin or metal washers to the flat end of the handle. I have even just used a lump of blutack to quickly experiment

hi fellow tennis player.i have an oversized head protector racket-perfect feel-what string tension do you use?
i have customized a lot of my blades by cutting them down.i use a hollow handles defplay and loads of people add weight to the handle.
i saw your vid when you were playing hardbat in a normal game.i also like to pin people to the backhand side.are you playing better now?

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igorponger wrote:

Day -by-day inhalation of the speed glues is not any good for health..

Many thanks. I'll look into the "Beast Mod" .

Man, one of my fears is getting cut by messing lead tape... Yea, adhesive lead tape is really meant for golf clubs and tennis rackets and so on (not just for their surface, but, as you say, you put it in places you won't be directly making contact with it), not really wood, so I would imagine it would be difficult to keep it in place on a blade.

_________________
Standard Setup 1
Blade - Joo Sae-Hyuk ST
FH - DHS Hurricane 3 Neo 2.2mm
BH - TSP Curl P1r 1.5mm

Standard Setup 2
Blade - Joo Sae-Hyuk ST
FH - DHS Hurricane 3 Neo 2.2mm
BH - TSP Curl P4 1.5mm

Hardbat Equipment (Former Full-Time Hardbat Player)
Blade - Marty Reisman custom 5 ply Hock
Rubber - Yasaka Cobalt Alpha OX

I'll have to weigh the blade and find its balance point etc. when it comes. I depolarize my tennis rackets for extra stability and control, but I think in table tennis the extra speed/spin from polarizing a blade would be more beneficial. Might just mess around with its weight before I commit. I may as well take this opportunity to find what balance works best for me, and not just copy what I already have.

_________________
Standard Setup 1
Blade - Joo Sae-Hyuk ST
FH - DHS Hurricane 3 Neo 2.2mm
BH - TSP Curl P1r 1.5mm

Standard Setup 2
Blade - Joo Sae-Hyuk ST
FH - DHS Hurricane 3 Neo 2.2mm
BH - TSP Curl P4 1.5mm

Hardbat Equipment (Former Full-Time Hardbat Player)
Blade - Marty Reisman custom 5 ply Hock
Rubber - Yasaka Cobalt Alpha OX

I'll probably do something like this to start with.

_________________
Standard Setup 1
Blade - Joo Sae-Hyuk ST
FH - DHS Hurricane 3 Neo 2.2mm
BH - TSP Curl P1r 1.5mm

Standard Setup 2
Blade - Joo Sae-Hyuk ST
FH - DHS Hurricane 3 Neo 2.2mm
BH - TSP Curl P4 1.5mm

Hardbat Equipment (Former Full-Time Hardbat Player)
Blade - Marty Reisman custom 5 ply Hock
Rubber - Yasaka Cobalt Alpha OX

Hey . My racket of choice at the moment is the Yonex Vcore Duel G 97 customized to have a static weight of 372g and a 360 weight. It's an absolute beast! Great directional control and accuracy and massive power on big swings. I string my rackets with a full bed of Luxilon Big Banger Alu Power Rough between 49 and 53 lbs. I don't feel any need to change my tennis setup any time soon, as I'm very comfortable with it. I wish I could say the same for my table tennis setup. It's a mess at the moment.

It's probably going to be a lot of trial and error it seems weighting my second blade.

The Preston video, yea. It was definitely one of those "winning ugly" moments. He was an awkward bugger and I found the best way to deal with him with my rubbers at the time was to keep him on his backhand (even though he was backhand dominant) and wait for the opportunity to swing it wide to his forehand, which was much weaker. He didn't like playing against my defense so chopping wasn't really an option against him either, so a battle of the pushes it was. Looking back, I would like to play him differently.

My game is changing as I change equipment and learn more about the game. It's not easy using hardbat against inverted players, but somehow I did very well with it. I'm moving on though, and I'm already feeling the benefits.

_________________
Standard Setup 1
Blade - Joo Sae-Hyuk ST
FH - DHS Hurricane 3 Neo 2.2mm
BH - TSP Curl P1r 1.5mm

Standard Setup 2
Blade - Joo Sae-Hyuk ST
FH - DHS Hurricane 3 Neo 2.2mm
BH - TSP Curl P4 1.5mm

Hardbat Equipment (Former Full-Time Hardbat Player)
Blade - Marty Reisman custom 5 ply Hock
Rubber - Yasaka Cobalt Alpha OX

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Head-PROTECT ... 2418095854
i have 2 of the above-specialist rackets for tennis elbow.
very good for volleys and they have great feel.i like to do silly drop shots and drop smashes

I am actually the opposite. I play Cpen and have become very used to lighter setups. In fact the lighter the better since it makes for easier wrist action. I have even sanded down some blades to make the head smaller and rarely have any rubber on the backside (I play traditional Cpen backhand) to keep the setup as light and the balance tipped away from the head as possible. And on my usual setup which is a one-ply 10mm blade I am never short on power anyway.

However if I did want to add some weight I guess an easy way would be to get those small lead weights you get at garages to balance wheels. You can get them as sticker weights now, as singles or a strip. For me would be easy since I have the entire back of the blade to stick them on. I guess a shakehander could also stick them on the edge of the blade. They also come encased in plastic so that would reduce the risk of infecting a cut, etc.

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