OOAK Table Tennis Forum

Can someone explain why the rubber should be completely dry before putting on the protector sheets?
I always left whatever moisture remained as it helped seal the protector to the rubber better?

and because of COVID-19 there was an equipment cleaning protocol with these wipes provided https://www.aldi.com.au/en/groceries/la ... pes-120pk/
and out of curiousity I tried it on the rubber and I'm not what it is in it but the residue it left made the rubber tacky, is it safe to keep using it?

and sometimes I find when playing with the rubber it is too 'dry' and using some sweat to help soften the surface sometimes seems to help bring back the spin? is this ruining the rubber or is this sort of boosting it?

Hello! Let me try to answer your questions

1) If you put on a protection sheet before the rubber is done drying, then that water can no longer evaporate & remains trapped there. If left like this for a while, then the parts of the rubber that are wet may have altered properties compared to the parts that were dry. While rubber is hydrophobic and doesn't usually react with water (hence why its safe to use water to clean your rubbers), if you left it like that for hours or days it might have an effect. I'm not familiar with the exact chemistry behind it though.

The reason why we cover our rubbers is to prevent oxidation. Simply covering a dry rubber with a protection sheet prevents the oxygen in the air from coming into contact with the rubber, so that's more than fine for keeping it protected!


2) I would really, really, recommend not using those wipes on your rubber. While it may disinfect the rubber, it'll leave behind a host of different compounds that may alter the rubber! You mentioned its tacky now, right? Either A) it left a sticky film on the rubber, or B) it chemically altered your rubber to make it tacky. In either case, that rubber has had its playing characteristics altered. Even if you don't play in tournaments, it might make you more inconsistent as now your rubber will play "differently." The wipes you linked also seem to be lemon scented, which means they'd have scented oils in them. These would definitely be left on the rubber after its dried, and you'd need more than water to remove them!

I've not been back to a TT club since the pandemic so I don't know of good ways to keep your racket clean while at the club. Hopefully others can chime in on this topic!


3) I know that if I play with new or dirty balls, my rubbers will get caked with dust very quickly. Sweat would remove the dust pretty easily and will "feel" like the spin is returning (since you've just removed the dust from it). I've heard that the salt in sweat can break down your rubbers more quickly, but if you wipe down your racket with a wet sponge or cloth after playing the salt shouldn't be a problem. Normally I'd just use my breath to clean off dust, but I imagine that's not a good idea anymore.

To be honest - there's a LOT of folklore floating around when it comes to table tennis stuff. This is doubly true when it comes to rubber care. When I was in school, it was common knowledge that you had to keep the rubber absolutely dry - any contact with water caused it to rot or something. And then there was a time when you weren't supposed to touch the rubber - the oils from your fingers would make the rubber less sticky and you'd spoil the spin. To clean rubber properly, you were supposed to use dishwashing soap to remove oils from the surface. Paddle Palace was selling something in a spray can (it was a solvent that was used to clean and condition rollers in printing presses - I saw cans of it for sale recently in a printer supply store) for cleaning oils off rubber. These days? Oil is GOOD for rubber - you can supposedly rejuvenate rubbers by using certain oils. Rubber booster is made up of oils. People use baby oil to make rubbers stickier. Rather than avoiding touching the rubbers, you'll see players wiping them off with the palms of their hands, or even sweaty forearms. Rather than keep water away from rubber, people use it to clean rubber sheets.

So who knows whether or not leaving rubber damp before putting on the protector sheets hurts the rubber. I am not aware of any controlled studies (or even informal or anecdotal ones) on the subject. There is at least one guy on this forum who swears by leaving the rubber slightly damp before putting the protector sheet on.

Me? I don't care - since it's more convenient to not have to wait until the racket is bone dry before applying the protector sheet (in my case a Ziploc bag), I just do it when it's reasonably dry. I suppose there is the fear of mildew in the blade..

Iskandar