OOAK Table Tennis Forum

I have been a full-time hardbatter for the past 10 years, using Dr. Evil on an LKT Toxic 3 blade. Nowadays I play almost exclusively against sponge players, and my one complaint with this setup is that it is very difficult to block heavily spun loops. Often the ball skids on the pips and drops into the net, or even onto the table before the net. These things I know:
1. I need to work on a variety of blocking techniques, such as adding sidespin to my blocks, etc.
2. It is difficult to block powerful loops with hardbat, period.
3. I need to work on tactics to prevent my opponent from looping.
But given all that, recently I have been wondering if using a glue sheet under a rubber like Butterfly Orthodox might provide a little more dampening and a little more grip, making blocking easier. Does anybody have any experience with this equipment, and if so, what did you learn? I am also considering a change to Butterfly Orthodox with Tear Mender, by the way. I am open to all suggestions!

Honestly, I don't think glue sheet or multiple glue layers will make enough of a difference.

Have you thought about 0.1-0.5mm sponges under the LPs?

Just for the record, I play with short pips. Actually, I have been playing a little with a defensive blade with RITC 802 with .6mm sponge, but I find that I prefer the hardbat.

I am going to make up a couple of hardbats and I'm definitely going to be using gluesheets. Probably 802 on one side, 802-40 on the other. Kinda curious what the difference would be. 563 (medium pips) on one side might be interesting, too. Nice thing about gluesheets is if you use the right ones, you should be able to swap rubbers around.

Iskandar

I've always had bad luck with glue sheets on OX short pips rubber (bubbles forming). Now I just use "legal" glue.

_________________
Valor Champion (Hardbat)
FH/BH: Valor Premier OX
Valor Kuruxu (Regular TT)
FH: Valor Premier - Sponge
BH: Globe 979 LP OX
http://www.valortabletennis.com

GLUE SHEETS:
I play with OX short pips on my FH against sponge opponents. I hit just about every ball I can. I've always used glue sheets.

DR. EVIL vs 802:
I used OX Dr. Evil for a while but decided to use OX short pips with more grip (Haifu Dolphin, TSP Super Spinpips) because service is a big part of my game.

Here's the thing: if you're set on using hardbat-legal rubber, you're stuck with not being able to block strong topspin (like USATT 1800-level loops). The best you can do is chop. Fortunately Dr. Evil is not bad at that.

If you're willing to use non hardbat rubber, then you have many more options. Iskandar mentions 802 and 802-40, and I agree. With those you will be able to block loops and the ball will have a bit of topspin on it.

BLADE:
Without any sponge at all, you are dependent on the blade to provide touch. I don't use slow 3-ply blades because they're too slow to attack effectively. I like balsa because I can put VERY heavy backspin on the ball when pushing or chopping, and at the same time when I really hit the ball hard I can smash through any backspin ball.

HOWEVER - balsa develops a dead spot if you hit a lot with OX short pips. A balsa blade will last me 3 months before I notice it's not behaving how I want.

OTHER:
Question for steveh - do you clean your Dr. Evil? I clean my pips religiously, which is counter to conventional pip wisdom.

Also, what is your playing style?

Hope that helps. Let me know if you have questions.

Thank you all for your input.
I am committed to using U.S. hardbat legal equipment because I may play in a hardbat event occasionally. My playing style is close-to-the-table offense. I do some pushing, some blocking, and some hitting off both wings, with the forehand flat hit being my strongest shot. I can and do chop, but only if I am forced off the table. I don't clean my pips other than slapping them against my shorts once in a while. After losing 100 points in my last tournament, my rating is down to 1784, the lowest it has been in 20 years or so. I think I may give Orthodox with rubber cement a try to see if I like it better tha Dr Evil. We will see what develops!

very thin keratol fabric from old book work good under the rubber ox

Let us know how it goes. Personally I found Orthodox to be very squishy.

I think 802 is on the European list of allowed hardbat rubbers. 802-40 probably isn't, and in fact the bare topsheets aren't easy to find. Tenryu sells it, though (about $6.50 a sheet). The reason I'm trying 802 is I can get the sheets for $5 each. Same as 563 (technically medium pips, then again I've read some of the rubbers in the hardbat era had pips that were longer than was usual). There are a few other OX short pips sheets for about that same price, and a lot more are in the $8-10 range. There isn't any hardbat competition around here, organized or not - these bats will be to play against (fairly low-level) sponge players (some use long pips).

Iskandar

I PUT A THIN "kERATOL" FABRIC BOOK ON THE BLADE/rubber ------ SLOW SOME SPEED AND THE SPIN IS SOFT

some store say : COVER BOOK KERATOL

Unless what you're replacing is a very heavy layer of rubber cement (i.e. which perhaps added some bounce), you're not going to perceive any difference with a glue sheet. This, coming from an US1750 SP/LP player that has used glue sheets exclusively for the past dozen years and gone through many, many of them.