Table tennis/ping pong blade sealing made simple.

The term used to describe a table tennis bat prior to the rubber being fixed on is the ‘blade’.

Once the rubber coverings have been fixed on it is usually known as the ‘racket, bat or paddle’.

Table Tennis Blades

Most ping pong blades bought from new do not have any type of sealant applied to them at the manufacturing stage. There are some exceptions notably the DONIC Waldner Black Devil CB, Globe Biao Wang Laser 5 Carbon there will be others but blades mainly come unsealed.

Plywood Blades

Manufacturers use plywood which is layers of thin sheets of wood glued together with each layer laid down at 45° to the one next to it. This adds strength, stability and produces a board which is good to work with. Most common are 5 ply and 7 ply blades. The main enemy of plywood is water/moisture; it can penetrate the fibres and have a defamatory effect. The wood can start to break down, twist, warp and swell. There are a variety of wood species used to make up the plywood combinations allowing different “feel” and “touch” playing characteristics of the blade. Speed variations can also be achieved in this way. Other layers such as carbon fibre and glass fibre can also be added. However – Rule 2.4.2 states that At least 85% of the blade by thickness shall be of natural wood.

Table Tennis Glues

The old style traditional table tennis glues contained solvents which had in them volatile organic compounds (VOC’s) that are detrimental to your health. Because of this table tennis glues are now water based and contain no VOC’s therefore making them safer. However this means that every time that you change your rubber coverings and use these water based glues you are spreading water onto your blade which as mentioned can potentially do it harm.

Ping Pong Blade Protection

With the high cost of table tennis blades these days and to give it a long life it would seem sensible to give it some protection against the possible ingress of moisture into its wooden core. A good sealer should tick these boxes:

1. □ Form a barrier to prevent moisture penetration and be long lasting.
2. □ Secure surface fibres from being lifted and splintering when removing rubbers.
3. □ For safety be emulsion based non-VOC.

Some players use lacquer – varnish, hairspray, sanding sealer the list goes on, these are obviously deviations from the original intended use of each product and in our opinion do not do the job. Lacquer may be OK on canoes but on your new pride and joy table tennis blade? Varnish can be heavy give too harsh a finish which can prevent the adhesive from bonding your rubber sheets to the blade and can also add weight.  Anyway who wants to purchase 250ml of varnish that would probably do 100 blades and go out of date before you had used it? Hair spray – would you spray this onto your expensive new blade? Sanding sealer usually spirit based and could contain VOC’s!

Table Tennis Blade Sealer

The cost effective way surely would be a sealer formulated to do the job, tick all the right boxes and be relatively inexpensive. Be packaged in a handy size container so that you don’t need to purchase too much and provide a means application. One such product that meets all the criteria is Aquaseal Blade Sealer. Emulsion based sealer no VOC’s, one coat, fast drying, simply brush apply. Specially formulated to seal and protect. Used by the professionals for years, Aquaseal is now available to all players that want to put protection onto their table tennis blade.

My Avalox M585 Allround Table Tennis Blade

This is how I sealed it.

Step 1 I made sure that my new blade was free of any bits of dust/fluff etc. ready to accept the sealer. Holding the blade handle and using the nifty flat brush that came with the Aquaseal I started to apply the sealer firstly to the edge of the blade. The sealer went on easy soaking into the plywood layers fast. Next to no drying time here.

Step 2 I then moved on to the blade surface working along the wood grain of the top ply and starting at the bottom near the handle. The Aquaseal soaked in straight away, I continued brushing and as I tilted the blade towards the light that came in through my kitchen window I could see which bits still needed coating. The sealer soaked into the blade surface at differing rates, this is because wood is a natural product not a problem. I didn’t stand my blade up to dry because this could encourage the sealer to ‘run’. So to be on the safe side and because we are doing a good job I laid it down to dry. This took only a matter of a few minutes.

Step 3 With the edge and side one done I repeated step 2 and finished the second side of my blade. Again leaving it to dry in a flat position. I would say let the sealer fully harden overnight or at least a couple of hours before attaching the rubbers. The result is a matt finish which is only marginally darker and different in texture than the original surface. Ah! what a relief protection complete.

Notes

Remember to cover the two triangular sections of blade next to the handle on each side as you start. Be sure to clean the brush each time after use in water that way it will last you. Pass these tips onto your friends so that they too can benefit. Look forward to years of service from your table tennis blade.