Thoughts on glue -or- post your best non VOC glue

I never speed glued. Not even once. Never felt like it was something I needed to do, you know like that was the pro's "domain". But I do like the inbuilt rubbers, they work pretty well specially Roxon.

Now, post glue ban, after trying Andro "free" stuff, I am not so impressed.

Regular glue worked just fine. I applied it once, and it kinda puffed up the rubber a little but and then I put it on the blade and viola -- I was in business with a perfect bond, and it seemed to change the rbber somehow chemically or something -- it just made it right.

And there was a difference, like it bonded so much better, it made the rubber seem like a perfect part of the blade.

The glue sheets and free stuff and most recently a purple glue stick just don't have the same cohesion or something. Not really sure how to explain it...maybe you understand.

So, if I plan to play in very few tournaments, and glue with whatever regular glue I can find like WAY before a tournament... like 3 weeks or something... is that still illegal? I mean as long as it passes ENEZ, and no VOCs present, is that OK? Is this a gray area or is it illegal?

If is is, then maybe some company is going to come out with a glue that is VOC free but has the same regular glue feel. I heard Nittaku is doing something along these lines with a speed glue type non VOC glue???

Love to hear what is working for you...

It's the VOCs in the regular glue that do change the feel a little, which is why I still prefer it for simply attaching rubbers. It gives them a little stretch, like a mild form of priming, which generally improves them, particilarly for chinese style rubbers...

Still some of the new rubbers say they are designed to be used with VOC-free glues...marketing talk or not???

Glenn wrote: Well, to answer dauntless's question, 3 weeks before the tournament, i would think that the VOC would not be there anymore. At least if you glue it lightly.

It seems that most people are still using normal glue and still play in tournaments. Most shops who provide free assembling services are also still using normal glue... Some told me that it is costly and takes more time to fix up a bat...

who is still using normal glue?

Pls share your thoughts!

I know one thing I DON'T like.  I don't like the glues that come in the little shoe polish bottles.  Those applicators get dried out and pick up little hard pieces.  I just pulled mine off and started pouring directly to the rubber.

dauntless wrote: Love to hear what is working for you...

I was using normal glue up until a couple of weeks ago when I purchased some Tear Mender. I will never go back. I just gave away the rest of my normal glue to my training partner.

Please do a quick search because just over the last couple of weeks there have been a number of threads on using Tear Mender and other non-volatile organic compound glues.

dauntless wrote: <snip> So, if I plan to play in very few tournaments, and glue with whatever regular glue I can find like WAY before a tournament... like 3 weeks or something... is that still illegal? I mean as long as it passes ENEZ, and no VOCs present, is that OK? Is this a gray area or is it illegal? If is is, then maybe some company is going to come out with a glue that is VOC free but has the same regular glue feel. I heard Nittaku is doing something along these lines with a speed glue type non VOC glue??? Love to hear what is working for you...

First of all, there is a strong argument that the wording of the glue rule means that there can be no VOCs in the glue when you bring it to a sanctioned event, but that the rule doesn't say that the glue couldn't contain VOCs before that time - like when you applied it to the blade and rubber.  

This argument is based on the observation that the wording of the rule is present tense. With regular chack and rubber cement, you can expect the VOCs to be virtually gone in a fairly short time - probably a day if you leave the racket exposed to free air circulation.  Two to three virtually guarantees passing the ENEZ test.


Now even if you don't agree with that rule interpretation, it should be very clear that a racket glued with chack or rubber cement and left to air out isn't giving the player any glue effect or competitive advantage.  Further, since the racket won't be reglued for quite some time, the safety concern is largely addressed.  And finally, the racket will pass the ENEZ test.  So from a pragmatic standpoint - why not just use plain old chack or rubber cement?

Now, all that said, I find that TearMender is a perfectly good water based glue replacement for chack and rubber cement.  What it leaves behind to bind the rubber to blade is the same thing - namely rubber.  I've been using TearMender since February, and I find I can get the same feel from it that I got using Best Test rubber cement.

what i want to know, the new rubbers are designed for water glue, so glueing them with voc glue may hurt them right? i currently glued my boost tc and stiga with tearmender but I still have a big bottle full of REGULAR voc glue, can I use it on both my IQ ul and my boost? anyone? I dont care about the enez test, I'll just air out the paddle.