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Feel and Hardness / Softness

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Clarence247 View Drop Down
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    Posted: 04/19/2014 at 8:54pm
OK so here goes an interesting topic I was discussing with a few friends down at the gym.

Many players speak of feel when speaking about rubbers - but very similarly to control, feel is very subjective! 

Some players say softer rubbers give more feel and more control due to dwell time.

Others say that softer rubbers have a muted feel - dulling the impact of the ball, and prefer hard rubbers for more directional and short game control. They also argue that bounciness reduces accurate feel for the ball. Many good players who like hard rubbers will often chose tacky rubbers to give dwell time - therefore getting the dwell time used for spin variations from the topsheet and not really from the sponge.

So which rubbers do you feel the ball more with?  Soft or Hard? or somewhere in between? Which rubbers that you've used have given you the best feel? 

As a tool - here is a rubber hardness comparison chart by haggisv - a tool I find extremely useful!

http://ooakforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=1808














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JacekGM View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote JacekGM Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 04/19/2014 at 9:48pm
In fact, haggisv posted the table of sponge hardness here:   

http://tabletennis-reviews.com/reference/sponge-hardness-table/ 

Thank You!
Yes, it is a very useful source. Of course, an inverted rubber sheet consists of the sponge and the rubber, and both are important to the overall feel.

(1) Juic SBA (Fl, 85 g) with Bluefire JP3 (red max) on FH and 0.6 mm DR N Desperado on BH; (2) Yinhe T7 (Fl, 87 g) with Bluefire M3 (red 2.0) on FH and 0.6 mm 755 on BH.
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IanMcg View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote IanMcg Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 04/19/2014 at 10:14pm
The density of the sponge, the size of the pores, the elasticity of the rubber and a lot of other factors all make the "feel" of the rubber. Pip structure has a very big impact on the playing characteristics.

Take a look at this image:


This is a photo of all the TENERGY rubbers, starting at the top 05, 25, 64, 80.

T05 has small space between the pips. Pip length and width appears equal with T64.
T25 has very fat, short pimples.
T64 has the most space between the pips, which make it play differently than T05.
T80 has more space between the pips than T05 but less than T64. The pips on T80 also appear to be slightly bigger than T05.

And assuming each regular TENERGY uses the same topsheet material and sponge, the pip structure makes a radical difference on playing characteristics. Similar concept with many other rubbers.
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Clarence247 View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Clarence247 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 04/19/2014 at 11:09pm
Ok guys interesting posts - however, rather than the fact that there are several factors which have an impact on feel - what I intended is to have a more general discussion about:

What feel do you prefer? the feel you get with hard or with soft rubbers? Or somewhere in the middle? which specific rubbers did you get good feel with? which rubbers could you not feel at all or disliked the feel of? 




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emihet View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote emihet Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 04/20/2014 at 12:20am
i prefer hard and medium hard rubbers
Viscaria, Ma Long 5, Old Clippers, BTY Ovtcharov and Various Custom blades
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Imago Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 04/20/2014 at 2:59am
Originally posted by IanMcg IanMcg wrote:

Take a look at this image:


This is a photo of all the TENERGY rubbers, starting at the top 05, 25, 64, 80.


Nice, do you have a picture of the FX too?
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igorponger View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote igorponger Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 04/20/2014 at 11:02am
Yes, it is a wonder of human nature and scientifical fact that human's bodily senses may be somewhat deseptive, and it may be a great pleasure in some circumstanses.   

Some EXAMPLES:
Speaking of the game of pingpang:

    -- The harder balls will always feel more weighty.

Speaking of the indoor air humidity
     --each 5% increment in the humidity would feel as if air temperature dropping by 1*, on Celsius scale.

This is why wet bamboo mate is a good help in hot, dry weather.
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