What's the best way to dry out a blade

What's the best way to to pull moisture out of the wood without harming anything?
To pack it with desiccant sachets from medicine bottles? little sachets of rice? to blow dry it? put it in an oven overnight? blowtorch or nuclear fission?
What do you guys recommend.

Also, is there anything one could do when changing rubbers (when the rubbers are off) to wick away moisture from the blade effectively without damaging it?


Is it even feasible to draw the moisture from the blade before it warps?
Suppose I play in a very humid environment or my blade got wet when I water-cleaned the rubber.
I don't want it to get water-logged and have to replace it if I can avoid it.




Edited by Lightzy - 09/20/2017 at 11:40pm

Definitely don't use a Kutchen oven! Temperature control for ovens is not precise at all and will burn it up. First question is, why do you think your blade needs drying? Wood will naturally contain some moisture content (6 to 8 %) and if you get it "bone dry" it's just going to absorb water from the atmosphere until it's back to its equilibrium point. As wood ages, it gradually prefers less and less moisture. As far as drying, I would remove the rubber sheets and leave it in the back seat of a car for a few days (not on the dash) to get it dry initially. Don't try to dry it out too fast or too much. Wood tends to shrink as it dries and that can result in warping. If you try blow drying, keep it on low heat.

If it's gotten so wet you're afraid of warping as it dries, I'd put it between a couple of sheets of plywood and put a little weight on it (a couple of books) to keep it flat, then just give it some time.  You could put a fan on it while it's drying under that bit of pressure.  I would flip the boards every day or so as well to put the damp side outward as the plywood absorbs moisture.  I wasn't sure what you were wanting to achieve.  Thought you might just be trying to get the blade to shed a few grams from water-based glue.

Dry out a blade?

You should BUY A NEW ONE every time one gets wet.

Thank you, Fatt, for the kind words.  I don't know if drier wood actually plays any better.  It will have slightly different properties.  Drying should make it a little lighter and slightly harder with increased stiffness.  What you've observed is about what I'd expect, but it leads back to the question "what do you prefer?".  There are a few blades on the market made of wood that has been "fired" or heat treated in some way.  What this type of treatment does is to accelerate the aging process so that the wood tends to pull less moisture from the atmosphere and its equilibrium state will be at a lower water content than untreated wood.  If heat treated wood were so superior to untreated wood that it actually improved one's game, then everyone (especially the pros) would be buying paddles made of that material and manufacturers would have a lot more blades made of it to feed the demand...I haven't seen that.  In other competitive activities you'll notice that most of the top participants use the same equipment because there really is some advantage.   That's not something I'm aware of in table tennis (at least for the blade) so to me it's an indication that no blade is obviously "the best".   In your case, drying your blade resulted in a positive (for you) change to it's characteristics.  Your method is simple, costs nothing, is non-destructive, and is probably reversible if someone were to try it and not like the result. 

shogrran wrote: i have excessive sweating. I think its a disorder or a condition i have to live with. The handle and the winglets literally bathe in sweat after training or game play. The wood would normally be in equilibrium with the atmosphere as people already pointed out but it is different for people like me. If youve accidentally stored your blade moist and tried playing the next day its how it always will feel when its soaked in sweat. Mushy feeling.