Cole's Custom Glue Review

          I'm sure most of you know that Cole sells a custom speed glue solution on his site. I haven't seen any reviews on it so I'm going to give it a shot.

I've tried a variety of glue including, Butterfly Fair Chack/Lite, Yasaka Pro Life, and Stiga Energy Glue and the most troublesome thing about these glues is their rate of buildup on the sponge. The first thing I noticed about Cole's glue was its consistency. It's a very thin glue that seems to seep into the sponge much deeper and quicker than commercial glues. The actual stickiness is not as strong as other speed glue so its almost like a booster consisting of the speed glue elements in other glues without the rubber cement that piles up on the sponge.

I mostly play with chinese rubbers (H2, Skyline, 729) but I did have a sheet of Yasaka Mark V to test its effect on softer sponges. The effect on chinese rubbers was really astounding. From the dome of the rubber when the glue is applied to its enhanced flexibility and feel after it is combined with the blade, you can immediately understand the superior quality of the glue. In rallies, the ball rebounds from the rubber (H2 and Skyline 3 in my case) much more quickly but the softer feel of the sponge after gluing compensates for the loss of control from the very strong glue effect. On my softer Yasaka sponge, the glue gives that extra kick of speed that resembles about 2-3 thin layers of Fair Chack Lite (but with 1/2 buildup). I won't elaborate on the generic 'speed glue effect' because all gluers have experienced it, but this particular mix of solvents really magnifies that feel with half of the glue amount. After about 4 hours, I peeled of the rubbers, but I could feel a good glue effect until the last moments of practice so it definitely lasts for at least that long. Also the buildup on the sponge after 2 rounds of ~3 layer application is nothing compared to what you get from a single round of good multi-layer application from stiga/butterfly glues.

For forehand I tried the glue with a H2 and a new sheet of Skyline 3 (with a thin rubber cement layer beforehand). I applied 3 thin layers to those rubbers and for my backhand Mark V, 1 thick layer (the sponge sucks up the glue very fast). My other rubbers were very worn so I couldn't test the glue's performance reliably on them, but I recommend everyone to try this glue. It's half the cost for double the performance and really outdoes any commercial glue I have tried so far.

Thanks!  I can thicken the mixture to taste, by the way.