DHS H3 vs Yasaka Rakza Z

[Choosikick]

Since I made the first post I have a hard boosted H3 prov OS 39 on a blade. It’s boosted with 3 fairly fat layers of seamon (the standard one). That worked great. It’s faster and with more spin. I still get easier access to power with the Rakza Z but I shot long a lot and the H3 just feels fantastic now. The grip is so good it’s almost impossible to miss the table from position 2 when I hit hard, but I’m starting to get a shoulder ache 😫. I can’t hit so hard all the time 🤬
I think I will go H3 for the rest of the season anyway and maybe experiment a little more during summer.

Cheers
L-zr

I also successfully play the forehand only with sticky chinese rubbers J2, J3, N-80, H3 plus a booster, and with N-80 also baby oil. But there is a nuance. This is a change in the properties of rubber under the booster over time. When you play regularly, this is not a problem, because in a short period of time the properties change slightly and it is easy to adapt to this, but when there are breaks in the game, then during this time the changes in properties are dramatic for me. Now I’m forced, like in the good old days, to booster a day in advance and glue it before the game...

 

[Lazer]

I also successfully play the forehand only with sticky chinese rubbers J2, J3, N-80, H3 plus a booster, and with N-80 also baby oil. But there is a nuance. This is a change in the properties of rubber under the booster over time. When you play regularly, this is not a problem, because in a short period of time the properties change slightly and it is easy to adapt to this, but when there are breaks in the game, then during this time the changes in properties are dramatic for me. Now I’m forced, like in the good old days, to booster a day in advance and glue it before the game...

It’s all in your head, when boosting with oil it’s mostly the mechanical action of playing that wears on the sponge. The booster oil doesn’t really evaporate. It resolves and becomes part of the sponge. My boosted H3 was sitting for weeks on my shelf without anything happening. It not like before where you had to play before the VOC’s dissapeared. There is of course a chemical reaction going on so I don’t know what will happen if it sits too long like a year or so. I have another blade with a boosted Bloom power and it isn’t played much and reacts pretty much the same as 6 months ago.

Cheers
L-zr

 

[Choosikick]

It’s all in your head, when boosting with oil it’s mostly the mechanical action of playing that wears on the sponge. The booster oil doesn’t really evaporate. It resolves and becomes part of the sponge. My boosted H3 was sitting for weeks on my shelf without anything happening. It not like before where you had to play before the VOC’s dissapeared. There is of course a chemical reaction going on so I don’t know what will happen if it sits too long like a year or so. I have another blade with a boosted Bloom power and it isn’t played much and reacts pretty much the same as 6 months ago.

Cheers
L-zr

Changes occur in fact and not in my mind, since the rubber, the edges of which I cut off after the boost, becomes smaller over time.

 

[NextLevel]

I have switched to K3 on the forehand in the meanwhile, but still took your advice to hit through the incoming topspin ball. This leads to an issue though: the old technique with a very closed bat would lead me to "outspinning" the opponent so that his shot or block would go wide. Now with the hitting through the incoming ball the resulting ball is very easy to block for my opponents if I don't place it well. It seems like this technique produces the exact ratio of spin and power that people are used to block by default, so they can easily block it, if they are positioned well.

I actually get a lot of spin with that shot and also have the option to countersmash as well. It is really about how you approach the ball , you can brush it it heavily without closing the paddle too much. But if your closed swing works for you keep doing it. I usually add quite a bit of side contact to the shot.

In my philosophy In table tennis, you should accept that of your opponent can touch the ball, the ball is coming back, if you are trying to win with ball quality and your closing the paddle works for you, then keep doing it. In my experience, a lot of balls overshoot the table and get racket edged, so it is more important to have technique that works under pressure.