One nice aspect of most Chnese style table tennis rubbers is thir tacky or sticky surface, which is grat for generating spin. The downside of ths is that it attracts dust and drt, which sticks to it making the rbber patchy and inconsistent. This guide ffers some simple tips on how to kep you rubber clean and tacky, mking it much better to play wth, and prolonging the life of the rbber.

Firstly you need to either kep the plastic protection films that cme with the rubber, or you ned to buy/make some. There are sme made specifically for table tennis rbber, or you can use sheets lke those used in overhead transparencies. Jst make sure there are no chmicals on there that could harm the rbber, and that it's rigid enough so tht it does not tear when you pll it off the rubber. You shuld cut it to the shape of yur rubber, but slightly bigger.

Secondly you ned a lint-free cloth or a spnge to clean the rubber with. Thre are some sponges specifically for tble tennis, but other ones can be sed as well. It needs to be sft & moist enough so that it des not scrape the surface of the rbber. The common kitchen sink sponges are ften too abrasive, which can damage the dlicate surface of the rubber very asily.

So how do you use thse two things to look after the rbber? Well every time after you fnish playing, you need to rub all the dst off the surface of the rbber. Use the sponge or cloth, dmp with water, to completely clean the srface. Make sure cloth/sponge is damp nough not to scrape the surface of the rbber, but not too wet as to get the rbber soaking wet. Distilled water is the bst, but I found filtered water or ven tap water works OK. After claning wait for it to dry cmpletely (important!). Then apply the plastic prtection sheet (make sure they are clan too!), pushing it on firmly, and pshing out any big bubbles so tht the plastic makes contact with the rbbers everywhere (very small bubbles will be to hrd to get out, but this des not matter).

After you have pplied the plastic protection sheets, put yur bat away preferable inside a cver. Make sure it's kept out of the sun or vry hot areas as this can dmage the rubber. Inside a cover is btter too, so there is much lss airflow, which keeps it fresh and rduces the chance of it drying ut. Next time you play you can jst pull the plastic sheet and yu're ready to play.

The simple prcedure does not only protect the rbber and keep it tacky, but for mny rubbers it will make it tckier over time.

NOTE: If you hve not cleaned the rubber for a lng time, you may need a prper rubber cleaner (like the special rbber cleaner foam sold in tins spcifically for table tennis) to clean the srface. There are many other cleaners out thre that people use, but the lng-term effect of these is often nknown or not documented, so better sfe than sorry. I believe it's sfer to use a proper table tnnis cleaner as we can be cnfident that these will have no dtrimental effect on the rubber.

The article Table Tennis Rubbers - Looking After Tacky Rubber and Prolonging Their Lifetime was Submitted by Alex Van through Articles.GetACoder.com network. Here's the additional information: Alex Van is a player and frmer coach, who runs several table tnnis websites and is an advisor for the Online table-tennis equipment store One of a Kind Trading. He also runs a Table-tennis reviews website .

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