Tear Mender Glue Review

A Viable Alternative to Expensive Table Tennis Brand Glues

General thoughts: In my constant search for cheaper alternatives to (legal) gluing, I came across this bad boy. For the price, I have never seen a better table tennis glue. This stuff is extremely strong and behaves much like Butterfly Free Chack – but at a fraction of the cost. This paddle was glued together with a thin layer on both the sponge and the blade, and as you can see, the bond was REALLY intense. I have noticed that even after using a tear-mender-glued-rubber for several months, the bond does not lose it’s strength and re-gluing to maintain speed and grip does not seem necessary.

However, my review isn’t all positive. First off, this glue is extremely finicky when you try to spread it. I personally use my fingers to spread the glue on the blade and have often noticed that the Tear Mender dries up really quickly. If you rub your finger over the same spot on the blade more than a couple of times, it will start to clump up. Aside from clumping easily, another downside that I have found to this glue is that sometimes the bond created may be too strong (yes, it’s possible) for the rubber. The bond created between the rubber and the blade is stronger than anything I have experienced. For the most part it hasn’t been a problem for me, but when I was testing out the infamously poorly crafted Galaxy Moon and Galaxy Sun rubbers, the sponge did tear apart when I removed the rubbers from the blade. However, I prefer to discredit the craftsmanship of Galaxy products rather than the efficacy of Tear Mender.

Pros:

• Price
• Extremely strong bond between the rubber and the blade
• Bond strength does not wear off over time, making frequent re-gluing unnecessary

Cons:

• Can be difficult to spread on the blade / clumps easily
• Bond may actually be considered too strong for some rubbers, causing the sponge to rip
• Although tournament legal, it is not an official table tennis brand glue and some players may have a problem with this (those of you wearing Butterfly boxers and Stiga shower caps may want to turn away now)

Review Conclusion: Eighteen thumbs up. The bond is just as good, if not better than Free Chack, although I will say that Free Chack is much easier to spread on the blade and does not easily clump. But, when you take the price into perspective, it really is a no-brainer. $61.99 for 500 ml of Free Chack or $16.64 for 473 ml of Tear Mender. I know which glue I’ll be using.

Although it may seem like it, unfortunately I am not being paid to hype this product up; the bang-for-your-buck ratio just makes me want to share it with my fellow bankrupt EJs. If your wallet has a smoking hole in it and you’re tired of being the small kid on the teeter-totter while Butterfly vicariously jumps on the other end as this kid, you deserve to take a leap of faith on this review and experience this cheap alternative to expensive “table tennis brand glue” like DHS, Butterfly, Donic, etc, etc. Best of all, it is VOC free which should help take some of that guilt off your shoulders when you are pounding in the Dian Chi and Falco boosters.