I built table tennis paddles from wood. I made two types: a shakehand and a penholder.
The main material was a single panel of glued acacia board from the home center (about $6). Combined with tools I already had, I cut out two blades from it.
Up front, let me be honest: these paddles are not at a competition level. But they look the part (well enough!), and for knocking the ball around with family or friends they work just fine.
Materials and tools
Here are the main materials and tools I used.
- Glued acacia board (200 x 600 x 15 mm / about $6)
- Wood for the grip (I reused an offcut of fingerboard wood from a guitar build, but an offcut of the same panel works fine)
- Wood glue (Titebond)
- Table tennis rubber (the sheet you stick on the face) and rubber-specific adhesive
- Router (I used a baseplate I made myself)
- Jigsaw
- Clamps
- Rasp and sandpaper
- Utility knife or scissors (for trimming the rubber)
1. Make the paddle template
First, decide on the shape. I looked up the shape of a real paddle online and traced it onto paper to make a template.
I traced mine in CAD, but enlarging or reducing a photo of a paddle on a copier to make a full-size template works just as well.
Cut out both templates — one for the shakehand and one for the penholder.
2. Buy the wood
Once the templates set the size, I bought the wood at the home center.
I chose a glued acacia board measuring 200 x 600 x 15 mm, which cost about $6.
Lay the templates on the board to confirm that both blades will fit.
3. Adjust the thickness with a router
The board I bought was 15 mm thick — too thick as-is for a paddle.
So I used a router to take it down to the thickness I needed.
My targets were 6 mm for the shakehand and 11 mm for the penholder.
Set the router bit to the depth you want to remove.
Don’t take it all in one pass, though — that puts a lot of load on the bit, so extend the bit a few millimeters at a time and work down gradually.
By the way, the router baseplate I’m using here is one I made myself. I wrote up how to build it in a separate article, so check it out if you’re interested.
Rout the paddle area little by little until it reaches the target thickness.
4. Glue on the template and cut with a jigsaw
Once the thickness is set, glue the template onto the wood.
Following the template line, cut the wood with a jigsaw.
5. Build the penholder
Let’s start with the penholder. Here’s the rough-cut blade.
Next, make the grip. Stack the grip wood on the blade and mark the shape directly with a pen.
Cut the grip wood to the shape you marked.
Glue the grip to the blade with Titebond. It’s a strong wood glue that holds firmly.
Clamp it to press the joint together, then leave it for a day to dry.
Once it’s bonded, finish the whole thing with sandpaper.
That completes the penholder blade (I’ll apply the rubber for both later).
6. Build the shakehand
Next up is the shakehand.
For the grip, I had some fingerboard wood left over from a guitar build that was a nice color, so I decided to use that offcut. Of course, you can use an offcut of the original board instead.
Glue on the grip template and cut it with a jigsaw.
I cut out two grip pieces — they sandwich the blade from both sides.
Just like the penholder, glue them on with Titebond.
Clamp it down firmly.
After a day, the bond was complete.
As-is, the grip is boxy and hard to hold, so I started by roughing it down with a rasp.
Once the rough shape was there, I finished by sanding it down by hand, checking the feel of the grip as I went.
The grip is done.
7. Woodworking complete
Now both the penholder and the shakehand are finished.
That’s it for the woodworking. From here, I’ll apply the rubber so they can actually be used as paddles.
8. Apply the rubber
Apply the rubber-specific adhesive to both the blade and the rubber.
Once it’s stuck on, trim the rubber to the outline of the blade.
Finished
With the rubber applied, they’re done. They came out looking pretty convincing.
Since I shaped the grip to my own hand, it feels good to hold.
How they feel to actually use
Honestly, compared to a real paddle, both the bounce and the feel are mediocre. The ball speed and the satisfying feedback on contact are clearly better with a commercial paddle — plain wood just can’t keep up.
They’re no good for competition, but for casually rallying with friends or family they’re perfectly usable. As a “the fun is in playing with a paddle you made yourself” kind of project, it was very satisfying.
Wrap-up
With about $6 of wood and tools I already had, I was able to build two table tennis paddles — a shakehand and a penholder.
The performance can’t match a store-bought paddle, but it’s a DIY project that lets you experience the whole flow of woodworking: routing to thickness, cutting out with a jigsaw, and shaping the grip. If you’re that rare person who loves both table tennis and DIY, give it a try.
Comments