First off, stop calling it an edgeless paddle! It still has an edge.
I was talking with a friend of mine the other night and he mentioned he was looking at a new paddle and definitely wanted an edgeless.
When I asked him why he stated that the trim on paddles edges lead to more missed shots and errors than edgeless paddles. He unequivocally stated that an edgeless paddle would have a significant impact on his game and reduce his errors.
I said something like if you are hitting that many balls on the edge you need lessons more than a new paddle. When I finished laughing I looked at him and he appeared to be serious. I apologized and let it go.
About 20 minutes later, I couldn’t let it go anymore. “So this edgeless paddle stuff, you know every paddle has an edge. Even an edgeless paddle edge has a profile, it just happens to be convex vs concave”.
“What do you mean?”
“Look at an edgeless paddle. Is it a square edge? No. It’s rounded. Like a bullnose. So if you hit the ball on the edge of an edgeless paddle it’s still not going to go anywhere near where you want it to. An edgeless paddle will never reduce your errors from hitting the edge of the paddle because it still has an edge. All it will do is change the direction of the error.”
“No, that can’t be, that’s not what everyone says”
“Well pass me that pen and let me draw it out for you. Here is the DF (deflection face) on a paddle with an edge guard…….here is the DF on an edgeless. What do you think the trajectory of an edge strike with either will be?”
“Probably not where I want the ball to go”
“Precisely, and on top of that you have no protection on the edge. Sure you can put tape on it, but have you seen the edge of your current paddle? Pretty hard to repair a damaged edge, but it is usually easy to replace edge trim”.
“ hmmm, maybe you have a point, but I still want an edgeless paddle.”
“To each their own” I said, “but please call it a trimless paddle, the thing still has an edge”.
Stay tuned for part two of this post. “How to repair a trimless paddle edge” or “shopping for a new paddle, what to look for in an edge trimmed paddle”