OOAK Table Tennis Forum

what are the benefits and/or disadvantages of the balsa core blades especially for blocking with long pips or anti?

_________________
Custom Defense::: Friendship 802 : Dr. Neubauer Super Block

There are no advantages when blocking with frictionless anti imho as the reversal tends to be low. I don't know exactly why that would be but that is my experience and that's also what you can find in specialized forums like Noppentest.

_________________
Equipment:
OSP Ultimate, FH: Dr. Neubauer Dominance Spin Hard 2.1, BH: Dr. Neubauer Troublemaker 0.5
YouTube channel: "AntiRules"

Agree balsa and anti not good.

OX long pips can have strong reversal with balsa blades. The trouble is that you must have excellent touch vs an incoming topspin ball. At the table you have to block without moving the bat forward at contact. Some even pull back slightly at contact (I don't have the touch for it).

I wrote this article on balsa blade properties some time ago, might be useful?

_________________
OOAK Table Tennis Shop | Re-Impact Blades | Butterfly Table Tennis bats
Setup1: Re-Impact Smart, Viper OX, Victas VS 401 Setup2: Re-Impact Barath, Dtecs OX, TSP Triple Spin Chop 1.0mm Setup3: Re-Impact Dark Knight, Hellfire OX, 999 Turbo
Recent Articles: Butterfly Tenergy Alternatives | Tenergy Rubbers Compared | Re-Impact User Guide

A thick balsa blade is my choice for using with long pips OX.

_________________
Panda Drive / 4H Xiom Sigma Pro 2 2.0 / BH Xiom Omega IV Elite Max / Play right-handed
XVT balsa carbon 10mm / 4H Xiom Sigma Pro 2 2.0 / BH Globe 979 Long Pips OX / Play Left-handed shakehand
Stiga Def Wood / 4H Xiom Sigma Pro 2 2.0 / BH GD CC LP OX .. Play Left-handed
Cpen SOS Wood / 4H 729 802-40 2.0 / BH GD Talon use righthanded shakehand grip
HARDBAT / Shakehand Hock 3 ply / Friendship Dr Evil OX .. Play Right-handed

I've been advised that fast balsa blades give maximum reversal for OX lp. My experience is that this is the case. I have a friend who uses a Dr N blasa blade that's as fast as index finger... he hits and blocks with OX LP... very nasty to deal with.

I've played a little bit with a T11 (Balsa+Carbon) while I've been away from home... I've found it to be great with OX pips - I used Dtecs and Pogo. I chop more than block and hit, and surprisingly, I found it very nice to chop with too.

I'm much less happy with the balsa feel on my FH though, but it's all personal.

_________________
Yasaka Sweden Classic | 802 OX | C8 OX
Check out my blog - LordCope's Latest Learning Log - 10+ years of accumulate mistakes!

The top player around the Indianapolis area around the year 2000 was Richard Hicks, who was rated somewhat over 2200 (IIRC) and was a chopper with long pips. He used a thick balsa blade. He was getting them from a person who used to post on Usenet (can't remember the name now but he was one of the more vocal opponents of the 40mm ball). It had a slot where you could slide a piece of paper under the lens of the blade - his said "Richard Hicks". Must've been 10-12mm thick.

Iskandar

Soft, slow on low impact, faster than expected on high impact, non-linear "whippy" high-latency feel. Usually feels matchboxy/hollow due to necessay combination with harder outer plies.

It's like fighting a fat guy: jabs do nothing, one hard punch and the fun is over.

Personally, I would rather eat a balsa blade than play with one.

A key issue of current balsa blades is the poorer/erratic quality of the balsa used.

Apparently the premium light soft balsa ideally for TT blades is being heavily used in wind turbine blades and TT blade manufacturers seem to be resorting to using heavier harder balsa often in multiple strips rather than a complete sheet. The very best balsa as that used in older TSP blades is very white in colour and easily dented with a finger nail (not sure about the balsa quality in the newer Victas branded ones). Harder balsa is darker in colour and not easily dented and lacks the classic balsa dampening effect i.e is more like a conventional wood core.

Two balsa blades I have bought over the last couple of years both exhibited this trait and lacked the classic balsa dampening effect, were heavier than they should have been and had an inconsistent bounce no doubt due to strips of varying hardness.

Today I had a look at the latest version of the Butterfly X5 22 balsa carbon blade and at at first glance it felt good with a weight of 70gm nice balance, soft feel and perfect dimensions of 158 x 152. However the response on bouncing a ball was a bit inconsistent for a carbon blade being faster centrally and an examination of the blade showed it being made of three vertical balsa strips with the central one a darker colour. which usually means harder.

Would be interesting to get feedback on what blades still use single piece balsa layers, or at least if 2 or 3 strips are used the balsa appears to be well matched.