OOAK Table Tennis Forum

Who's playing with a balsa blade, and what's your setup? Based on TTDB, It seems like the most popular bat style involves a hard (sometimes tacky) inverted on FH and fast SP on BH. Is anyone playing tensors on balsa? Alternatives to SP on BH?

I'm trying to understand the characteristics of balsa blades and rubbers that work well together. I'd like to have a balsa setup (mostly for fun + something different than my Defplay) but prefer to not play with tacky rubber as I drive, block and hit a lot.

Looking at the TSP Black Balsa 7.0 FWIW.

Here's an article on balsa blades, altough it does not really go into detail of suitable rubbers.

Balsa have many advantages, but the main drawback is suitability for looping... which some do much better than others, so it really depends on the blade you're trying to match it with. At low impact the balsa offers high dwell time due to the soft feel, so it's very good for spin.

For the TSP Black Balsa 7.0, which is quite a fast and a fairly thick blade, if you're going to combine it with a soft rubber, the balsa effect will kick in even at medium pace, which can be nice for hitting/blocking, but not for looping. To get spin you need to brush the ball.
If you combine with a medium to firm sponge, then the balsa effect is masked a little at low to medium impact, so as long as the rubber is good for looping it should loop quite well with this blade. At higher impact the low dwell time of the balsa will stick kick in, so you'll get more speed but less spin.

Personally I like the feel of balsa, and love the low weight it offer. I'm a high spin looper on forehand though, so I'm very careful on my choice of blade and rubber.

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I used a Kool for a year or so with Tango Extrem on fh and Sriver fx or Tango on the bh.
Was very popular at my club - the coach (spin looper) was using a Kool/Tango Extrem at the time.

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Chasse Patate

I currently use an offensive balsa blade: the T11+ with tensioned rubbers on both sides: Bomb Mopha. I have to admit I quite like this setup so far. It suits my attacking style, and it's still easy to chop some balls back.

I too use a Defplay but recently tried TSP Black Balsa 3.0 this was great for the ox lp however more unpredictable when looping,this is a different type of blade to a balsa 7.0 which will be stiffer and predictable.The most popular Balsa blade around here is Butterfly Balsacarbo x5,some high division players using this for the style that your interested in ,the basswood outer ply helps with over the table control/touchplay but the blade still has powerful attacking ability,a friend uses this with Tango Ultra sp tensor sp on b/h and he hits well with this.

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Tsp Black Balsa 3.0 Tenergy 05 1.9 388d ox black

I met two people at the tournament this weekend, both using TSP Balsa blades - the fastest one (8.5?) and the second fastest one (6.5). They both couldn't speak highly enough of the blades, and thought it would suit my style - SP hitting on the FH, LP blocking/chopping on the BH.

For those who have used these sorts of bats in combination with OX LP, how do they perform when needing to chop at mid distance, or away from the table? My concern is that the balsa effect might mean that when forced away and chopping against powerful shots, it might be a bit bouncy and hard to control. Note that at present I use a fast 7 ply modern composite blade.

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Yasaka Sweden Classic | 802 OX | C8 OX
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I keep hearing two things about balsa blades:

1) They're not "linear" - that is, the harder you hit the ball, the harder the ball comes off. This is true for all blades, but for balsa the relationship between input and output isn't linear. You hit the ball 2x harder, it comes off 3x faster. Conversely, you hit it half strength, the ball comes off at 1/3 speed. Strangely, I'd think this would be a useful property, rather than a bad one.

2) They can't generate spin so are "powerless" away from the table. In other words, they're no good for looping.

True? Not true?

Iskandar

I played with a balsa blade for about 8 years when I returned to playing TT, and only switched to a Timo Boll ZLF about a year ago.

1. Essentially this is true, although with some qualifications. The non-linearity can be very useful when you are dictating the pace of play - killing the pace of ball off a medium-paced shot, or accelerating more than the opponent expects. However, when the ball is coming in fast, it can be far more difficult to control than a non-balsa - as the ball will rebound quicker off your blade. Then again, if you have the angle of block just right in receiving a fast incoming ball, you have a very pacey snap block. Speed can be generated with less movement than your opponent would expect, catching them offguard if they are not used to the different pace.

However, I found the short game far more difficult with the balsa blade - it was all or nothing. The non-linearity worked against it here, sufficient to make me change blades eventually. I don't have the ultimate snap power of the balsa, but I have more control in flicking, blocking, and placement of loops.

2. Disagree totally with this as a general statement - there are different balsa blades that do different things. The blade I used (Hallmark Ultra) was very effective for looping - including back 2 to 3m. I was playing with soft rubber though.

Hi,

Playing with Balsa (Andro Kanter OFF+) many years now.

1) True, speeds up(more then non balsa frame) when u hit harder and pushing short is very easy.

2) NOT true. I'm a looper and I can tell you you can loop very good with balsa with the right rubbers. Dont take too thick sponge though.

Greetings

“Powasky” I love Balsa blades, I love how light they are & how great they are for chop blocking & control. My game changed for the better when I found Re-Impact Balsa blades. I tried several including Dr Barath then finally deciding on the Smart which really allowed my game to improve in leaps & bounds. Just when I thought, blade wise, it couldn’t get any better I tried a playing partner’s new balsa blade, a TSP Carbon Trinity & wow has this thrown a spanner in the works. Lighter with great control but when needed explosive speed. Both the Re-Impact Smart & the TSP Trinity, different but both give such a similar result. Now I’m alternating using both.

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Setup 1: Blade: TSP Trinity Carbon | Joola Golden Tango black 1.8mm FH & Tibhar Grass D.TecS acid green OX BH
Setup 2: Setup 2: Blade: TSP Trinity Carbon | Joola Golden Tango PS black 2.00mm FH & Tibhar Grass D.TecS red OX BH
Setup 3: Blade: TSP Trinity Carbon | Joola Golden Tango black 1.8mm FH & Spinlord Gigant anti-spin red BH
See the ball, be the ball...

TSP Balsa 6.5 with Rakza 7 Soft 1.8mm on forehand and Andro Rassant Powersponge 1.9mm on backhand.

Best piece of advice I had was go with thinner sponge on a balsa blade. And for those who talk about looping with balsa. Yes you can. Don't confuse technique with equpiment.

Yes on the faster balsa blades thinner medium euro type sponge seem to work well for an all round style. Just tamed an early TSP6.5 that was close to unplayable with 2.0mm 868 rubber by switching to Xeom Musa 1.8 on the FH and 1.5 short/medium pips on back hand.

Musa being a very linear non tensor rubber seems to suit the faster balsa blades well for both defensive (chops/blocks) and attack (fast blocks counter hits etc.) and I am also using Musa this time 2.0mm on my main Black balsa 5.0 blade with Musa 1.8 or pips on the b/h. Not quite fast enough however for my slower softer TSP 4.5 balsa..

I now only play with my TSP Trinity Carbon Blades a great transition for me.

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Setup 1: Blade: TSP Trinity Carbon | Joola Golden Tango black 1.8mm FH & Tibhar Grass D.TecS acid green OX BH
Setup 2: Setup 2: Blade: TSP Trinity Carbon | Joola Golden Tango PS black 2.00mm FH & Tibhar Grass D.TecS red OX BH
Setup 3: Blade: TSP Trinity Carbon | Joola Golden Tango black 1.8mm FH & Spinlord Gigant anti-spin red BH
See the ball, be the ball...

Maybe I should resume my blade making, if this is the case. Lots of balsa in my store room and lots of birch ply too. I have a huge piece of end grain balsa and laminating epoxy, as well as carbon veil, fibreglass of various sorts.... I can then try thinner sponge.

Iskandar

Very interested in this blade if I can get one around 70gm as it seems good value

What are the key playing characteristics compared to standard fast balsa blades such as TSP 5.5 upwards. TSP call it a top spin blade but is it good for modern def/all-round play with the right rubbers. It would seem so from Gollum's equipment list.