Experience with balsa carbon blade?

[Lula]

Hello, hope everyone is fine! I mostly answer posts so not sure if i post this to the correct section.

I have some trouble with my shoulder and thinking of trying a faster and lighter blade too se if it helps. As a physiostudent i should do more strength and rehab haha, but i am getting there 😀

Do you guys have any experience with lighter blades? maybe blades with carbon and balsa? I have looked at Joola air carbon, Donic black devil, Spinlord carbon strike, Andro kanter and some more.

I have played for around 20 years at a decent level. Try to practice 3-6 times a week. At the moment i play with yasaka goiabao 5 with shortpimple on forehand and backside on the backhand.

Thank you.

 

[MK73]

There are two people in my club who play with balsa carbon blades, but they use the Gewo balsa carbon 775 and 575. The one with the thicker blade (775) is a hitter, the one with the thinner 575 uses long pimples on the forehand and an inverted rubber on the backhand. He plays a disruptive close to the table game with this set up. If you play with short pimple on the forehand these blades will probably suit your game. The Gewo blades are also quite cheap.

 

[MOG]

the carbon balsa blades are very non linear, they are very soft on soft touch shots and get very fast on big hits etc.
well this is the thick 6.6 or 7.5 mm types.
they tend to be a bit flatter and not so good for topspin, but not impossible.

they are generally light though and nimble

the TSP are amongst the highest rated and pretty cheap

I would recommend trying a 6.5mm to start but i am not convinced you would like it tbh. they can be very bouncy with tensor rubbers, although it might not be such a problem on bh.

I think SP could work ok on them.

I would think the spinlord blades would be good as they are pimple specialists.

when i used lp on bh i used a tsp 6.5mm and could hit and block well with the lp, but i had to put hurricane on the fh to be able to control the ball and get some spin

 

[JHB]

I've been using a TSP Balsa 8.5 with short pimples BH and tensor FH for about a month, I really like it. It's certainly light, and as Mog said above it's also rather non-linear. It's bouncy too but then I like that in a blade/rubber combination. My experience has been that if you use the thicker sponge the rubber compensates by providing some of the linearity which the blade doesn't - and when you do hit the ball hard, it stays hit ! Really you can only try such a blade and see how you get along with it. TSP's balsa/carbon blades are comparatively cheap but still well-made, so it's an affordable experiment.

 

[Hustler37]

I turned back to sp bh after 2 years again. My game is much better with that. My blade is Stiga Clipper with MXP 2,0 fh and Firestorm soft 1,9 sp bh.
Would a thicker rubber on fh be better to hit with???
I feel sometimes i miss a lot of balls when i hit instead of looping
Or is there a better rubber I can loop and hit with on fh

 

[Lula]

Okey! thanks for the tips! Will the carbon together with the balsa still make the blade rather stiff?

@Hustler37, what do you mean with hit?

 

[JHB]

I turned back to sp bh after 2 years again. My game is much better with that. My blade is Stiga Clipper with MXP 2,0 fh and Firestorm soft 1,9 sp bh.
Would a thicker rubber on fh be better to hit with???
I feel sometimes i miss a lot of balls when i hit instead of looping
Or is there a better rubber I can loop and hit with on fh

Well, don't forget there is such a thing as a forehand drive in between a loop and a smash - unfashionable these days but still good if well-directed. You just have to remember to bring the bat upwards a little when hitting the ball, and to close the face and watch the ball right onto the bat of course. If the ball is high enough for a genuine smash, then you can hit flat - taking care to direct the shot slightly downwards so as to hit the table.

I never really got along with MX-P , Joola Rhyzm seemed to suit my game better. You aren't going to get much better/spinnier than MX-P though unless you go down the Tenergy/Dignics route, or unless your loops are like Ma Long in which case you might enjoy a decent Chinese rubber like H3 - never tried it myself though, I'm not a looper.

 

[JHB]

Okey! thanks for the tips! Will the carbon together with the balsa still make the blade rather stiff?

@Hustler37, what do you mean with hit?

Yes, on my bat the carbon is just below the (very thin) top layer so it is reasonably stiff althoiugh it's still easy to engage the power of the balsa. Not as stiff as my TB ALC though !

 

[lodro]

i am honestly surprised ........
I thought that the issue heavy blade versa light blade had long been settled and that the general consensus is
that the 25 to 40 gram difference in weight is not making a difference to our shoulder.
I have been suffering shoulder problems for a couple of years now . My experience with balsa-carbon is very limited to 1
unit from XVT and i found it made no difference to my shoulder and as far as playing style is concerned it is like always:
We have to adjust to the new different unit.

So I just take a painkiller before going to TT😁

 

[Lula]

I think the combination faster and lighter blade is worth a try 😀

 

[dajdosta]

Balsa carbon blades have unique feel and properties.
The ones I've played with were thick, stiff, no spin, maybe suitable to blocking/countering/hitting style or some pips.

One guy I was playing with had problem with his shoulder and he converted his playstyle to off the bounce flat hitting. At some point he was using antispin rubber.
Blade weight wasn't a factor for him, it was the type of the stroke that had influence on his shoulder condition.

 

[lodro]

Balsa carbon blades have unique feel and properties.
The ones I've played with were thick, stiff, no spin, maybe suitable to blocking/countering/hitting style or some pips.

One guy I was playing with had problem with his shoulder and he converted his playstyle to off the bounce flat hitting. At some point he was using antispin rubber.
Blade weight wasn't a factor for him, it was the type of the stroke that had influence on his shoulder condition.

Agreed ! I found that, my feet are glued onto the ground with superglue and I am a lazy biatch, too lazy to make extra steps. Therefore most of my forehand shots were made with an outstretched arm. Things got much better when i learned to make my forehand killershots with my arm bent at the elbow.

 

[lodro]

I think the combination faster and lighter blade is worth a try 😀

Now you make me believe that you just want to spend some money on something new and shiny 😂
Buy a 100gr bar of chocolate, wave it around pretending you are hitting a ball. .................now eat half of it and use the
remaining half to hit the ball again. Let me know how you felt a difference AND, send me the remaining half of the chocolate.😋

 

[Hustler37]

Some times i miss when the right feeling with MXP when a player loops against me, its at blocking, but when i want to do punch blocks i loses the ball, because i hit to the net og to far. Would really be nice if theres a rubber that really shines in punch blocks on fh and also still good to attack with

 

[MOG]

Lula you need to try the thicker ones for them to be stiff, I have used a TSP balsa 3.5 and that is so thin it is pretty flexy.
I would recommend the 6.5 or even 8.5 in your case.

They certainly can be spinny as this is technique, but they are not going to flex like a classic 5 ply wood or 6mm carbon looping blade.
And they do nothing for the middle game. In my experience they are very choosy on rubbers too.

But I think they are cheap enough to give a try.

 

[dajdosta]

Galaxy T11 is more or less popular balsa carbon blade.
That one I wouldn't recommend. It's like playing with ceramic tile. Almost zero spin.

Btw if having a smaller blade head is an option than you can take any blade and shave the blade's head. It will make the blade stiffer, faster and lighter due to smaller rubber surface.
There are also factory blades with smaller heads.

 

[Ktandean]

I had my own (not very good) experience with the Donic black devil CB. While it is a potent blade in the right hands, i just felt horrible controlling it. Basic drives shoot off the table when not using the right rubbers (better use soft non-tensors). Hard outer ply + carbon underneath is best for quick, placed counters & blocks a la Waldner (duh) close to table play. Looping with this blade is gonna be a hard time due to the smaller head size (153x 151 iirc) and pretty much zero dwell.

But then again when it is on and you are on high spirits, your game will be on fire, with speedy deadly attacks and fractionally faster recovery due to its light-weight. I just personally find it to be not so consistent on a play to play basis. Defo not a beginner blade, and even advanced players will have to adjust quite a bit i think.

Truly devil-like.

 

[brokenball]

I had a Butterfly BC x5 years ago. I liked it a lot. It broke while serving. I hit the edge of the table and all the layers split apart and couldn't be glued back again. I replaced it with a TB ALC. The head sizes were the same so all the old rubbers fit.
The BCx5 was mostly a hitting paddle but you could loop well with it if you brushed the ball at an angle. It does have a different feel and it was light. I think it was only 70 gm.