Balsa has different kind of density. But for ALLround, it is recommended to use medium density. Balsa is usually light (not heavy). interestingly enough, by balsa itself not much good with cord wood, but with special combination with carbon, balsa works very well as core wood. In general, it is good for short to medium distance.
Characteristics of a balsa blades: source (
http://oneofakindtrading.com.au/balsa_table_tennis_blades.htm)
Low impact:
Since balsa is usually used for the inner or centre ply of a blade, the feel of the blade is obviously effected by the outer plies as well. In general balsa gives the blade a very soft feel, which makes it feel slow and offers good control and touch, particularly on low impact strokes, such as return of serves or pushes.
This properties makes it particularly attractive for long pimple (with no sponge) players as the touch for drop shots or short balls is often critical to their game.
High Impact:
The property of the Balsa layer changes depending on how hard the hits the blade, it is not linear like most other types of wood. The higher the impact, the quicker the rebound of the balsa. In contrast to the low impact property, where slow balls are held by the balsa giving it long dwell time, on high impact the balls is rebounded very quicky giving it very short dwell time. Although this can be seen as a disadvantage, since low dwell time generally means less control and less ability to generate spin, the major advantage is for blocking and counter hitting, where low dwell time means much reduced sensitivity to spin, and the ball comes back much quicker to your opponent.
