There was a thread to this effect some time back and I think the conclusion was that it is down to your personal preference. I use MAS upto 15" so far and I have never balanced them. But then again, I dont have a balancer. In the thread I mentioned above, the forum memebers wer with and opposed to this idea in equal measure. I do try to cleanup the leading and trialing edge burrs to prevent finger injury, that's all

Ameyam