Custom Bats Cricket Forum

Equipment => Bats => Bat Making => Topic started by: peplow on April 22, 2011, 07:12:02 PM

Title: Bat making from very start to end!
Post by: peplow on April 22, 2011, 07:12:02 PM
Quick question.

If a bat is completely and utterly hand made form start to finish by a bat makers, should it be completely even on each side? or is this impossible due to human error?
Title: Re: Bat making from very start to end!
Post by: Perkins17 on April 22, 2011, 07:17:44 PM
its like trying to draw a circle by hand it can be done but it will never be perfect
Title: Re: Bat making from very start to end!
Post by: peplow on April 22, 2011, 07:19:57 PM
Ahh cool i was just wondering, whats the usual sort of acceptable discrepancy between measurements? i know there is no actual figure but what would we estimate a sensible difference at, and should it be a visible one? would you let a visual difference be sold?
Title: Re: Bat making from very start to end!
Post by: rp27 on April 22, 2011, 07:22:39 PM
i'm guessing your new lavers edges are uneven then?
Title: Re: Bat making from very start to end!
Post by: Perkins17 on April 22, 2011, 07:23:09 PM
i would say that most bats will be invisible to most people i think that it is just us that notices such tiny differences 
Title: Re: Bat making from very start to end!
Post by: peplow on April 22, 2011, 07:23:59 PM
havent received my new laver mate.... still in the post somewhere!!!

it just interested me..
Title: Re: Bat making from very start to end!
Post by: rp27 on April 22, 2011, 07:25:17 PM
ahh thats fair enough, i was going to say, they'll probably never be perfect, but they wouldnt be noticeable
Title: Re: Bat making from very start to end!
Post by: Perkins17 on April 22, 2011, 07:27:20 PM
if they are made by cnc they they will be as close to perfect as you will get !
Title: Re: Bat making from very start to end!
Post by: jonpinson on April 22, 2011, 07:27:42 PM
Theres what is perceptible and what is actual.

Making something by hand with no guides will always make for variations. I'd expect a skilled crafter, in whatever field he works, to get it close enough that the untrained eye cannot tell a difference.

Title: Re: Bat making from very start to end!
Post by: roco on April 22, 2011, 07:30:30 PM
If you look for a problem you will in variably find one
Title: Re: Bat making from very start to end!
Post by: jonpinson on April 22, 2011, 07:32:53 PM
It's actually an interesting point Sam. TK had scorn poured on him when it was revealed he uses a cnc machine. But why? A cnc machine will produce a more accurate shape than any human could.

The phrase 'hand made' is wildly overrated.
Title: Re: Bat making from very start to end!
Post by: peplow on April 22, 2011, 07:34:31 PM
I have no problem with machine making! its under rated, aslong as the maker has the skill to know weights and profiles that will be effective on the machines with different willow and the pressing is good then surely it is just as good as anyway of making it?
Title: Re: Bat making from very start to end!
Post by: procricket on April 22, 2011, 07:52:10 PM
Machine or Hand

Finisher or Maker

does any of it matter???

If pressing is all important who makes the cheapest Tim Keeley highest grade bat...
Title: Re: Bat making from very start to end!
Post by: Talisman on April 22, 2011, 08:06:46 PM
The answer is you Dave, the cleft I've sent you is from said gentleman and you can sell it for whatever you like.
Title: Re: Bat making from very start to end!
Post by: procricket on April 23, 2011, 08:04:48 AM
bloody hell i hope i can re coup some money then for you
Title: Re: Bat making from very start to end!
Post by: Talisman on April 23, 2011, 08:09:20 AM
I've had hand made bats from Julian Millichamp, James Laver, Tony Sains, Dave Banks, Tim Keeley, Dominic Shillabeer and others that were all shaped by hand, never had a single bat that was not perfect spine wise, these guys don't do other jobs, they are professionals and if the spine was biased more one side than the other I would think we would be talking 1mm, never visible to the eye.

If it is badly shaped then I have no idea why it would be, rush job or simply a lack of care. Empires build, Empires fall.
Title: Re: Bat making from very start to end!
Post by: GJ on April 23, 2011, 08:21:54 AM
Dom's a professional now, have I missed something!?

The last two hand made bats I've had the spine has been slightly off. It will never be perfect if done by hand. I imagine the only company that would churn out bats with spines in exactly the right place would be GM, due to their CNC machine.
Title: Re: Bat making from very start to end!
Post by: roco on April 23, 2011, 08:37:39 AM
Or any one that gets them made on tk's cnc
Title: Re: Bat making from very start to end!
Post by: Talisman on April 23, 2011, 08:39:17 AM
The spine is a straight line, it starts at the handle and as long as you have the top and bottom position sorted it should be simple.....
Title: Re: Bat making from very start to end!
Post by: jonpinson on April 23, 2011, 03:22:39 PM
A slightly off or wavy spine may well not have any measurable effect on a bat but that doesn't excuse it. I prefer to think of true handmade batmaking as an extension of the woodworking art. Toolmakers, cabinet makers etc. Think of a chest of drawers made to the very highest level. Look at the hand cut dovetail joints, they will be perfect. Will this perfection make the drawer more funtional or durable? Probably not. Not the point though.