Custom Bats Cricket Forum
Forum News and Suggestions => Old Advertisers => Admin Board => Aldred Cricket Bats => Topic started by: Aldred Cricket Bats on February 27, 2013, 02:16:49 PM
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This is what all truely handmade bats are about.
It is certainly what all our kit has been made from
(http://i1061.photobucket.com/albums/t472/Aldredcricket/0de408079c105a4ee4ea34e6b62fcfc5_zps6d169c91.jpg)
(http://i1061.photobucket.com/albums/t472/Aldredcricket/0e090e8e490ee8bc22e0d43279a9d1b3_zps85b10c90.jpg)
(http://i1061.photobucket.com/albums/t472/Aldredcricket/4490df1bb062fd0d0dbf10b9155742f4_zpsb9373547.jpg)
Not From
(http://i1061.photobucket.com/albums/t472/Aldredcricket/25209de51cb9f31f4ac678863849f384_zps344ea5bd.jpg)
(http://i1061.photobucket.com/albums/t472/Aldredcricket/bdcd7bccc43f66967cc4d1b202a4d529_zps882240c6.jpg)
It's all about what you want
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Love it! :D
This should be a sticky!
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Thanks thought it was a good way of putting a point over and pointing out the heart and soul that goes into it not the soulless production of thousands on a machine or shipped over in containers back to the country the wood grew in. Support British industry and craftsmanship particularly in the current financial climate.
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Agreed!
I hate the fact that so many in this country don't value the skills of true craftsman...in any industry not just batmaking.
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but don't you need the first two for the second two to work?
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but don't you need the first two for the second two to work?
Do you mind expanding on that ever so slightly, I'm not sure I understand what you mean.
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but don't you need the first two for the second two to work?
Well, you need a brain to programme the computer and you need a heart in order to live long enough to programme it but that's all and it's not really the point is it?
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I think Tushar made a good point in the original thread. The machine makes a bat to a size, but doing it by hand a man can make a bat to a given weight by adjusting the size. I don't know how a machine could make the adjustments to a bat to alter middle position, or improve balance and pick up - unless that is where 'hand finishing' comes in (though in my cynical way I'd thought hand finishing was just the application of stickers...)
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Also gotta say that being a techy I would say there is a lot of brain and passion/soul that goes into making a machine & writing code ;) and then making that work & work well :)
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Thanks thought it was a good way of putting a point over and pointing out the heart and soul that goes into it not the soulless production of thousands on a machine or shipped over in containers back to the country the wood grew in. Support British industry and craftsmanship particularly in the current financial climate.
I dont understand , " Soulless production .... or Shipped over ... wood grew in ". Do you mean to say that only british craftsman have the heart and soul to make a cricket bat.
I respect craftsmanship, but it is not assigned to any location or person. If you have so much of a problem than stop exporting clefts.
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Agreed tushar but can the machine be tactile and check at every stage on how the wood is shaping and look at the way the grains run and how the natural faults lie in the wood to enable it to be able to readjust the way it's producing that particular piece of willow so it can obtain the optimum out of each and every piece of willow it puts out. But I agree it does have the ability to churn out 500 bats a day rather that 5. I need to work quicker I think :)
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I dont understand , " Soulless production .... or Shipped over ... wood grew in ". Do you mean to say that only british craftsman have the heart and soul to make a cricket bat.
I respect craftsmanship, but it is not assigned to any location or person. If you have so much of a problem than stop exporting clefts.
It's a call to use local, home grown craftsmanship (and pay a proper wage for it), as opposed to paying an individual peanuts and a freight company and middleman lots.
Tbh I'm amazed anyone can run a company and make (shape) individual bats fully by hand. It's a great USP (groan) Aldred have by having the same person from start to finish to deal with, all in this country (I get there's others that do it too, of course).
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Agreed tushar but can the machine be tactile and check at every stage on how the wood is shaping and look at the way the grains run and how the natural faults lie in the wood to enable it to be able to readjust the way it's producing that particular piece of willow so it can obtain the optimum out of each and every piece of willow it puts out. But I agree it does have the ability to churn out 500 bats a day rather that 5. I need to work quicker I think :)
Just a thought, why cant we design a sensor to check the grains and any natural faults in the wood. Then we can design a machine to sort the clefts accordingly and send it to the cnc machine. Anyone attempted to design it ?
But I support handmade cricket bats, as you cant substitute the human touch,care and love a craftsman puts in his work. Once a famous italian chef quoted, " I would prefer to eat plain vegetables cooked with love and affection in a small hut, rather than have a grand dinner in a 5 star hotel ". That goes for anything.
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It's a call to use local, home grown craftsmanship (and pay a proper wage for it), as opposed to paying an individual peanuts and a freight company and middleman lots.
Tbh I'm amazed anyone can run a company and make (shape) individual bats fully by hand. It's a great USP (groan) Aldred have by having the same person from start to finish to deal with, all in this country (I get there's others that do it too, of course).
I agree that anyone cannot run or produce a quality cricket bat which a passionate podshaver can do. But that podshaver necessarily be from a specific region is not true.
Also I think when you import from other countries, your country gets the duties and customs which inturn help the economy.
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I'd argue that SS's head podshaver puts as much heart and soul into the bats that he makes as Paul does. Just because the raw material isn't available in India, he must import it.
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I'd argue that SS's head podshaver puts as much heart and soul into the bats that he makes as Paul does. Just because the raw material isn't available in India, he must import it.
I completely agree.
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I'd argue that SS's head podshaver puts as much heart and soul into the bats that he makes as Paul does. Just because the raw material isn't available in India, he must import it.
this shouldn't be just limited to the head pod shaver - there are several very fine batmakers out there.
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I agree with that all the podshavers will be putting love and heart and soul into the bats they produce. I'm presuming that they are all hand made then I don't know myself if they are or not.
I know for certain that one of the issues is that a lot of bats are brought in under the radar. One of my old playing colleagues worked for a big importer of bats here in the uk imprting from Pakistan and they were importing over a quarter of a million ponds worth of bats a year. But they had to have words with them because the company were allowing people to come over and take bags full of bats back to the uk under the radar taking the risk of being caught by customs and selling in the uk for £70 - £100 undercutting the company that was providing them with huge exporting success. The only thing that was benefiting was a bank account not the UKs industries.
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Thanks thought it was a good way of putting a point over and pointing out the heart and soul that goes into it not the soulless production of thousands on a machine or shipped over in containers back to the country the wood grew in. Support British industry and craftsmanship particularly in the current financial climate.
I shall start supporting uk bat making when the prices come down mate
I also have a machine made uk made bat currently which had a lot of though about it and is as good as any bat I have used
Current financial climate well help us drop your prices then mate
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As with a lot of things you have to move with times and you can cut in house costs drastically with machinery as people are doing across buissnes
Speaking as someone who uses cncs every day the time that goes into designing a programme and setting up etc can be very rewarding when finished product comes out and can use manual to stop and asses at any stage
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Would be nice if the prices did come down but willow prices keep rising. Another debate comes from that in who is it that is setting the market prices.
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The prices of willow going up does not match the way prices have though not by a long shot.
Are your handles uk made mate with uk rubber and Cain.
I understand your point aldo I wish I could support uk makers more but it is hard to when the quality is also elsewhere at a great price.
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I shall start supporting uk bat making when the prices come down mate
In that case Paul offers a hand mate Silver Soverign bat for about £130 as do other Uk bat makers, so that isn't really an obstacle prices are in my mind quite fair. Of course if you want to spend big money than the companies with huge sponsorship over heads will be happy to take your money, just as the local British bat maker will as well but in the latter case you may be able to visit and have input into your bat for a very decent price.
Just my view
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Unfortunately not this is one thing that absolutely know one does anymore as I can find I have spoke to one of the last few to make them and they are looking to buy from elsewhere. This is my ultimate aim to make them again and bring that skill back. That means we will need to employ someone else to be working for us. We aren't that big yet unfortunately.
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Well thats an interesting one but i don't think there would ever be a clear answer to what is the cost of making a bat...
Cost of Cleft
Cost of making the bat
One times costs like garage/workshop etc (assuming small companies aren't paying rent as they have their own workshops) which would/should be paid off after the certain # of bats but does that mean that after they have sold 10000 bats the price comes down?
Additionally lets say all the costs to make a bat amount to 100 GBP and bat took two hours to make being sold at 200 GBP thats an hourly wage of 50GBP for that maker, now I understand that seller isn't making a bat every hour of the day but on average even if you sold 2 bats a day thats a 200GBP a day, salary of 4000GBP a month...don't know if these numbers are realistic but that i would guess is decent money....
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What annoys me is brands claiming bats are handmade in the uk when at best they handled and buffed it a bit. All the batmaking has been via a certain cnc.
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Nothing wrong with that if there up front and honest about it
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In that case Paul offers a hand mate Silver Soverign bat for about £130 as do other Uk bat makers, so that isn't really an obstacle prices are in my mind quite fair. Of course if you want to spend big money than the companies with huge sponsorship over heads will be happy to take your money, just as the local British bat maker will as well but in the latter case you may be able to visit and have input into your bat for a very decent price.
Just my view
I want the best for my buck that's what I'am getting at I understand tradition and the need to keep the tradition going but in the current economic climate it all about bangs for the bucks.
If you look at my back catalogue I have used most and can I have paid the top wack and bottom doller and had custom in front of me and machine made it makes no odds to me where it comes from a bat is a bat
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Nothing wrong with that if there up front and honest about it
You are right but not everybody is.
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True some hide as want to fool people but they get found out in end
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I'd argue that SS's head podshaver puts as much heart and soul into the bats that he makes as Paul does. Just because the raw material isn't available in India, he must import it.
I'd wager the SS manager (if not podshaver) has an army of guys (podshavers) working long days with basic tools knocking out however many bats a day with no visibility of his output past his meagre wage. It's incomparable to the communication and service you can get speaking to the guy making your bats. (That's not to say the 'foreign' guys don't have a soul of course(!), and of course they can make astounding bats, but I'd guess their priorities are somewhat different to a small operation in the UK that handles the process from start to finish.
Just a case of whether the above has an influence in your purchasing decision or not - it's not a criticism if it's not, of course, though credit where it's due to the UK guys with the skill (and marbles!) keeping the craft alive, and, to some extent living the dream!).
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What annoys me is brands claiming bats are handmade in the uk when at best they handled and buffed it a bit. All the batmaking has been via a certain cnc.
Yup...Even more impressive are the guys who don't even have an input into the end product and conduct the whole operation from overseas!
Nothing wrong with that if there up front and honest about it
Yup, and as I've said before, credit again for the guys who broke the code and, as you say, where honest about it.
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I think this was more saying that the soulless bats are the big companies sending there willow abroad to mass machine made then sent back and then sold in cricket shops all over the country. I know one major brand in Australia that all the bats you find in the shops are mass machine made in India. Only the very very top bats an one offs for the shops are jan made and obviously their pro players bats are hand made. I would always have a hand made bat, to me I know exactly where the wood is from I've have had an input into the design and making and so it feels that that is my bat and no one else's. Sort of a connection towards the bat! I also think a hand made bat in England is very good value for money from the small boutique brands. You could pay over 500 pound for a hand hand bat from a big brand. Ill always support a local uk bat maker now as the experience I've had is exceptional. They make you feel like a pro, which is always nice.
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Thanks guys for all your debating and views just what I was after you have given me a really good insight to people's views and mind sets towards different equipment and its origins. Thanks once again
Paul :)
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I'd argue that SS's head podshaver puts as much heart and soul into the bats that he makes as Paul does. Just because the raw material isn't available in India, he must import it.
So true.
Not to forget experience. So many batmakers in the subcontinent who have been making bats for decades and decades.
Saw this Ihsan bat factory video earlier- the first batmaker in the video has been making bats for over 40 years!
I say good on everyone who is making bats - whether in UK or India/Pak
Based on most posts and marketing used on most bats. here is the order of preference:
Handmade in UK
Machine made in UK (Also called "Made in UK")
handmade in India/Pak
A few others who feel a batmaker isnt a real maker who doesnt do everything themselves (pressing, handles etc).