Custom Bats Cricket Forum
Equipment => Bats => Topic started by: mp07 on April 28, 2016, 06:01:49 PM
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Hi Guys -
This is a pretty open discussion on which brand does the best consistent pressing. My my opinion SS Ton and Newberry are most consistent.
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Aldred and B3 as each bat is individually pressed as required. Newbery most consistent from the more established brands imo.
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Found Aldred & Laver to be consistent in pressing as each bat pings nice regardless of the grade.
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Aldred and B3 as each bat is individually pressed as required. Newbery most consistent from the more established brands imo.
Agree also as Hawk make bats to order they are individually pressed.
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I can only speak of what I've seen lots of, and based on that, I think no one is as consistent as GM. B3 have been pretty consistent from the ones I've seen, H4L and BAS have been consistent from the ones I've seen too. SS can be a mixed bag, as can Sondhi and Kook. I rarely find off the shelf GN's which I like the pressing of, I have to say...
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B3 best by a mile
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RPC
H4L
Although, everyone is going to just say their favoured brands so it's a little pointless but harmless fun :)
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I'll only comment on what I've used and knocked in, and being personal experience some may disagree.
B3 bats are consistent, but their "ready press" isn't to everyone's liking as some people find them a bit hard.
I've had a few SS bats, some were pressed nice and stiff while a couple I'm not convinced had been near a press at all!
Matt at H4L presses his bats very nicely, and having seen the making process I know these each get individually pressed.
Gunn & Moore have upped their pressing game recently, firm and ping out the packet, lovely!
If you get a TK made bat then the pressing will be on point.
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Can anyone point me at articles explaining how pressings differ and how the bat maker decides what's needed? Thanks
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Can anyone point me at articles explaining how pressings differ and how the bat maker decides what's needed? Thanks
I think Paul Aldred does an excellent job explaining how he does it here
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ovNLO4yuKPA (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ovNLO4yuKPA)
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newbery
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I had a mix experience with H4L. 2nd bat I got from H4L was very different than the first one (of course willow quality matters). But so far I have 2 - SS TON, 2 - Newberry, 2- H4L and both SS and Newberry ping is very consistent.
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Without doubt Salix or Newbery bats. Salix pressed individually and performace on every one if ever used and seen used has played very well. B3 certainly have got a lot better in last 2 years and would be close now but personally having used Salix bats in the main over the last 10 years the most consistant that iv come across.
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In no particular order - Rob Pack, Salix, Aldred.
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I think Paul Aldred does an excellent job explaining how he does it here
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ovNLO4yuKPA (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ovNLO4yuKPA)
Thanks. There's some really good stuff in his channel.
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TK / Newbery are the most consistent I've ever used.
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Hunts County do decent pressing too. If ever I feel a bat is under pressed I usually take it there.
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Hunts County do decent pressing too. If ever I feel a bat is under pressed I usually take it there.
Agreed, I've never used a bad one!
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I have but I have also had very good ones and I agree hunts home made is better than hunts imported
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Roger at Solitaire presses bats superbly, no need to knock them in and they perform better than the majority of bats I've owned.
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I'd agree with that half my team have them does he still have the issue of sending out all bats around 2-12 though. Mine was a very good bat got to agree with you there
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I have but I have also had very good ones and I agree hunts home made is better than hunts imported
No comparison really. The imported lower end stuff is always likely to be lesser compared to the bats made in the workshop, same with most brands I guess
Also have to agree with @mattw - never seen a bad Solitaire either, plenty in the Worcs league (not surprising for 150 notes!)
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No comparison really. The imported lower end stuff is always likely to be lesser compared to the bats made in the workshop, same with most brands I guess
Also have to agree with @mattw - never seen a bad Solitaire either, plenty in the Worcs league (not surprising for 150 notes!)
I was on about the higher end important like the old clipper from a few years ago but had one which tiny was doing there and then both top grade bats and the one done by tony had done was far superior.
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I have been impressed with pressing of the Aussie made GN range of bats. B3 have improved in the past 18 momths and are very consistent now. Sareen have been consistent. Newbery are also consistent. .
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you brought up a good point Sarg, I really think that GN pressing in UK is different than AUS GN Pressing. From what I have seen and heard, GN AUS perform much better than GN UK. Maybe all the good quality willows are exported?
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Used 3 Lavers till now and a Aldred butterfly, I found Laver much more consistent in pressing. Couldn't get myself to use Aldred in Matches so far (not getting the confidence). Used RNS for 3 years, beautifully pressed, but recent RNS purchase for team didn't seem to quite good enough. Also ordered a Laver butterfly, waiting to see how it turns out.
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I press all clefts individually to maximise performance and would say I get pretty consistent results from it. Pressing is very subjective though so difficult to get a diffinitive answer
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Used 3 Lavers till now and a Aldred butterfly, I found Laver much more consistent in pressing. Couldn't get myself to use Aldred in Matches so far (not getting the confidence). Used RNS for 3 years, beautifully pressed, but recent RNS purchase for team didn't seem to quite good enough. Also ordered a Laver butterfly, waiting to see how it turns out.
I have the same situation with Aldred butterfly but i think its more due to nature of Butterfly cleft than the pressing itself.. They tend to take a lot of time to open up plus the hard sound Butterfly makes compared to a normal sap wood bat does not give me confidence either.. Pings nicely and the ball goes really well but i think its the hard sound of butterfly cleft.
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I bought a butterfly from B3, but gave up after 2-3 matches..couldn't get going with it.
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I don't like hard pressed (or ready to play) bats. I don't like how the bat sounds and I don't like how ball feels when rebounds from the bat face. I prefer soft pressed bats where balls leave balls marks on the face. I look at such bats as having "potential" and I go to town on them with my mallet and old pillows (for base). I have had excellent results with this approach. Surprisingly my last two Lavers started performing early even though the bats didn't require much mallet work. M&H Amplus (circa 2013) was the same - amazing ping and rebound out of the box and virtually no mallet. My first CA was soft pressed and required a lot of mallet but it is by far the best performing bat I own. I liked it so much, I bought two more! I am looking into another CA or HS custom replica of my big Warner.
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Interesting thread, though I suspect that the ideal is inconsistent pressing, in that whilst I am no batmaker, I would imagine that every piece of wood will be different, and as such the pressing should also be different, in order to optimise the performance of each piece of willow. For me this is why the performance of mass produced bats is less consistent in the lower grades of willow. The top grades of willow I would think would be more consistent in nature, grain structure, density, lack of defects, being all sap wood etc. and as such will work better under a pre determined pressing format. This could be a load of rubbish, but makes sense to me.
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Further to my previous post, I was reading a book on willow growing & willow structure recently, and the author whose father was a bat maker a long time ago, used to press by hand (hand hammering) effectively knocking in from raw cleft to finished bat, and bemoaning the loss of the art of pressing, and that a pressing machine is unable to feel the wood and thus make the best of the wood and that each area of the bat will need a different degree of hammering which will only be achievable under the mallet rather than the press, where the bat maker can feel progress of the pressing through the mallet. Interesting thought to my mind, and this model wouldn't conform to modern business, as you are completely reliant on the talent of the batmaker rather than the system of production, which removes the human, for better and worse, sure you don't get as many mistakes, but you also don't allow for the same degree of excellence.
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Slightly off topic on this one - Is it possible to pop in to a bat manufacturer and ask them to press a bat you have that might not be made by them?
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Just opening up an old thread. How have opinions changed? What companies UK and overseas are the most consistent in terms of pressing in 2020?
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From what I have tried the past few years I would say
Aldred - can certainly press a bat - his pickups...well you know the rest 😉
RS - very consistent in their pressing
H4l - matts pressing is very good
Kippax - have had some gems from kippax however you gotta luck out on the pickup (from what I have had anyway)
Keeley (on the whole - I have had some that I haven’t liked)
B3 seem consistent too
GM are very consistent however mostly on the hard side
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The idea of hand pressing is an interesting one. I don't really understand how you can get the very best pressing out of a bat that has heavy staining or other imperfections if you press with a machine that applies a uniform pressure to every part of the blade. Quite what a hand pressed bat would set you back in today's market is another matter!
I prefer the firmer feel of B3 / GM. I look for a clean, crisp sound of the bat. Whether this makes the bat better i can't say, but ultimately the confidence in the bat you are going out with is important in a game that is played in the head as much as on the pitch
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From what I have tried the past few years I would say
Aldred - can certainly press a bat - his pickups...well you know the rest 😉
RS - very consistent in their pressing
H4l - matts pressing is very good
Kippax - have had some gems from kippax however you gotta luck out on the pickup (from what I have had anyway)
Keeley (on the whole - I have had some that I haven’t liked)
B3 seem consistent too
GM are very consistent however mostly on the hard side
Thats interesting. Which shape kippax blade do you have?
Never used an aldred but i have have they 'pick up like a toothpick'.
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People might have better luck with pickup if they actually picked up bats before buying them?
A bat picking up lighter than its dead weight is a good thing, is it not?
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Thats interesting. Which shape kippax blade do you have?
Never used an aldred but i have have they 'pick up like a toothpick'.
I have had both the pro blade, colossus and a custom shape. The custom shape was one of the best bats Iv owned and a real regrettable sale! All have pinged just the pickup has been missing. Bar the 2lb13oz custom shape which picked up so so well
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Still going to give the same answer as 3 years ago and the most consistent for me is Salix. Don’t think Iv ever seen a bad review about one. Anyone that’s been in the business and long as Kember, TK, rob pack etc is going to be a expert as otherwise there brand wouldn’t have lasted.
From the newer brands Matt is now very well regarded in the industry as is Ed at Garrad & Flack that I know press there one clefts and that Iv also used personally.
GM are also consistently good but they do have a different feel early on but they perform as well as any other in my opinion
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I have had both the pro blade, colossus and a custom shape. The custom shape was one of the best bats Iv owned and a real regrettable sale! All have pinged just the pickup has been missing. Bar the 2lb13oz custom shape which picked up so so well
Any pictures of the custom?
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People might have better luck with pickup if they actually picked up bats before buying them?
A bat picking up lighter than its dead weight is a good thing, is it not?
I don't like a light pick up as I find myself playing my shots too early and also losing shape when trying to hit over the top. I use bats around the 3lb mark with a lowish middle to pick up heavy
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The skill of the batmaker is to make a bat pick-up lighter than its dead weight. A light pick-up should never be regarded as a bad thing. If your bat feels too light, get a heavier bat.
I've not had enough of any of the many brands to possibly judge which are pressed best. With a few exceptions, I doubt any of us have. Don't mean to kill the thread or anything.
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The skill of the batmaker is to make a bat pick-up lighter than its dead weight. A light pick-up should never be regarded as a bad thing. If your bat feels too light, get a heavier bat.
Pick up is not about skill, it is a matter of physics. If you hold a weight in your hand close to you it feels lighter than if you hold it at full stretch because the further the distance from the point of axis, the greater the torque it exerts and therefore the greater the force required to stop the object dropping to the ground. In both cases, the weight is exactly the same, but the effort needed to keep it up is considerably different.
In terms of Bats, the greater the proportion of the wood that is closer to the handle, the lighter the bat will pick up. Bats with duck bill toes, offset edges and thick shoulders are going to pick up lighter because they are distributing wood higher up the blade. That is fine if you want a bat with a high middle, but not if you want something with the wood lower down in the bat.
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For me the 3 most consistent performers in the U.K. are Red Ink, Keeley, and (as much as it pains me to say it) Aldred.
Outside of the U.K., C.A., SG and RS
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The skill of the batmaker is to make a bat pick-up lighter than its dead weight. A light pick-up should never be regarded as a bad thing. If your bat feels too light, get a heavier bat.
Nope nope nope nope. The skill is to make a bat pick up well, which is not the same as light. Any muppet can make a bat pick up light! The balance between weight in the middle, pickup feel and total dead weight is where a good bat-shaper earns their keep - you'll notice we're not all using Warner-shape super high middle heavy bats. A bat that picks up too light is a terrible thing, at the end of the day it's an implement for hitting things with. Imagine looking for a hammer with a lighter pickup...
Pressing? Best of the makers I've had a decent level of personal experience with are Aldred and Chase, B3 are also very good. All perform well and require minimal prep to get there which is really valuable I think. My impression of Keeley is that they press for consistency rather than ultimate performance - you never seem to see a bad one, but I've never tapped one up and thought 'wow'.
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Any pictures of the custom?
It's Velvetsky. He's bought and sold 200 bats since this one........
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Ha thanks @Grubby sadly you are right ha
There is a forum post on said bat however in the kippax section it was a belter
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Pick up is not about skill, it is a matter of physics. If you hold a weight in your hand close to you it feels lighter than if you hold it at full stretch because the further the distance from the point of axis, the greater the torque it exerts and therefore the greater the force required to stop the object dropping to the ground. In both cases, the weight is exactly the same, but the effort needed to keep it up is considerably different.
In terms of Bats, the greater the proportion of the wood that is closer to the handle, the lighter the bat will pick up. Bats with duck bill toes, offset edges and thick shoulders are going to pick up lighter because they are distributing wood higher up the blade. That is fine if you want a bat with a high middle, but not if you want something with the wood lower down in the bat.
Seems like the skill is in balancing pickup, desired shape, performance, etc. Much easier to make a railway sleeper than a well balanced bat with good coverage that picks up well.