Custom Bats Cricket Forum
Equipment => Bats => Bat Care => Topic started by: webmack on September 29, 2021, 07:24:47 AM
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Hi there... bat lover and amateur bat repairer (been doing minor repairs and refurbishments for my teammates and club in Australia)
I wanted your thoughts and ideas on how to best repair what I think is a common way edges get damaged.
I'm talking about when a newish ball hits an edge flush and makes a dent plus cracks.
I don't want to start until I'm sure as I haven't had to do one of these yet, maybe some of you have?
Things I'm considering:
- Steaming the dent out before gluing and sanding
- Compressing the area around the dent so its more even, then gluing and sanding
- Making a paste out of sawdust and PVA glue to apply to the dent, then sanding down
See pictures attached.
(https://i.postimg.cc/3RQcHQJT/bat-repair-edge.jpg)
(https://i.postimg.cc/f35KxF92/bat-repair-edge.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/f35KxF92)
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No. 3 is a terrible idea and should never be used in any circumstance.
Personally in a crack like that I would look to open it up and use a needle and syringe to inject glue in.
On a standard edge crack I would steam it, sand it then either use a slightly watered down PVA or a superglue into the cracks.
Never use a filler, it is very amateur, looks terrible and will never last.
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Thanks, I will stay away from 3.
Am going to tape and cover the area surrounding it before steaming the damaged area and dent to see if it comes back into shape before doing what you suggested.
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+1 on the needle and syringe. More often than not, cracks go deeper than whats visible see its my most used tool for bat repairs
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You should be able to steam that back out into reasonable shape. Try get some glue in first while the cracks are larger, steam, then more glue as some would have been steamed out.
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Thanks guys, helpful tips. Steaming did the trick. See after pictures below. I'm going to buy a pack of syringes. Assuming the PVA glue needs some diluting to use with the syringes.
Before on the left, after repair on the right.
(https://i.postimg.cc/LsJYzSyp/New-Project-1.jpg)
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It doesn’t have to be diluted if you use the larger needles. I use needles that are about 60mm long (a bit longer if you count the plastic bit at the end). The missus is a nurse so she gets them for me. Sometime she brings home the short (heroin addict) ones. They are too narrow.
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Sorry if I am being a bit dense but in mentioning steaming the crack what do you use? Can the steam function of a normal home iron work or do you need something more specialised? Also what should you look out for when steaming, in short what’s the process?
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Hold it over the spout of a boiling kettle. An iron probably works but you probably don’t have as much control over the direction of the steam.
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Place a damp wrag or dish cloth over the area, then place the iron on top. What we used to do when I worked in a joinery workshop.
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@JimmyB both @Gurujames and @wilkie113 suggestions work well.
I taped and put cardboard around the damaged area, leaving just the crack and dented area exposed and held that part at the spout of a boiling kettle for about 5 minutes.
I then did a bit more by having a damp cloth over the same area and using a steam iron on it.
Basically I tried to get the area to take as much steam and swell up or more than its normal / original shape.
Then got glue into any open cracks and pressed it all in to hold firmly with clamps. In clamping the area down, it will press back into roughly the same lines as the rest of the edge and surrounding area of the bat.