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[wilkie113]

Possibly one of the most beautiful bats ever

[Sherpa75]

lovely bat, and beautiful Lab, i'm waiting for Julian to settle into his new base in Queensland before i tap him up for another Series 1

[mad_abt_cricket]

Thank you all...

Julian puts his heart and soul in every bat he makes. I am really very impressed with the end product. The finishing on the bat is immaculate, I would say second to none...
The spine in a series one bat seamlessly disappears into the handle.. The cleft and the handle are so nicely integrated that it doesn't feel like they are two different parts of the bat.

 The exaggerated oval shape of the handle at the bottom, makes it part of the spine. I was moving my finger right from the bottom of the bat till the end of the handle and didn't notice any change in level...

I would say that is the real secret of amazing  balance in Julian's bats.

[mad_abt_cricket]

Started the knocking process.. My observation:

Sound from the mallet is very crisp as if I am hitting something hollow... The bat is definitely pressed differently than the other bats I have currently  ( black cat and SS ). Both Black Cat and SS I felt they were pressed pretty soft but this feel different perhaps the closest to this I felt while knocking in my Laver and Wood private bin.

Julian has made a big indentation on the bat as a reference, my mallet looks like no match to Julian's as there is not much progress after an hour of knocking to level out that indentation which he created ...

[Cover_Drive]

I experienced same thing after loads of knocking, then started to bang hard to get to that indentation and I cracked the bat lol!

I then got desperate and started to use it, we use old balls only so I consider that as knocking/playing in

LOL!

[Sherpa75]

think you'll find it's pressed nothing like a Laver, you should be able to indent the face quite easily, the only other bats like that on the market now are the current M&H bats.  Laver's are pressed like rock, even after asking for them to be pressed to go from the start.  Stick with the knocking in gently, it comes together pretty quickly, i very much doubt my lavers will be ready to use till the following season.  It takes a lot to get a Laver to open up, it doesn't take much at all to get a Cat to open

[mad_abt_cricket]

Thanks..

The only similarity with laver I notice is the sound which is like hitting something hollow...
I sent the same query to Julian and he suggested to start playing it against old balls in the 'V'.

[Simmy]

i think the problem is when we have so many bats to choose from it becomes bit of an issue to spend so long to knock in a bat when we can just pretty much pick up one that is ready to go,

The laver and wood ryan has is pressed rockhard and the charlie french was also pressed the same sort of way,

[mad_abt_cricket]

I agree but on the flip side, I have noticed that the softly pressed bats even though go well right from the start, dents and cracks do occur on them pretty much within first few months of the use...

[Sherpa75]

yeah Simmy, seems lavers and the french's are pressed pretty similar, hard as nail, they'll both take a season of nets to get anywhere near where i'd use them in a match, the Cat won't take anywhere near as long, i found that it's pretty soft pressed, but it didn't  take much time to get the compression to the same point that Julian has marked on it, it will need a bit of work on the blade higher up , but the middle will fly to start with, you just need to compress the toe and edges so you don't split the thing

[mattw]

Looks a superb stick.