And another, sheesh, you'd think I had no life! Oh wait...
A purchase from the SQ eBay page! Originally bought it thinking it looked like a decent looking Vapen Core model, but it turns out it was an LE!
Specs:
Weight - 2lb 10.42oz with scuff and 2 grips
Edge - 34mm
Spine - Approx 62mm
Shoulder - 9mm
Toe Edge - 18mm
Toe - 21mm
Handle - Oval
Concaving - minimal
Right, so a few comments on the bat as a whole before going into a bit more detail. I can't really judge too much on finishing, as this seems to have suffered from a mixture of sticker problems, extensive knocking in and an extremely poorly applied scuff sheet. (Very poorly shaped at the toe)
Onto the general shape, this is a nice duckbill profiled bat, which is becoming very common these days. (Makes sense for a lot of people, you're not
meant to score runs there, so why have so much wood there?) The dimensions are nothing crazy, it's a good sized bat for a 2.9 with a single grip. With a gentle concave and a long running spine and a duckbill, you'd expect it to pick up super light, but I would say that the extremely thin oval handle lets it down here. The pick up isn't bad at all, but the thin handle does mean that even I will probably use 2 grips on it. (Normally a one grip man) Same with the Phantom, a very slight bow, nothing drastic. Also the same with the Phantom, around 106mm width at the toe tapering to 104mm. Again, it can make sense the same way the duckbill makes sense, but I personally prefer a pretty full width. (106-108mm throughout)
The performance is unbelievable, I was super impressed when tapping this one up. It could be because it has been well knocked in (there's surface cracking along the grains) but it really is lovely. Exceeded my expectations!
Stickers wise, the front isn't anything exceptional, a good quality vinyl sticker. The grading sticker is actually something I don't really like, it's a small grading sticker up at the shoulder, which will probably crack and come off with wear and tear. (Not ideal, as it's the one which dictates the price of the bat) Back stickers are much more impressionable, with nice embossing and minimalist compared to their previous designs. The finishing actually seems to have been of a really high quality.
All in all, a very decent bat with a very questionable scuff sheet! The actual quality of the scuff sheet is really good, similar to the L&W ones, but would have been much nicer had it been shaped to the toe rather than having straight cuts to ensure it fits on the blade. (A big pet hate of mine is when scuff sheets aren't shaped around the toe!) Not entirely sure who fit it, Hammer or SQ, (I think it would have been SQ) but it would have looked so much more appealing if it had been shaped properly!
Author
Topic: Hammer Vapen LE (Read 2770 times)