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[SAF Bats]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2007/mar/08/comment.sport

i thought I'd start a thread on strange bat designs....



lower bored holes, which help lighten the back lift

[Tom]

Bestcricketbats.com Stradvarius

Stickers I covered as it was originally used for a "guess the bat" game.

[SAF Bats]

The Jane Russell bat from James Laver

[FattusCattus]

I nearly bought that one Norbs!

[Nozza]

Tom that bat looks as though it has been had by woodpeckers!

[BrianLara400*]

lower bored holes, which help lighten the back lift

While its not considered a strange innovation anymore I got into an indepth discussion on the CS forum a fair while ago regarding the Puma & Slazenger Core weight reduction systems and other associated methods. Someone musnt have appreiciated what I had to say about it because it disappeared at Mach speed.
It was a shame because It contained a lot of good info that I had typed up (which took an age due to my proficiency at hen pecking a keyboard): since then Ive worked on many more of these bats, and developed opinions etc (none of them glowing)
 

[SAF Bats]

Would have been an interesting read.....

BL400 have you seen the Cobbett Bat in Quilt Winders and Podshavers!  Ash with cork middle and cat gut facing - double sided!!!!!!

And the Triangular bat

[BrianLara400*]

CHF has heaps of the slazenger CWRS bats, cut up in his workshop being used as wedge clamps, for rehandles etc.
He said, alot of the time unless the arbour they are using is brilliantly sharp (which invariably it isnt) it wanders sideways and can surface in all kinds of wierd places (much like a wormhole )

Yeah I have seen those bats in quilt winders and podshavers, I very much liked the little brass eyelets one of the batmakers implanted in his bats as oil recepticles  .
another book well worth your time is the one written by RJ fielke down in south australia. Ive bought 2 of them and am soon to send one of them across to CF. In the book he describes his 'flat back' bats: they came about as a way for him to make bats of comparable weight to EW, from the much denser native Australian willow. (apparently they performed admirably as well)

[SAF Bats]

I know you said you posted this previously but what's you thoughts on core weight reduction systems I know you said you didn't like them and I don't think it is option for me either,  I guess concaving is the newest method

If I get a chance I will scan in the Cobbett and the Browning's Patent Triangular bat

[BrianLara400*]

The retailers I talked to said that many of the cwrs slazengers they sold came back within 2 seasons, ie the faces having collapsed, or cracks having merged with the bores etc.

To help people picture the weight saving think of it like a simple volume question from your school days:
If you picture a 1/2" or 5/8" hole spanning the length of your blade and then halve it lengthways and magically juxtapose the 2 portions into the back faces of your bat either side of the spine in place of the concaves the weight saved amounts to bugger all. What ever benefit cwrs gives to a bat by way of very small weight savings it takes away in structural integrity and then some. What exacerbates the situation even further is that many of them arent even bored straight, curtesy of a wandering arbour the actual path often strays off centre in the bat where its 'shallower' and the wood cover isnt as great and where you can least afford weaknesses. And many try to get get 2 bites of the cherry by concaving in addition to cwr in their bats, even further lessening the 'wood cover' throught the side walls (and they dont seem content to have just a little concaving with their cwr either).  It depends on the individual manufacturers methods:

+Some drill from just above the toe (which starts roughly accurate) right through the length of the cleft into the splice which isnt a nice thought at the best of times being a vunerable area, but then any run-out and the danger multiplies exponentially.

+Others drill 'stopped' bores to avoid the more vunerable areas but for less of a weight saving.

So if you were to picture the 2 halves of the bore again and then flaten and stretch the radiuses out into 'ever so slight concaves' (which is what they eventuate to) so that the same amount of volume is displaced - you have the same amount of weight reduction for 'virtually' no speakable weakening of the bats cross section.

As you can see it opens a massive can of worms, and thats not all of it
Hope that makes sense to you Norbair

[SAF Bats]

Just read an engineering article on stuff similar to this scoops etc came out with some interesting results.....

Can forward it on to you BL400* if you are interested....

[BrianLara400*]

Sounds good, Norbair.- for all the big companies special 'new' shapes and technological peformance enhancments etc its still bloody hard to beat a well made classic profile .