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[Bez013]

After what seems like ages since my last effort I finally got round to making another bat, and I remembered how enjoyable it is shaping something that will be used. 

I was asked by a friend to make him a 3lbish bat although he wasn't really sure what shape he wanted 3lbs leaves quite a lot of scope.

Knowing how he bats I wanted to keep the middle at a mid to low point in the bat and worked on that premise all through the bat shaping process, although didn't end up with a middle as long as orignally planned.

My starting point:






My original plan was to make something quite similar to my 2lb15oz Redback which I know he is a big fan of, however I quickly realised that I wasn't going to get down to that weight when my effort was still 3lb in weight at the stage below:



After a bit more thought and removing weight from the bottom third of the bat and a little around this shoulders I was pretty happy with an undressed weight of just shy of 2lb13oz according to my kitchen scales, again side by side here before I did the finishing:



With the final sanding, binding, grip, facing and tape it weighed in at 2lb15oz.  I'm much happier with the finish I achieved on this bat, I don't know if it was because I was making for a friend but I was a lot more picky with how the finish ended up.






All comments welcome!

[RossViper]

Looks like a decent stick, it there much concaving? what grade is it and where did you get the blank from?

[Bez013]

Thanks, was pleased with how it turned out.  There is a little concaving - the only tool I have to concave with is a coopers drawnknife which is basically a curved drawknife and the angle only allows you to do a little concaving.

The blank was orderd as a grade 1 and I got it from Hell4Leather, all the blanks I've had from H4L have been nicely pressed, this was probably the easiest to work with.

[sgcricket]

bat looks good. like the profile.

[Tail Ender]

Love the edges on this one. Do you know how thick they are?

[Ryan]

looks good mate, top stuff!

[GarrettJ]

looks good.

Are you going to try a thin edge high spine bat ..... i think that is the ultimate challenge for a bat maker, must be hard to make it feel right

Maybe you should start upa blog of your bat making, makes for enjoyable and interesting reading

[Bez013]

Love the edges on this one. Do you know how thick they are?

Thanks, I really enjoyed making this one as there was quite a bit of freedom but at the same time I had to make several adjustments before I was happy with the shape and balance.

I'm afraid I didn't measure the edges and I've already passed the bat to its new owner so can't measure them at the moment, I'll probably be seeing him on thursday so will try and remember to measure them then.

[Bez013]

looks good mate, top stuff!

Thanks mate, not up to your standards yet....need more practise, still a thoroughbly enjoyable process.

[Bez013]

looks good.

Are you going to try a thin edge high spine bat ..... i think that is the ultimate challenge for a bat maker, must be hard to make it feel right

Maybe you should start upa blog of your bat making, makes for enjoyable and interesting reading

I've got 2 more part mades on the way and a new work bench being picked up next week so I'll be trying something for myself with one of those and a thinner edged bat is on the cards, not sure how high I'll be able to keep the spine whilst keeping a good weight/balance to the bat.

Beachcricket (David Wall) does a good blog already - http://wieldingwhitewillow.blogspot.com/ I'm just at the very early stages of learning this art!

[GarrettJ]

Its a challenge to get the balance right, probably need to do some big concaving and thin toe.

here is the profile of my M&H distinction old style, it seems to be the profile a lot of people want to copy

http://www.flickr.com/photos/67335654@N02/6130465019/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/67335654@N02/6131014108/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/67335654@N02/6131013974/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/67335654@N02/6131013776/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/67335654@N02/6131013646/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/67335654@N02/6131013204/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/67335654@N02/6130467195/


That was the blog i was thinking off, read it a lot and it is very interesting.

Maybe worth starting something for yourself and it may be a source of valauble informaiton if you get some constructive comments/advice from other bat makers.

[Beachcricket]

Whenever I make a bat I try to learn something new and make sure I don't repeat mistakes I've made previously. Edges are the danger area for me. If I can help I'm happy to, that's what the blog is for.

I really like the shape, edges are nice. Shape looks conservative and balanced. What do you think were the issues you faced when trying to make the bat?

[Bez013]

I love the distinction but I believe they are made from 'special' clefts as far as I know, a ex team mate has one and I always like to pick it up and have a look, it is like a boat hull!

My second effort was an attempt at something similar to a distinction but nowhere near the size :-)

[Bez013]

Whenever I make a bat I try to learn something new and make sure I don't repeat mistakes I've made previously. Edges are the danger area for me. If I can help I'm happy to, that's what the blog is for.

I really like the shape, edges are nice. Shape looks conservative and balanced. What do you think were the issues you faced when trying to make the bat?

Thanks for the response, I love reading your blog and seeing your bats, and it reminds me how much I enjoy working on a bat.

It's funny, due to the weight I was asked to make I was always concerned about it being 'massive' as at 2lb15oz you would like to think the edges and spine would be big.  The area I kept going back to were the edges themselves, they were slightly offset at one point and didn't flow the way I wanted them to I got there in the end but found I'd do a little and then have to stop and come back to it the following day for fear of taking too much off.

I still find the shoulders and lower difficult, this was my best effort so far so I am getting better but I can't seem to get the technique right with the drawknife or spokeshave so end up going with a rasp and sandpaper which takes ages, any tips would be very welcome 

[Beachcricket]

I think when you make a heavy weight you do expect you'll make a big bat but sometimes the cleft doesn't want to make a big bat. You have to adapt along the way but that's all part of the enjoyable learning process. The edges can go wrong very quickly if you slip with a tool.

With regards to the shoulders, you can be more aggressive than you think. Just keep checking your progress by holding the bat and running you hands over that area. You'll soon feel if it's uneven or too thick.

Try an critique your own bats, ask yourself what you could improve next time.