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[PedalsMcgrew]

Anyways we digress....

So pressing or willow and profile which one makes the biggest difference?

Neither, both depend on the other for ultimate performance 

[uknsaunders]

what's the benefits of pressing the top half of the bat less than the bottom ie. salix

[tushar sehgal]

i think it is all of the pressing pressing, willow & shape that make a good bat...no offence to GM lovers but I find their bats are not to my liking, shapes are/were good but the feel off the bat when you hit a ball is just not as good, my Hades that I have been critical of to some extent still plays better than the top end GM bats i have here (not the player editions, as I have never used them)...

on the other hand smaller brands like h4l, saf & rpc are pressed differently/individually even though the shapes might be similar to others brands, exception saf, they play better...

Take an off the shelf GM bat for example then get a custom/replica made bat from SAF, RPC or H4L to name a few that is the exact same profile as GM and then tell me that they play exactly the same... I would think the custom/replica made bat would be better...so you can also add bat maker to the list...

[tim2000s]

Lovely discussion... And very interesting having watched you make one for me and having now had a go myself. In both cases, the wood was pressed by experts in the field. One by you and one by Matt H4L. You shaped one with me there and positioned and balanced the bat to perfection, positioning the sweet spot to within a micron. Mine? Well the sweetspot is roughly in the right place, but the shaping isn't anywhere near as well managed and the vibrational control is noticably different away from the sweetspot.

What do they both have in common? That when people use them they say of both "Wow, what a great sound!" and are impressed with the performance. I have made a sledgehammer, where you have made a surgical hammer, but both work. But I'm rambling.

I think that with an expertly pressed willow lump, as per Norbs comments, anyone can shape a bat, but not everyone can make a good one!

[oldgit]

Ok here goes again... I haven't done one of these question things for years

Firstly the Dark Art of pressing

Imagine a drum with a tight thin skin on it and a drum with a thicker skin on it.... Now get a drum stick and hit them, the thin skin will be more responsive that the thicker skin...

Now lets relate that to willow... Willows is made up of loads vessels lying on top of each other and the grain which is the bark from the end year growth.

Ok lets look at this as a box of straws lying on the table, the straws are now the sapwood and stick something hard with no holes in there for the grain.

Now all you need to do press with enough pressure to compress the top bit and take into account the grain is harder to press that then sapwood [we know this from our box of straws] to get the thin drum skin layer.  We are after the thin drum skin layer aren't we.... [This is why is better to get hold of someone that takes this in account as opposed to running all the willow through on a same pressure run]

Ok brillant pressing is king I hear you say!!!!!

Well Now you shape a bat, it looks good, smells good and has the biggest edges in the world [I added that bit in for my amusement] The middle looks like it is in the right place....  Then you swing it, when this happens things change stuff due to physics makes that place where all the wood is just out of sync with where it should be. This is down to the balance and your swing speed so the profile is actually doing something to aid performance....

Then you get the collision with the ball, the way the bat reacts to that collision is to do with the willow not just pressing here but you've got that piece of willows natural frequencies and your man made stuff to take into account, also the profile shape is involved here and the handle!

So all of a sudden the profile shape and willow is doing quite a lot isnt it!

It is a very good question really... opinions comments now you maybe know a bit more?

[oldgit]

So you have a drum and hit it with a stick and the stick bounces off at a certain speed. What happens then if you hit it with a much larger heavier stick? does it react the same? Think ball/bat speed.
  If you have a bat in hand and bounce a new ball on it, which is how most people judge, what possible relation does that have to whacking an 80mph delivery with 70mph bat speed.
 If you have uniform press the full length of a cleft as in dark age press would it not give greater unit strength? less fractured shoulders/toes etc.
 

[keysersolze]

Just a quick one Mr Norbs, We had a player sponsored by a major brand in with two bats with small hair line cracks in the back of them. Both bats were unused and had never seen a ball in anger he just bounced one of the top surface etc. You could hardly see the hair line cracks as when they were polished it covered them up well. The manufacturer sent out two replacements to this sponsored player and he returned the other two. But what would make a bat crack like this on the back when the face was pressed etc or is it a common thing that is picked up normally in the manufacturing process?

[norbs]

So you have a drum and hit it with a stick and the stick bounces off at a certain speed. What happens then if you hit it with a much larger heavier stick? does it react the same? Think ball/bat speed.
  If you have a bat in hand and bounce a new ball on it, which is how most people judge, what possible relation does that have to whacking an 80mph delivery with 70mph bat speed.
 If you have uniform press the full length of a cleft as in dark age press would it not give greater unit strength? less fractured shoulders/toes etc.

Sorry I dont understand what you are saying...

[procricket]

Andy you answering questions again

do you agree that 99 per cent on this forum do not give a bat time to see if it well pressed or not due to changing there bat when it does not score them the runs

[norbs]

As a minor revelation I've had any questions off topic can I please refer you to your bat maker...

[junter97]

i think it is all of the pressing pressing, willow & shape that make a good bat...no offence to GM lovers but I find their bats are not to my liking, shapes are/were good but the feel off the bat when you hit a ball is just not as good, my Hades that I have been critical of to some extent still plays better than the top end GM bats i have here (not the player editions, as I have never used them)...

on the other hand smaller brands like h4l, saf & rpc are pressed differently/individually even though the shapes might be similar to others brands, exception saf, they play better...

Take an off the shelf GM bat for example then get a custom/replica made bat from SAF, RPC or H4L to name a few that is the exact same profile as GM and then tell me that they play exactly the same... I would think the custom/replica made bat would be better...so you can also add bat maker to the list...

Have to disagree, dads GM original LE is an insane bat, genuinely. Admittedly it did take a month or three to play in, but it has been getting better ever since and it is now 1 and a half years old. Ive used a SAF and I'm sorry to say it was nowhere near as pingtastic as the GM. Salix and Newbery likewise. I think the pressing of GM bats is one of the best features, because it's definitely not the price!

[tim2000s]

Have to disagree, dads GM original LE is an insane bat, genuinely. Admittedly it did take a month or three to play in, but it has been getting better ever since and it is now 1 and a half years old. Ive used a SAF and I'm sorry to say it was nowhere near as pingtastic as the GM. Salix and Newbery likewise. I think the pressing of GM bats is one of the best features, because it's definitely not the price!

This is interesting, because I've never really had a GM I've liked. I've always found they feel horrible.

[norbs]

This is interesting, because I've never really had a GM I've liked. I've always found they feel horrible.

I think it was a throw away line mate... Or I assume the Hades will be replaced with another GM model

Hades
BB
Dynadrive
Woodstock custom
Octane f7
Laver ultra
But I can see myself only getting one of these

I actually get on quite well with a GM

[junter97]

So think pressing is key or shape?

I think the pressing, it may take longer than most bats but once it's got going, it really is going better than other bats I've used.

[norbs]

Agree Tom there I have never had a good gm but then again I have never bought a new one

Problem with bigger brands less attention to detail to a degree

Every brand has good in and bad ins though

Yes absolutely right, we are talking about a piece of wood afterall and that hasn't been under a microscope before it leaves... but it does leave in good faith