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[hell4leather cricket]

Evening guys , as a few of you know for our new new tempo bat we are using our own oversize cut clefts from a local grower ,a few picture to show the process of cutting the willow and splitting .

The trees are cut in to rounds  28''- 30 '' long ,most  trees will have 3-5 rounds  .


the round is now cut and ready to split ,most rounds will have a natural split starting to form from the center of the round ,these will will be followed to split in half .most rounds will on average have 8+ clefts split from them.
 

all the split clefts are stacked   left to dry for week or so ,if left to long the end start to get small splits appearing due to moisture leaving the cleft ,so timing is crucial
 


once ready the split clefts are cut on a saw bench ,the ends are sealed with wax and air dried .

[alba caerulea]

Do you do all of the above processes yourself or are they done by the grower at your discretion?

[hell4leather cricket]

i do it all myself

[joeylough]

Does the orange spray mean anything on some of the clefts?

[hell4leather cricket]

good question joey , just to simply tell me where the trees come from ,when cut etc

[alba caerulea]

I was thinking it marked a particular end of the bat, like the cut on a scion for grafting. How very wrong 

Sorry this is not particularly cricket related but when the tree is felled what happens to the stump? I'm guessing it isnt left to coppice as this would be of no use in the cricket industry (at least for a very, very long time) so is it just dug up?

I think this is a great topic by the way, if you ever take any pictures whilst you are out in 'the field' please share! 

[Red Ink Cricket]

Love seeking things like this. Full process, so much to learn. If you ever need a hand I'd love to see it first hand.

[Buzz]

this is absolutely something we haven't seen enough of on the forum.

how long do you open air dry the clefts for?

[The_Bird]

Does the current weather affect the finished bat? or do you just have to prepare/finish them differently according to the season?

[Buzz]

what sort of moisture content do you go for, following on from above. give the weather, how do you achieve it?

[Kulli]

Best topic in ages, better watch mr Harris doesn't steal your trees in the dead of night!

[hell4leather cricket]

Thanks for the feedback ,just nice to post something different not just pictures of finished bats .The clefts are air dried for 6-12 months ,I had some clefts I cut in jan that are ready now so it does vary I tend to judge on weight ,but it is harder to judge with a bigger cut cleft . Another sign if it is not dry when pressing the cleft when you add moisture it slightly stain the grain a dark brown almost like a damp stamp . The weather does affect the drying this time of year it will take longer to dry ,but in summer the sun will act as a free kiln taking a lot of moisture ,on average a cleft will lose half its weight in moisture in its life time . I will add some more pictures soon.

[RossViper]

Excellent stuff Matt, thanks for sharing

[Buzz]

brilliant, thanks Matt.

[100 not out]

Matt
Great thread. Are you able to put up a pic of an oversized cleft alongside a standard one. To see the size difference.