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[Vitas Cricket]

I didn't know this - has this been discussed before?

He's doing it now he's getting on a bit I believe.

[goodarmcindy]

So which brands in the UK make truly handmade bats, then?

[tim2000s]

CNC was more expensive than handcrafting when I was doing maths for outsourcing (but may be cheaper if in house), but CNC won over due to the uniformity. If you have 100 bats on one shelf you want them to look as similar as possible.

CNC in the UK is likely to be no cheaper than handcrafted on the sub-continent at the same volume of production due to both capital and operational costs onshore and labour arbitrage. Whilst the labour rate for IT and Business related tasks is getting steadily more expensive, I'd be surprised if it has increased much for batmakers. If you want to sell your product as Handmade, then you may well choose the outsourced option...

[The_Bird]

So which brands in the UK make truly handmade bats, then?

Hell 4 Leather

[hell4leather cricket]

If you was to be picky is there any bat maker in the world that does not use a machine for any part of batmaking? I.e cutting the splice , sanding etc  ? A true handmade bat would be made with no machine work?

[tim2000s]

If you was to be picky is there any bat maker in the world that does not use a machine for any part of batmaking? I.e cutting the splice , sanding etc  ? A true handmade bat would be made with no machine work?

You beat me to it. Define what you mean by handmade?

[hell4leather cricket]

The price to make a true handmade bat would be outrageous, even down to cutting the tree ,would it have to be done by hand? 

[Simmy]

it basically comes down to time and money

cheaper to make a bat when u just buy the cleft.. and do everything your self..

but very time consuming slightly more expensive if u use cnc/copy lath, but can get more volume done so more sales!

[Buzz]

If you was to be picky is there any bat maker in the world that does not use a machine for any part of batmaking? I.e cutting the splice , sanding etc  ? A true handmade bat would be made with no machine work?

This is a reasonable comment and one I hadn't considered.

For the purposes of this, I am talking about shaping by hand, rather than by machine.

[oldgit]

Many years ago, perhaps 20, i had to meet up with some friends at Crown Sports in Dewsbury. I got chatting to the then owner Colin Easton. They were currently machining splicing and pressing a large consignment of bats from a very well known bat maker.
I was gutted, i think i then realised that the maker i had always aspired to actually was maybe using maybe just clever marketing to sell his product. How naive i was.
Nothing illegal, no lies, just clever marketing. But to me it was just a little smoke and mirrors.
Having said that Colin working was a joy to behold, what a knife man. He was a true craftsman of the highest order, and to a young bat maker like me, some one to truly admire.
One of several in West Yorks in those days, Alf Evans was another. No fancy stickers, no marketing, no blarney, no thick edges or concave backs. Just proper time served craftsmen who made proper bats either for the stars or village cricketers. All great stuff, but sadly gone.

[Six Sixes Cricket]

I was having some banter on twitter with B3 last night and they call themselves batmakers - which is technically true as they make bats... but for some reason it grated with me.

I think the reason for this is that to me they are not pod shavers - which I consider someone who hand makes bats the traditional way - but they didn't say they were, so I can't complain.

I am not sure where that leaves others who use CNC machines, of which there are several, to make their bats but what do you think are the right way to define the difference?

Please don't get me wrong, I have no issue with machine made bats, I really think it is a great way to make bats - I also really love a traditional hand made bat - this isn't about a preference between the two, more a question of how do we think we should define the different techniques.

Am I being too pedantic?
Does it even matter?

Not sure it matters to the masses, i think its a little bit more romantic beleiving you have got a hand made bat.
One question, can GM, B3 or TK make a bat by hand? If so they become both, just for business reasons they cnc. Just a shame this mass producing isn't reflected in the price.

[Buzz]

One question, can GM, B3 or TK make a bat by hand?

GM - Yes, B3 - I have no idea, TK yes

[tushar sehgal]

Slightly off topic but I have been think about machine made bats lately and this maybe stating the obvious but you would typically never get a bat that is exceptionally huge for its weight in medium to heavy range would you? machine would basically cut out the same dimensions everytime so all bats are exactly the same spec but weight is different.. so unless you use a light bat machine ones would never be huge...

Anyone that can make a bat by hand although uses some machines is a podshaver to me...

[Simmy]

Many years ago, perhaps 20, i had to meet up with some friends at Crown Sports in Dewsbury. I got chatting to the then owner Colin Easton. They were currently machining splicing and pressing a large consignment of bats from a very well known bat maker.
I was gutted, i think i then realised that the maker i had always aspired to actually was maybe using maybe just clever marketing to sell his product. How naive i was.
Nothing illegal, no lies, just clever marketing. But to me it was just a little smoke and mirrors.
Having said that Colin working was a joy to behold, what a knife man. He was a true craftsman of the highest order, and to a young bat maker like me, some one to truly admire.
One of several in West Yorks in those days, Alf Evans was another. No fancy stickers, no marketing, no blarney, no thick edges or concave backs. Just proper time served craftsmen who made proper bats either for the stars or village cricketers. All great stuff, but sadly gone.

plenty of yorkshire bat makers 20 years ago!

Eric loxton
Richard Wensley
Colin Easton

[procricket]

GM - Yes, B3 - I have no idea, TK yes

Yes they can there ex gm batmaker can