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[Aldred Cricket Bats]

Ok as promised here are some more grade 3 clefts. Just given them their final pressing and OH B B BABY!!!

[Krs]

Out of curiosity, why is the heartwood usually aways on the left hand side?

[Aldred Cricket Bats]

Well it's more a coincidence to be honest as when I choose which end is going to be the best playing part of the bat it is my choice of how the grains look on the toe it just so happens that that's how it's worked. Now some people like the heartwood on the inside edge so that's ok for the right handers but personally I don't thing it makes a jot of difference. They all ping like a pingy thing from pingsville.

[lazza32]

Out of curiosity, why is the heartwood usually aways on the left hand side?

good question

[Aldred Cricket Bats]

Yep was a good question sorry I couldn't give you a more scientific answer but I'm not a scientific kind of guy.

[Krs]

Yep was a good question sorry I couldn't give you a more scientific answer but I'm not a scientific kind of guy.

It makes sense.

The reason I asked was that I was under the impression that heartwood for a right hand batsman was best for the outside edge. So subconsciously whenever I saw a bat with heartwood on the other side I automatically disregarded it.

You are probably right that it makes no difference at all where it is as you should be middling the ball not edging it to slip.

[Number 11]

Okay, I'm sweating now. Which is the lightest pingingest cleft with the mostest meaty ping? Thinking about the "quinto" project if you think you could tackle it.

[Krs]

Oh I have another question.

Are all the bats in the above picture the same size but different weight?

If they are and say one weighs 3.2 and another weighs 3.8 and I turnaround and I say 'Paul, could you make me a two bats that weighs 2.11 with those clefts. Am I going to get a 2 different looking bats? Will the 3.2 cleft look a lot meatier that the 3.8 cleft? And also due to it being less dense, I would assume it would be more springy and therefore perform better? also does the 3.8 being a denser bat last longer?

Or am I completely wrong.

P.S what do the number on the handle mean?

[Aldred Cricket Bats]

Krs well you are bang on the right track. If you wanted a 2-10 bat making out of a 3-2 cleft and another from a 3-8 cleft they are going to be different in size as you are having to take out more wood from the 3-8 cleft to get the weight down.
 Springier as its a lighter cleft, no not in my opinion you could have a cleft weighing 3-14 and it will perform as good as anything else if its pressed properly it's just that the natural weight of the cleft is heavier.
 Will it last longer? Well a very hard pressed bat will last longer but will take longer to knock in and in general the middle will be smaller but a cleft that is naturally harder doesn't need pressing as much as it has many of the properties already in it so you need to see that or feel that when you are pressing. Likewise an under pressed cleft will break up as its fibres haven't been pressed sufficiently to allow the willow to withstand the impact. You could press a bat by just knocking in but it would be a long process and I don't think would guarantee success.
  This is the tough one now as bat makers are competing against ever harder cricket balls and particularly cheap balls made and sold for pennies. I have seen balls cut in half and nuts and bolts put in the middle core to make the weight up. This why it's getting harder for the bat makers because when people go netting you see people running in to bowl with a mixture of cricket balls and you can tell by the sound of them. So like myself, granted I have a lot of experience if I am in a net and I find a rock coming down at me I either ask them to change the ball or I just literally dead bat it so I don't damage my bat. You can hear the difference if you stand and listen. They should be banned really they are awful things

[Aldred Cricket Bats]

Make sense?

[Krs]

Krs well you are bang on the right track. If you wanted a 2-10 bat making out of a 3-2 cleft and another from a 3-8 cleft they are going to be different in size as you are having to take out more wood from the 3-8 cleft to get the weight down.
 Springier as its a lighter cleft, no not in my opinion you could have a cleft weighing 3-14 and it will perform as good as anything else if its pressed properly it's just that the natural weight of the cleft is heavier.
 Will it last longer? Well a very hard pressed bat will last longer but will take longer to knock in and in general the middle will be smaller but a cleft that is naturally harder doesn't need pressing as much as it has many of the properties already in it so you need to see that or feel that when you are pressing. Likewise an under pressed cleft will break up as its fibres haven't been pressed sufficiently to allow the willow to withstand the impact. You could press a bat by just knocking in but it would be a long process and I don't think would guarantee success.
  This is the tough one now as bat makers are competing against ever harder cricket balls and particularly cheap balls made and sold for pennies. I have seen balls cut in half and nuts and bolts put in the middle core to make the weight up. This why it's getting harder for the bat makers because when people go netting you see people running in to bowl with a mixture of cricket balls and you can tell by the sound of them. So like myself, granted I have a lot of experience if I am in a net and I find a rock coming down at me I either ask them to change the ball or I just literally dead bat it so I don't damage my bat. You can hear the difference if you stand and listen. They should be banned really they are awful things

Thanks for taking the time to answer my question.

Only problem is now, when I order my next one from you I will be even more fussier! Lol

[Aldred Cricket Bats]

Dohhh!!!!

[Aldred Cricket Bats]

There is a lot of different theories in cricket bats and don't get me wrong I am still very much learning new things all the time but from all the years of playing at all different levels I truly believe that its down to the handles and the pressing. You could have the best piece of willow in the world but if its not pressed properly or have a good handle in it it ain't going to perform to its potential heartwood or no heartwood. The shaping is another part of it obviously but the pressing and handling is the first step really of the bat performing. Some may disagree but that's my view

[Number 11]

Just wondering, if heartwood is supposedly a tad harder, wouldn't you have a slight difference in the pressing across the face of these clefts?
I'm thinking, feasibly yes but not enough to make a difference.

[smilley792]

I'm not sure where it's meant to be. But it is where I prefer my heartwood.

Hence I've just ordered myself the grainy one on the left. Pretty excited to be fair.