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[Number 11]

Another good video Paul, dead weight is quite meaningless in some ways, it's just a nominal guide for a bat.
My new Amplus came in at 2lbs 9 and 7/8oz dead weight. It then gained moisture to 2lb 11oz and felt very toe heavy. Dried it out to 2 lbs 10 and 1/4oz in the airing cupboard and added a GM Ripplegrip (handle was a bit thin for me) and dead weight is now 2 lbs 12 and 3/8oz. Handle is a lot more comfortable ( pretty chunky) and pick-up is superb, better than when it came in at 2lbs 9oz.

[123*]

Anyone fancy a trip to Aldred next week?

[Bruiserboy]

Really interesting video, thanks very much. I always assumed G1 bats were picked on appearance and performance not just good looks. Seems I may be wrong. Even more reason to go to a seller who hand picks their bats if you cant pick your own.

[Aldred Cricket Bats]

Ok here's a bit as requested on performance and grading.mi have tried to keep it as short as possible as this really could be a many hour discussion so just tried to get the point over of how we do it and the skill of choosing and deciding which is right for which grade according to looks and most importantly performance.

http://youtu.be/5gi4Y3EArMk

[horseman]

That is 15 minutes of video that will make everyone happy on this forum,nice to get the explanation of the grades and about how different bats feel but that not necessarily a bad thing, just the varying time for them to open up. You are liking being in front of the camera mr aldred!! 3 great educational videos for us all. Cheers

[19reading87]

Paul,

These really are fantastic videos mate. I've watched every second of each.

I was going to make the point before watching the last video that having watched the first video the only difference I noticed was the sound.(my hearing works fine it seems)

My question though comes with knocking in... A lot of questions have always been asked and said that butterfly/grade 3&2 take longer to "get going" is this the case and that grade 1/players perform better sooner. Also what is your personal view on knocking in? People claim to only do the edges and toe etc...where as myself I love to knock the whole blade in.

Having used different grades myself, the difference I once found was that a grade 2 bat felt "harder" when I hit the ball.

Thanks in advance

Reds

[ItsJustCricket]

Another great video, Paul, thanks! Interesting what you say about heartwood.  As you may know, we have never been afraid to get bats with heartwood on our shelves, but I know not every other shop has the same view.  I have seen bats from some brands with plenty of heartwood on be graded as the top/Players grade, while other manufacturers can grade a bat with similar looks - and a similar amount of heartwood - a grade 3.  So, from where I sit, there is no hard and fast rule with heartwood.  It's a grey area in the grading system.  As it happens, we are fans of it, so will always sell heartwood bats no matter what their grade, but it will be interesting to see if more consistency in the grading is introduced over time.

[Aldred Cricket Bats]

Like i say some pieces feel harder and some softer. Its a fine line with pressing too as you have to get the right amount, especially these days as some of the balls used now are truely awful cheap rubbish and are bat breaker. Hence its hard for bat companies in the fact that they need them to stand up to a certain amount of abuse but not to the expense of performance. But then you don't want bats breaking on a regular basis obviously.
 Knocking in. Well I was lucky because when you play every day you used to knock your bats in with throw downs every morning. In fact I was dean jones' throw down boy. You heard of the water boy I was the orange juice and throw down boy. Throw downs with good used cricket balls are the best as you can minitor how hard you hit to start with and gradually build it up. But when you just play club cricket you can't talk too many people into throwing at you for 20 mins a day. So you have to compromise. Mallet then throw downs until it just feels right and not leaving too many marks on the blade. Then build the hitting up and you will feel the bat open up. Give it a go

[Number 11]

Another good video. I expect more bats are down graded when blemishes appear after sanding than upgraded when blemishes disappear.
Do you ever have problems with pressing a bat with blemishes as that area is harder?

[Aldred Cricket Bats]

Not as such as I test the feel after every pass when they have their final press. You have to be careful particularly on their first pressing but that's down to the eye and learning the process

[procricket]

Paul do you do your pressing on sight please could we see your press love looking at them mate.

I think your videos are a breath of fresh air mate great stuff.

[Gingerbusiness]

Like i say some pieces feel harder and some softer. Its a fine line with pressing too as you have to get the right amount, especially these days as some of the balls used now are truely awful cheap rubbish and are bat breaker. Hence its hard for bat companies in the fact that they need them to stand up to a certain amount of abuse but not to the expense of performance. But then you don't want bats breaking on a regular basis obviously.
 Knocking in. Well I was lucky because when you play every day you used to knock your bats in with throw downs every morning. In fact I was dean jones' throw down boy. You heard of the water boy I was the orange juice and throw down boy. Throw downs with good used cricket balls are the best as you can minitor how hard you hit to start with and gradually build it up. But when you just play club cricket you can't talk too many people into throwing at you for 20 mins a day. So you have to compromise. Mallet then throw downs until it just feels right and not leaving too many marks on the blade. Then build the hitting up and you will feel the bat open up. Give it a go

How about bowling machine and increasing speed - inspection throughout. Would that work?

[Aldred Cricket Bats]

Not a big fan of bowling machine balls on new bats. I always say to people about anything and its something I believe in life that their is no quick fix to anything if its worth doing its worth doing properly and well.

[Steveo1000]

Hi Paul, really enjoyed all the videos.
I'm interested to know, do you spend the same time producing a G3 bat as you do producing a G+1 bat?
Business logic would suggest that you would invest less time on a product that would give you a lower profit return.

Thanks

[Aldred Cricket Bats]

Hi Paul, really enjoyed all the videos.
I'm interested to know, do you spend the same time producing a G3 bat as you do producing a G+1 bat?
Business logic would suggest that you would invest less time on a product that would give you a lower profit return.

Thanks

Actually in general for myself I can't  speak for other bat makers but I find that a grade 3 often takes longer than a top grade for the simple reason that you have small knots and the grains can run in different directions making it more difficult and working the faults tend to be harder. Where as the top grades are more often than not nice clean straight grains and easier to work. So really the profit v time evens itself out in the end.