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[Kulli]

The general wisdom seems to be that heartwood is stronger than sapwood, which didn't make much sense to me if it's wood with less/no sap to hold it together, but I've read it so often on here I had stopped questioning it.That was until I gave my bats a preseason refurb before winter nets started. Takes on an iPhone so it's hard to see but the heartwood takes up a touch over half of the face.





It could be cooincidence, or that the way I play just gives the inside half of the bat a real beasting, but I'm pretty sure it isn't.

Discuss, preferably with pictures of battered bats

[ItsJustCricket]

Heartwood is harder and stiffer, but does seem to be more brittle.  I have never had heartwood on any of my bats (not counting my still unused Hammer Black), but have noticed this before quite a few times when knocking bats in.

Apparently the ball flies off it that bit more, especially when you catch the edge, and in theory should last longer, but I agree, it is a strange one because of how more brittle it seems to be!

Answers anyone?

[kal_m]

Most of the bats I have used have some cracking on the inside edge and none what so ever on the outside edge. It is my understanding that the inside edge is very vulnerable with or without heartwood and I am not a professional cricket player by any stretch of imagination, so it's just my opinion and experience. Will put up some pics soon.

[Kulli]

Most of the bats I have used have some cracking on the inside edge and none what so ever on the outside edge. It is my understanding that the inside edge is very vulnerable with or without heartwood and I am not a professional cricket player by any stretch of imagination, so it's just my opinion and experience. Will put up some pics soon.

The general wisdom I have read is to have the heartwood on your more vulnerable edge, i.e. the inside edge if you're an across the line biffer and outside edge for the more technically correct amungst us.


Here's an older picture where the heartwood is more visable

[Blank Bats]

Heartwood is more brittle, than sapwood.
As it comes from the centre of the tree, you tend to get tighter grains.
general rule of thumb, it should be on the least vulnerable edge.

my understanding is that they wont last as long as an all sapwood bat, generally speaking. the "brittleness" is due to the lack of glue holding the willow fibres together, on that basis it should be lighter.
 
i would argue outside edge, reason being that generally inside edge damage is worse, think of jabbing down on a yorker on the inside edge. could spell the end of a bat.

[Chad]

Heartwood is stiffer and more brittle, because there is less sap, therefore less glue/moisture content. Not sure if this is the right image to help explain this, but imagine a bit of soft clay, if you drop it, it will change shape slightly because it is soft, but won't break. On the other hand if it hardens, and you drop it, it cracks/breaks because it has become harder. I'm sure someone else could explain it in terms of tensile strength and brittleness.

[kal_m]

The general wisdom I have read is to have the heartwood on your more vulnerable edge, i.e. the inside edge if you're an across the line biffer and outside edge for the more technically correct amungst us.

True that.
I have not used a bat with heartwood but towards the end of the last season I bought one that had about 2 inches of heartwood. I oiled and started knocking it in and after about 2 hours of hitting with a mallet it cracked up and I attribute that to a very dry willow.

[Kulli]

That all makes sense when thinking about it, but I'm sure I've read a million times on here that it's stronger, guess you shouldn't believe everything you read on an anonymous internet forum 

[Seniorplayer]

Heartwood or pinkish sapwood as we know is much harder as it does not contain any sap and this is what makes it brittle.It is taken from the centre of the tree where the wood is older and therefore harder. But correctly pressed to improve toughness and then properly prepared prior to use heartwood should be able to absorb stress the same as sapwood. Also heartwood can sometimes produce a different sound.

[tim2000s]

There seems to be a variety of responses throughout the forum on this topic. Mostly suggesting that heartwood is more brittle and some argument regarding the strength/hardness.