This is something that we are very interested in and to be honest we sell on dead weight purely because it is accepted in the industry. Is it correct? I personally don’t think it is, as different weights can “feel” or “pick up” differently irrespective of the scale weight.
The way it is described i.e. picking up lighter than its scale weight is not correct as hopefully the below diagram explains, as the scale weight is the lightest weight of the bat (held in the vertical plane). As you rotate the bat through 90 degree’s the bat will gain weight, due to the Centre of gravity (COG) being further away from the pivot point as the bat rotates.
The scientific name for “pick up” is Moment of Inertia or MOI, and every bat has a MOI which is related to a few things, namely Centre of Gravity and scale weight. If you could sell on MOI instead of scale weight – which is by no means an easy task you would ensure that the customer gets the right “balanced” / “pick-up” / “feel” of bat every time.
What people mean when they say it weighs 2lb 10oz but picks up 2lb 8oz is that comparatively the bat picks up lighter (lower MOI) than what a typical 2lb 10oz bat would, and therefore picking up lighter.
How can this be done, it is simple - by moving the centre of gravity closer to the pivot point, as the below image hopefully illustrates, al be it crudely. If these bats had the same blade/handle mass, and were the same volume, the bottom bat would have a lower MOI – or pick up better than the top bat. Also, if 2 bats had the same Mass, but one was fitted with a 3oz heavier handle and therefore the blade was 3oz lighter in mass (same volume) this too would result in a higher COG and therefore a lower MOI and significantly affect the pickup.
Whilst I completely disagree with this thread, I can see why people are confused about pick up, as presently it is all subjective. I have done a fair amount of research and started to develop shapes with an improved MOI, I will be doing some very interesting research with a couple of Masters Students at SHU in the New Year developing this theory.
Streaky
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www.cricketbatblog.com ;-)
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Topic: Bat Weight/Pickup - 'This 2'10 feels like 2'8' - Tripe! (Read 22334 times)