Hi guys, been a little while since I posted a topic, and also been a while since I had taken out the orbital sander and other stuff for refurbs, so I decided that I'd spend some time cleaning up/repairing some bats, altering them slightly both cosmetically and in terms of shape. Did this all in a few hours over 3 days! (Had to wait for glue/oil to dry, and my arm to recover from the orbital sanding!)
Here are all the bats I did some work on:
Slight reduction on the Helios Atlas:
Before
After
Slight reduction on the B&S:
Before
After
Repaired the delamination on the TON, along with removing some stickers, ovalling out the handle, cutting down the tip of the handle with a saw and compensating the weight lost with some lead tape:
Ovalled out the handle on a very special BAS:
Put glue in the cracks of my 3 match old SS LE, clamped the big crack, sanded down, removed some stickers and oiled:
A bit dry...
After a good bit of gluing, orbital sanding, fine sanding and oiling:
I've used that SS in 3 matches, scoring 65, 23 and 86*, so it's been a good companion! (The 65 and 86 were new top scores!) A shame to see her in this state really, but it shows why I prefer no heartwood! The outside edge is unscathed, so I should probably get bats with heartwood on that edge (if any) in the future! To be fair, I should have probably prepared it for a bit longer, but it was quite dry, so is bound to happen, especially if you use Lords balls in your league! Going to maybe give it another coat of oil and leave it for two weeks before scuffing it - it deserves a little break!
The TON and SS bats look a LOT better with some of the stickers missing IMO, just makes it look much less cluttered! The reason I cut down the handle length of the TON was partly because I wanted to try a SSH, but also because the TON handle was a little longer than most SH bats, but the blade was just a touch shorter. It just felt a little odd in the stance, so I decided to experiment on it rather than sell it, especially since the repair came out really well! I think it's only the second bat I've heard of needing a repair before it was actually used! (Okay, was used for like 8 balls between myself and King Pair, but needed the repair before that!)
I reduced the toes of the Helios and the B&S bats, as they were both a touch heavy, and I found that I actually hit a little higher than I used to now, after looking at my SS scuff sheet. They both feel great now, especially the Helios! It feels like holding a completely different bat now, but it still pings all over like it used to! (The weight taken off was actually quite little, not sure of exact measurements, but I changed the grip to a slightly heavier one too, and it feels much better!)
The rest of the bats (Slazenger, Helios Midas stickered Bulldog Amplus and Kangroo) were just generic things like edge rounding, scuffing and oiling.
The orbital sander I use I find is great, it has 6 speed options, and is really good at removing the residue left behind by stickers and scuff sheets. (Don't trust myself with white spirits!)
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B005GIU33U/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1It's only £62 now, and does a great job! The only thing is that you will probably need a different hoover connector to plug to the sander if you're using it indoors. (I just use it outdoors, so I don't need one) It also helps shape shoe goo at the back of the toe, so it's more of a perfect fitting toe guard! (Completely cosmetic, and should only appeal to those with a serious OCD about how their bat looks!) Maybe it could be used to shape a proper toe guard carefully...
Sorry if these kind of threads bore you, but I think some folk like them.
Please make any suggestions you feel will help me improve my refurbs!
Cheers
Author
Topic: Long day of refurbs/repairs (And the reason why I hate heartwood sometimes!) (Read 3516 times)