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[uknsaunders]

As a tribute to the entertainment legend keith Harris I have named by b3 butterfly Orville (might need to google it for younger/overseas members). Its certainly an ugly duckling! I took up the b3 butterfly offer and a bespoke voucher offer I had and with streakys help created the bat below. The idea is simply to design a small men's bat with the meat high up the blade and to pickup wonderfully well. Despite its slightly odd shape I think it does all of this.

Specs:-

38mm edge
65-66mm spine
Minimal concaving
Weight - 2'8.6
Density of cleft 380

Before everyone goes wow, I want one, I did a bit if cheating:-

Harrow length
Scooping in the shoulders and purist/TT shoulder droop
Very slight duckbill on the toe (can't even see it)

To keep it balanced and picking up well the spine is higher into the handle then normal, which also helps extend the middle upwards. I also wanted a lovely thick oval handle at the bottom and the spine blends in nicely. The middle extends down further than you think thanks to the butterfly stain. Tapping up its only the very bottom that sounds dead, that's fine as I don't hit much in the bottom area anyway. The middle is around 8-9 inches up the blade.
Could it be improved, yep, but I am looking forward to seeing how it goes before any future redesigns.










Many thanks to Dave and Streaky at b3 for answering all my questions and great customer service.

[wiki]

Looks great.

[mp07]

very nice and unique profile...pickup must be feather light

[smilley792]

Both a cracking and interesting design. Good work.

[uknsaunders]

I have previously used crictech sheets and analysis to get an idea of the profile I wanted. Crictech indicated I hit the ball between 5-12 inches up the blade with the middle around 8-9 inches. I also looked at my present bats and apart from digging out shooters and Yorkers, the toe and lower half of my bats see little action. The business area is always from 5 inches upwards to the stickers, so that's where I have put the wood. I was also influenced by my favourite bat, a dukes pro century. It had a jumbo profile and that high spine is present but without the pickup being effected. Its a combination of ideas really and it was too good an opportunity to pass up, having to the mm control of the bat design process and knowing the end weight.

[RF]

I love this, the stain is in a great area.

Mine flys off the stain, feels different to the rest of the bat when I hit it there

It should perform really well

[Boondougal]

Yep. Really liking this. Great work.

[procricket]

He stole the tonto shape at heart picked this up I love it beyond the butterfly its a grade 1 waiting to get out

[FattusCattus]

I don't like it Nicholas - I think it is quite possibly the ugliest shape I have ever seen. But if it works for you then I am happy for you.

It is the Bella Emberg (google it youngsters!) of bats - very ugly, but effective at what it does!!

[uknsaunders]

He stole the tonto shape at heart picked this up I love it beyond the butterfly its a grade 1 waiting to get out

Yep, can't lie its based on Dave's tonto design in a more extreme form.

[uknsaunders]

I don't like it Nicholas - I think it is quite possibly the ugliest shape I have ever seen. But if it works for you then I am happy for you.

It is the Bella Emberg (google it youngsters!) of bats - very ugly, but effective at what it does!!

Agree its no looker and the camera angle doesn't show it to its best. As with the jumbo looks aren't everything, its pure function designed for a specific type of player. Shame I'm away on holiday until Thursday and can't start knocking it in until then. Would love to give it a crack at the weekend to see if the theory works in reality.

[Cedrictoad]

It is so different it is hard to get my head around it.

The large spine up to the handle seems strange.  My common sense says you aren't going to hit the ball up there so save the weight for the meat of the bat but your theory on extending the sweet spot sounds good.  You will have to let us know how it goes.

Is it for 20/20 only or are you planning on using it on Saturdays as well?  Does it have a longer handle than usual being a harrow length blade?

[uknsaunders]

It is so different it is hard to get my head around it.

The large spine up to the handle seems strange.  My common sense says you aren't going to hit the ball up there so save the weight for the meat of the bat but your theory on extending the sweet spot sounds good.  You will have to let us know how it goes.

Is it for 20/20 only or are you planning on using it on Saturdays as well?  Does it have a longer handle than usual being a harrow length blade?

No for all forms of cricket. Being 5'7 the size suits me fine and the pickup should aid bat speed if i wanted to use it for t20. However bat speed is just as useful opening the batting and dealing with the new ball. Regarding the spine, its a balancing act, take the trott bat, 1271, it has thick shoulders to help pickup whereas this has thinner shoulders with scooping. Therefore putting wood down the spine retains the pickup and extends the middle upwards. If I didn't hit the ball so high up it might of looked for like one of those gm zona or laver&woods, maybe a compressed jumbo! I know we've debated on this forum before about having more wood in line with the handle going down (and the hands) so it aids pickup and reduces twisting. Will be nice to put it to the test.

[sarg]

I think its different and focused on playability rather than aesthetics. It's certainly not something that would come out of Modena [emoji12].

That said the spine height near the handle towards the middle , as well as the narrow shoulder is where it looks awkward.  With so much wood near the hands the pickup would be amazingly light whilst providing excellent rebound near the stickers, more so than the Tonto I'm guessing. Its a nod to traditional spines.

It seems to be a theme with recent bat designs that the spine is angular. I must say i like a slightly thicker shoulder  and more concaving of spine near the shoulders as it looks cleaner and still maintains weight.

That cleft is very nice and you are one of the lucky few to get a 380 cleft with the stain right in your playing area. Overall i think it will make batting easy.

[sarg]

He stole the tonto shape at heart picked this up I love it beyond the butterfly its a grade 1 waiting to get out

Did you get a chance to look at my Tonto Dave?