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[JK Lewis]

Morning all,

I'm a regular reader of the forum, but a first time poster. I'm kicking off a new project which I thought might be interesting to share. I've long wanted to make a bat, and I have a couple of partmades to practice with. Longer term though, I hope to go out and score runs with bats I've made from a tree I've harvested myself.

A clubmate of mine is a local farmer, with a small grove of willows. Unfortunately (for him), one tree was blown over earlier this year. It's not a massive tree, but plenty enough for my project. He told me I could have it as long as I helped him cut it up and move it. This was too good an offer to miss, so we had a go last week:



We cut the tree into 4 rounds, and I have had the top 2 sawn into clefts. The lower 2 rounds are bigger, and need to be split along the natural cracks in the wood. I hope to get 3 clefts out of each round, and will get onto this later in the month.



So, I currently have 4 clefts. I have wax sealed the ends with a bunch of melted down tealights. Hopefully this will work to prevent splits occurring. The clefts are laid down in my garage for seasoning. They are not beautiful by any measure, but I reckon they will be fit for purpose!



I'll post updates as I go along. Thanks to all contributors for your insight and information, extremely useful.

[The Cricket Boutique]

Good for you! I hope you get some nice bats out of it and score some runs with something that you have made from start to finish.

[SirScottiod]

That's a hell of a first post!!  Very interested to see how they turn out

[Buzz]

Amazing, good luck with the project. You should speak to a local batmaker to help you.

[Seniorplayer]

Good on you for doing it I'd put the clefts under a lean to  or simular season if you can rather than a garage.

[JK Lewis]

Thanks to all for comments and advice, much appreciated. I am already in contact with a local batmaker, one with considerably more skill and experience than I. Hopefully he can point me in the right direction!

Seniorplayer, thanks for yours. Interesting. When you mention a lean-to, you mean one that is open to fresh air, rather than closed (like my garage)? I don't have that right now, but maybe I could build one in the garden somehow.

All the best for now.

[Ridenmarke]

Wow great post, hope it all goes well for you.

[ridhuan]

good luck with the project, do keep us posted with the progress!

[Seniorplayer]

Thanks to all for comments and advice, much appreciated. I am already in contact with a local batmaker, one with considerably more skill and experience than I. Hopefully he can point me in the right direction!

Seniorplayer, thanks for yours. Interesting. When you mention a lean-to, you mean one that is open to fresh air, rather than closed (like my garage)? I don't have that right now, but maybe I could build one in the garden somehow.

All the best for now.

Yes somewhere open to fresh air dry and not exposed to rain. Plastic roofing sheets attached to a wall open at both ends works well for air drying clefts.