Tools required:
Drawknife (not essential) (Can be brought from ebay or a few places new)
Wood plane (These can be found at car boot sales, ebay, any woodworking shop etc)
Spokeshave (Same as above)
Rasp (Same as above)
Good quality sandpaper in my opinion is a must! I made a few bats towards the beginning of 2009 and I found that any imperfections in the willow (e.g. nicks in the wood where the plane slipped etc) will be smoothed out using a good quality, coarse sandpaper.
As mentioned above, Hell4Leather cricket are a good place to get clefts. I have had clefts from Redback and Fusion before and both have been of excellent quality. When I first purchased from Fusion, there was 3 stages:
Level 1: Cleft pressed, handle inserted
Level 2: Cleft pressed, handle inserted, toe cut to shape and basic shape formed
Level 3: Cleft pressed, handle inserted, toe cut to shape and shoulders, back and toe shaped.
Level 1 is the best experience as such, as you will do everything including choosing the length of the blade (so if you are say 6ft+, you can cut the bat to the length that is 100% perfect for you) etc.
Level 2 is the mid range batmaking practice. Although the toe and shoulders are rounded to shape, you can still choose the shape you want etc.
Level 3 obviously is for people who want to simply take a little bit of wood off, shaping the handle and doing the finishing touches.
Hope this helps.
Author
Topic: Bat Making (Read 3412 times)