It does come in and go out of fashion there was a time when when heartwood was so unpopular it was bleached white
Hmmm .......kookaburra circa 1990's ! Whiter than me in winter !
When the bat makers/bat company's buy the clefts is the hartwood seen as a blemish therefore down grading the cleft.
A Grade 1 BladeA Grade 1 is the best looking blade, though it will not necessarily play the best. There may be some red wood evident on the edge of the blade. The grain on the face will be straight and there will be a minimum of 6 grains visible. There may be the odd small knot or speck in the edge or back but the playing area should be clean.A Grade 2 BladeA Grade 2 blade is also very good quality and normally a larger amount of red wood can be seen on the edge of a blade, this has no effect on the playing ability of the bat it is purely cosmetic. Again there will be at least 6 straight grains on the face of the blade with maybe some blemishes, pin knots or “speck” visible, we also put the top 2% of the excellent quality butterfly blades that we get into Grade 2.A Grade 3 BladeThis is a middle grade that is produced in much higher numbers than the top grades and it offers very good value for money. A Grade 3 Blade has up to half colour across the blade which again has no direct relation to the playing ability of the wood, it just has less visual attraction. There will be a minimum of 5 grains on the face of the blade which may not always be perfectly straight. Again some small knots or butterfly stain may be present with sometimes more prominent “speck”.A Grade 4 BladeA Grade 4 Blade is normally over half colour or contains butterfly stain (see our page on Imperfections in Willow). It will still play as well as the other grades. Any number of grains are possible with often only 4 grains, the willow containing ‘butterfly’ stain is very strong, there could also be more “speck” and other faults.
Does that mean that a pros 50/50 bat is technically a grade 3?As the JS Wright grading system states that a grade 2 must only have heartwood on the edge .
By JS Wright's grading system yes. But there isn't a set standard for grading, so each brand can call whatever they like "Grade 1"
@WalkingWicket37 generally speaking look at the highest grade bats you won't see many with heartwood
Gray nics grow and cut their own willow though, so they are free to grade however they want and choose whatever specs they like for what makes each cleft that grade