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[ppccopener]

covered before I know seems the be a curse of modern day bats as weight is taken out of the shoulder/handle area to aid pick up(maybe!) that and cheap balls :-)

very difficult to repair I was wondering if any of the forum have continued playing without attempting any repairs...

as in, the cracks go either side of the handle, not in the handle itself

[Neon Cricket]

covered before I know seems the be a curse of modern day bats as weight is taken out of the shoulder/handle area to aid pick up(maybe!) that and cheap balls :-)

very difficult to repair I was wondering if any of the forum have continued playing without attempting any repairs...

as in, the cracks go either side of the handle, not in the handle itself

It's a common technique by a number of the 'big' bat makers to keep edge/spine sizes big at lower weights. Generally this results in numerous shoulder issues, which has been proven by the number of posts on here lately, so for me it's totally pointless.

In my opinion leaving the shoulders nice and thick is a huge bonus - definitely aids pick up and helps to prolong the life of the bat. All the Neon bats have good size shoulders for this reason.

[jjelricksmith]

The last 3/4 bats ive had all broke at the shoulders. Always thought it was something in my technique but it may just be the bats have all had very thin shoulders, they were also all TK made.

[Neon Cricket]

The last 3/4 bats ive had all broke at the shoulders. Always thought it was something in my technique but it may just be the bats have all had very thin shoulders, they were also all TK made.

Without pointing fingers, this is a prime example...

[Rob580]

Mine always seem to get hairline little cracks running out of the grip, but these never get any worse. Had a Hell 4 Leather for 4 years (using it twice a week every week) which did this within about 6 months, and never got any worse. Given, it does have a small handle and relatively thin shoulders... Also had it happen on every Warsop I've ever owned, and they have massive oval handles and no concaving high up on the bat, so not sure what it could be.

Might be less pronounced if I middle it once in a while rather than one on the stickers, one on the toe, one on the stickers, one on the toe......

[jjelricksmith]

Without pointing fingers, this is a prime example...

Hhahah i was being sarcastic as in it was definitely my technique but perhaps TK does make them that way.

[Biggie Smalls]

I have had a few hairline cracks in shoulders that never got any worse .
Flat face bats also add to liklihood of shoulder cracking .

[Seniorplayer]

If we are referring to hairline cracks it best to just leave them also tend to leave shoulder cracks as long as the handle remains tight in the vee.

[ppccopener]

yes indeed, wonder if as biggie points out the trend for flat faces is making the problem worse as well.

@Rob580 same experience as you, last season a team mate had a custom made at warsop, handle and shoulders split, send back and replaced FOC, exactly the same thing happened, so two bats within 6 weeks of each other

that wasn't a particularly flat faced bat thou. I think it affects many brands myself

[six and out]

think the other thing that doesn't help with this is that no one ever knocks in the stickers of the bat/up near the shoulders, then you go into the nets where in general they are bouncy, with people using crappy balls and couple bounce more then you think and wham you have taken quite a few on the shoulders of your new bat without even realising etc....

[Seniorplayer]

Once heard it said bats with the smaller handle vee are less likely to  suffer shoulder splits.

[Seniorplayer]

I have had a few hairline cracks in shoulders that never got any worse .
Flat face bats also add to liklihood of shoulder cracking .

flat face bats
Not just the shoulders seen quite a few broken toes.