Inspired by the low middle bats of Jonny, and recently Chad, I thought I'd give it a go. And although it's not something that I would usually use, someone at my club asked if I could make one, so challenge accepted!
From a H4L part-made, with very little done to it (as requested), I tried hard again to use the hand tools as much as possible, and not rely on fixing things with the sander. I had a bit more freedom in weight too, which I much prefer making, as I can go off feel more when I'm shaping and not worry too much about constantly making it lighter (I don't have loads of clefts to go through and find low density ones).
A few photos of the finished bat, with yet another variation of stickers - got to admit, I like designing these almost as much as making the bats. This design doesn't look that much, but it was a pain to go from a RGB overlay effect to a printed CMYK sticker. For those interested, the inspiration was an album cover designed by Peter Saville, but I realised afterwards that it looks pretty similar to a GM Hypa. Oh well.
Overall I'm pretty happy with the finished bat. It came out pretty well, and apart from me catching one shoulder with the sander (again! Last photo.), I don't think there's much I'd change. There's a knot on the face, right near the sweet spot, which I hope should help things. There's also a line (?) running diagonally across the toe, which I'm a bit more unsure about - anyone know if that's going to weaken the toe at all? I could put a guard on it, but that feels like hiding it, and I'd rather not.
For those that like numbers:
spine 66 mm
edge 35 mm
toe 20-27 mm
shoulders 16 mm
And for once I measured the weight at various stages, to see how much things add:
Finished 2 lbs 9.5 oz
Bound 2 lbs 10.5 oz
Stickered 2 lbs 10.7 oz
Gripped 2 lbs 12.2 oz
Author
Topic: First home made bat - designed by artificial intelligence (Read 27668 times)