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[WABH-J]

So I've just finished my first bat so I thought I'd do a post as others have mapping how it went and to add a few more to it in time (hopefully!)!

Very open to constructive criticism so please do your worst!

Making a bat is something I've wanted to do for a long time as it combines my passion for cricket and also woodwork/DIY. I bought two part mades, one from Hell 4 Leather (shown below) and one from John from Red Ink who also very kindly set me up with a draw knife, spoke shave and round bottomed plane. This first one was all about trial and error and finding out what is going to work for me.

As soon as my package arrived I greedily got it onto the bench and I'd say within about 5 minutes I'd taken the most enormous chunk out of the cleft with the draw knife - I thought I might have blown it! Fortunately I was able to salvage it with the spoke shave which I was a bit more proficient with but I've not touched the draw knife since - so first fish for advice is how you effectively sharpen a draw knife and not get huge tear outs? Any advice welcome on that front! I also didn't get on that well with the round bottomed plane which I got a lot of chatter from - although I was able to sand out those marks.

As I don't have a polisher I'd bought some buffing pads and compound to fit my random orbit sander and I was really pleased that these produced a really good shine that looked quite professional.

In terms of shape I was going for a low-mid middle, not too heavy but with as much meat as I thought I could get away with. In the end I went for some gentle concaving to get the weight down but mostly it's pretty full. Overall very pleased with the result and it ended up 2.9.1 (fully dressed) on the scales which is not far off what I was after at all.

The next cleft from John is already on the bench so shouldn't be long until the next one is up! I'm aware the stickers are a bit basic and chad but they were the best I could come up with without having to pay huge amounts for 500 sets etc!

Final question is what twine does everybody use for the handle as I only had enough for the one handle?

[jonny77]

Great effort mate and I like the shape. Finishing looks great too, so congrats on your first attempt! Will be one of many no doubt.

Hard to tell on the pics but the toe and shoulders look a little thin, but could just be the photos. Either way it's a coloration first effort, nice work!

[WABH-J]

Great effort mate and I like the shape. Finishing looks great too, so congrats on your first attempt! Will be one of many no doubt.

Hard to tell on the pics but the toe and shoulders look a little thin, but could just be the photos. Either way it's a coloration first effort, nice work!

Thanks for that mate appreciated. I think you're right in that the toe and shoulders could be thicker - they were victims of me trying to reduce the weight without taking off the middle but I think I'll be less ruthless next time!

[jonny77]

Easily done mate and I've done it before. The cleft pretty much dictates the finished size/weight, so you learn what's achievable from each cleft before you start based on its weight.

Great effort tho mate, I'd be chuffed with that!

[WABH-J]

So - attempt number two!

Just trying out a different shape and working on some of the points from last time. This is a much fuller profile but the spine of the bat runs right through to the toe. The aim here was to get a large middle sweet spot and keep as much wood in as possible. Including grip and scuff sheet and stickers it was 2.10.8 on the scales. This cleft definitely seemed harder than my first and a little bit more difficult to work with - I'm assuming this is because of the heartwood but I think this will go well once played in a bit.