Chad's Batmaking Thread (The first Bat Shaper in Scotland?!)
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potzy248

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Re: Chad's Batmaking Thread (The first Bat Shaper in Scotland?!)
« Reply #105 on: August 09, 2023, 09:21:37 PM »

Very cool mate. Well done.
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Cpatel93

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Re: Chad's Batmaking Thread (The first Bat Shaper in Scotland?!)
« Reply #106 on: August 09, 2023, 09:51:03 PM »

This looks amazing! I was around 12 when I was watching the 05 Ashes (my favorite series)


I also have a few bats with replica woodworm torch stickers. I put red bull stickers on the back toe as KP did.  :D :D :D
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Chad

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Re: Chad's Batmaking Thread (The first Bat Shaper in Scotland?!)
« Reply #107 on: August 22, 2023, 08:31:10 PM »

Lovely work.

Fun police will be along in a bit regarding the fake stickers 🤣


Hushhh, they've not noticed yet! ;)


Looks a cracking effort Chad!!

Love the shape and the stickers really set it off nicely.

I'd be more than happy paying for that as a punter.


Thanks Jake! Always good to hear feedback from other batmakers :)


Great effort on the Woodworm mate don’t think people would understand how hard that little grove in the top edge would be and shape looks almost Identical. Top work mate and hope your still enjoying it


Thanks Chris - yes, it takes a lot of time. It's not 100% even I'm sure, but even when Hunts were doing it, most likely it was all done by eye, so it wasn't 100% perfect everytime. Still enjoying it - just not enjoying the tidying up I have to do after every 2 or 3 bats 😂


That looks amazing!


Thank you! :)




Oh nice! That has scratched my funky bat shape itch for a while  :) Thanks for sharing.

Been thinking of doing a weird shape for my next attempt. But I'm more of an old school V12 or Bubble era, so I'm digging up photos for research.


Thank you! Yes, funky bat shapes are awesome, at least the classical ones are. Just unique ways of rebalancing, or just simply gimmicks to make the bats stand out! I'll see if I have any V12s or Bubbles in the collection and fire over some pictures for you mate. :)


Very cool mate. Well done.




Thanks Charles!


This looks amazing! I was around 12 when I was watching the 05 Ashes (my favorite series)


I also have a few bats with replica woodworm torch stickers. I put red bull stickers on the back toe as KP did.  :D :D :D


Thanks mate! And yes, how could I forget the Red Bull stickers! I knew something was amiss haha
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Chad

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Re: Chad's Batmaking Thread (The first Bat Shaper in Scotland?!)
« Reply #108 on: August 22, 2023, 08:32:38 PM »

Apologies in advance for the spam - I'm probably just gonna dump some more pics of my batmaking attempts lately - I PROMISE I'll get round to reviews of bats from other brands etc at some point this week!
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Chad

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Re: Chad's Batmaking Thread (The first Bat Shaper in Scotland?!)
« Reply #109 on: August 22, 2023, 08:37:28 PM »

Brief for this one - Just make a big bat! Had drawn the edge profile of an Aus GN Maax HS bat I had in for a refurb, and finally got round to shaping it up. Was a Red Ink part made, and boy oh boy does she sing - the flat face does help with the exaggerated size, and the press is pretty much perfect.



















   






And after dressing with some Helygen stickers. (Sadly a brand that's no longer around, due to health reasons from what I gathered...)


   








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Chad

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Re: Chad's Batmaking Thread (The first Bat Shaper in Scotland?!)
« Reply #110 on: August 22, 2023, 08:55:04 PM »

Next up, an Amplus interpretation - I mostly did this from the top of my head and actually did the shaping when down in the presence of @Perkins17


      




      





















Well, a few things to note about this one I guess. This was my first time using a Garrard part made - these come with the handle unfitted, and have actually been preshaped on the spindle moulder setup that they have down there. They are pressed extremely well, but have an odd shoulder shape - they are more sloped, and actually have had the vast bulk of the shaping done, which does leave relatively minimal work to do. However, due to the handle fitting required and minimal shaping, I'd probably recommend anyone looking to begin shaping to probably consider using someone like Red Ink or H4L first. You'll get more bulk to remove and become more confident with your tools over time. You'll also not have to worry too much about accidentally fitting the handle incorrectly.

Onto the bat itself, the press is exceptional. It really rebounds nicely and picks up very well for the weight. In terms of Amplus vibes - I'm afraid this attempt does fall short. If you don't really know what it looks like - http://custombats.co.uk/cbforum/index.php?topic=10016.0

There's also another one here: http://custombats.co.uk/cbforum/index.php?topic=31800.0 - @InternalTraining actually posted some pics back in the day?!  :D

I guess what I learned from this is that I need to be a little less afraid to 'swoop' the profile - there is a very gentle swoop from the toe into a 'sweep' for the swell area, into a more aggressive swoop into the handle from pictures I've seen, but I've also seen some with spines through the toe, hence why I left the spine in this attempt. I also used a random SS TON as an edge profile template, it does seem like I may have left the edge peak about 2-3cm too low.
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Chad

Re: Chad's Batmaking Thread (The first Bat Shaper in Scotland?!)
« Reply #111 on: August 22, 2023, 09:41:42 PM »

And the last one for tonight - I had a Chase Platinum in for refurbishment and toe guard/toe repair. I noticed it had a round face, and actually quite liked the profile shape, so drew it on a nice G1 round faced cleft, hoping to get round to making it after I had finished the repair and returned it to the teammate.











However, when I finally got round to making time to shape, upon looking and looking for a good 15 mins or so, and umming and ah-ing, figuring out the best way to tackle this, I came to the conclusion that I'd probably be wasting a cleft on the attempt. The Chase Platinum itself has quite a distinctive bow, while these round faced clefts I had asked Matt to press with a very subtle - no bow, and put in a thicker handle, in hope that I could try replicate a Screaming Cat if I eventually get my hands on one... Well, we were back to the drawing board, and I decided just to bite the bullet and rub out the edge markings, and attempt a real classic I've been wanting to replicate for a while now...


      

















And if the profile and yellow grip weren't giveaway enough as to what I was attempting, then clearly the interpretation wasn't quite faithful enough.  :( [size=78%] [/size]Here's the finished article, with some genuine stickers I'd been sitting on for years, and a sort of frame by frame comparison:

   































   




And here it is after a lick of oil:

         


And the mandatory Toblerone angle:




The real one weighs in at 2lb 9.5oz approx, and the copy weighs in at 2lb 12oz, and is slightly larger overall. Sorry if you feel this one is a waste of bandwidth for you and you don't like it, but I think this is probably the favourite of the bats I've made so far, and probably the one I've been happiest with. Yes, there are some inconsistencies, the shape isn't mm perfect, I should have duckbilled the toe a touch more in the last inch, I could have rounded the spine a bit more, etc etc - but given my current experience/skill level, I was very very happy not to have botched a G1 cleft. I think making this one reignited my love for batmaking as an art/escape, rather than focussing and obsessing on all the figures etc - focus on making the bat make sense, enjoy each process and really take my time and enjoy trying to make something elegant - inspired by legendary batmakers, but crafted by myself - not a clone of Tim Keeley/John Newbery or expert podshaver, just a mediocre cricketer absolutely fascinated by the craft. :)
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golders

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Re: Chad's Batmaking Thread (The first Bat Shaper in Scotland?!)
« Reply #112 on: August 23, 2023, 07:13:54 AM »

Love this.How do you reckon these bats pick up? I have a Rob Pack in similar shape and I might need to duckbill it. It weighs 2’9; maybe it’s just to heavy lol
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Chalkie

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Re: Chad's Batmaking Thread (The first Bat Shaper in Scotland?!)
« Reply #113 on: August 23, 2023, 07:37:28 PM »

Great work Chad, love the Amplus copy, even if as you say it isn’t quite right
« Last Edit: August 23, 2023, 08:55:00 PM by Chalkie »
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marsbug

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Re: Chad's Batmaking Thread (The first Bat Shaper in Scotland?!)
« Reply #114 on: August 23, 2023, 08:35:33 PM »

Love these, and your write ups! Got a very soft spot for the Mjolnir, with it being my first adult bat in the late 90s. Your copy looks great!
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sgcricket

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Re: Chad's Batmaking Thread (The first Bat Shaper in Scotland?!)
« Reply #115 on: August 24, 2023, 01:36:32 AM »

One of my favourite threads on the forum. Love the pics, the description and the comparison. Keep it up Chad.
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Chad

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Re: Chad's Batmaking Thread (The first Bat Shaper in Scotland?!)
« Reply #116 on: December 20, 2023, 12:38:59 PM »

Love this.How do you reckon these bats pick up? I have a Rob Pack in similar shape and I might need to duckbill it. It weighs 2’9; maybe it’s just to heavy lol


Thank you! For me, they seemed to pick up well for their dead weight - I think the Mjolnir was probably my favourite of the lot, but the Helygen stickered one probably picked up the lightest for the dead weight. (Just style/sticker bias haha) I take it the RPC is one of the traditional Ballistic ones? I've got one of them which picks up a little heavier than the others, but the swell is a bit lower. Might be worth asking him to adjust it slightly.


Great work Chad, love the Amplus copy, even if as you say it isn’t quite right


Thank you! I'll be working on another Amplus attempt at a later date - finally got my hands on one!


Love these, and your write ups! Got a very soft spot for the Mjolnir, with it being my first adult bat in the late 90s. Your copy looks great!

Thank you! Yes, my soft spot for it as I just loved the yellow gripped looks, and remembered tapping the Newbery bats up in a shop, and them all going like guns. Naturally went more towards the Kookaburra Beast/Tornado and Adidas bats due to their graphics due to being a teen.  :(  Good player I looked up to used the Mjolnir, and would see him score runs in such a classy way...




One of my favourite threads on the forum. Love the pics, the description and the comparison. Keep it up Chad.


Thank you - means a lot! I do try my best to write up on these when I have the chance, but as with everything these days, time is just a bit scarce!
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Chad

Re: Chad's Batmaking Thread (The first Bat Shaper in Scotland?!)
« Reply #117 on: December 20, 2023, 01:28:18 PM »

Been a while since I've updated this thread! (Also been a while since I've made these and been on the bench)

First up, a pair of non-identical twins! One shorter blade and the other standard blade length, both standard SH length overall.










The Shorter Blade:















The Standard Blade:

















I believe these both ended up being around 2lb 11.7oz, with the SBLH setup being slightly bigger, thanks to being able to redistribute saved weight from the blade shortening. I had actually been asked to make a bat based on the Adam Gilchrist Ballistic shape - which I tried to get a better idea of by taking half a dozen or so screenshots from an excellent video review from CricketBatInfo @sarg . I decided to make 2 of these, one in SB and one in standard SH. In the end, the requester ended up going for the SBLH bat of the two.




For a physical reference, I used an old green Ballistic 3000, however with the moderate bow did make it slightly awkward to use as a template for edge profile, but somehow made it work. (kinda)











In terms of how close I feel I got, I guess without the bat in hand, it is quite difficult to say, but judging by side by sides, I wasn't a million miles off - but having had a good couple of months since making these, I can say the differences are distinct and numerous enough to pick up on. I do feel that the edge of the Puma is less curved and the spine is higher - hence the more exaggerated spine aesthetic, but I guess most of the fundamentals/ideas of the profiles kind of resemble the target, so I'm happy with them in that sense. (Thick oval, convex profiling with the spine running high from the splice, peaking in a mid-low extended driving area then flowing and blending into the toe with modest edges and an exaggerated spine height) I do think the knotted area in the SBLH inside edge area did affect the overall presentation/flow of the profile, but I also feel I did my best to rectify that tricky area. In the end, I'm merely a hobbyist - the process and joy it gives me to improve and struggle with something I'm passionate/interested in outweighs my fussiness/lofty expectations. The bats were then finished with Puma/Millichamp replica stickers, which seemed to complete the look. :)

A huge thanks to Matt @hell4leather cricket for supplying these 2 G3/Butterfly clefts with round cambered faces - don't think the bats I make would quite look right without his willingness to help me with how I want the clefts machined/handled. :)
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Northern monkey

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Re: Chad's Batmaking Thread (The first Bat Shaper in Scotland?!)
« Reply #118 on: December 20, 2023, 06:18:28 PM »

Love that Chad,,,,rounder face a lot better imo
Could possibly have dropped the edges slightly, to exaggerate the peak spine height?

Chad

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Re: Chad's Batmaking Thread (The first Bat Shaper in Scotland?!)
« Reply #119 on: December 21, 2023, 03:46:13 PM »

Love that Chad,,,,rounder face a lot better imo
Could possibly have dropped the edges slightly, to exaggerate the peak spine height?

Thanks Mark! Agreed, the rounder face is a lot better, especially for more classic profiles. I do like the flat face and the illusion of size it can give, but round faces just seem to look better all round.

Yeah, I think that would have probably made it look a bit closer to the Puma, however I think I was happy enough with the shape - the Puma did have a 67mm spine and mine ended up around 64mm I believe. I think I'll attempt another one in the future - it's just a really solid profile with plenty of wood where you need it. Just goes to show how much volume there is in bats like that - reckon it might have been around 2lb 13oz if I'd managed to get that spine higher, and the clefts used were decent weights!
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