Thread: Making cricket bats?

Channel 9 aired a show about this last week when the cricket was washed out. Must have been the Brizzy match.

Most of the expesive bats are made in the back alleys of India, no matter what brand they are, mostly made by children to be sold for massive profit.
All the "manufactures" have an assortment of different labels to stick on the bats, depends whos buying at the time.
Anyway, check out Channel 9.

Cheers, Al

Thanks for the info Al (and the quick reply!). I actually did see that show - it was actually what inspired me to have a go at creating one myself.

Depending on where you are, there is a guy in Melbourne who makes bats.

From memory he is in either Footscray or Yarraville, or at least he used to be.

GC

Hi GC,

Thanks.. (un?)fornately I live in Brisbane

From what Ive heard making a good cricket bat is somwhat like making a good violin.

Any body with a bit of nouse can make one, but a nice one is gona need some serious studdy

Aparantly Gabba sporting goods still make top class bats by hand in brisbane.

hiaobed,
there is a c/batmaker here in gawler. in mark thomsons book of rare trades there is an article on him. his name is bob fielke . his phone number is in thebook. (dont want to put it here!) send me a private message if youcant get hold of a copy.
seeyasoon mik.

You could try

http://www.cricketbatwillow.com/blades.php

http://www.salixcricketbats.com/Batmaking.html

which seem to have some basics about wood selection, and the process.

HTH

Australian Wood Review #4 had an article on making cricket bats. I'll have a search at home & if I still have it we can sort out how to get you a copy.

hi mate,

even decent bats are mounted on lathes (check the toe of your bat where the chuck has held it) and other procedures are fully computerised. obviously english willow would be the option for the blade and they use sarawak cane for the handle which sandwiches 3 layers of rubber.

i would begin by cutting the scarfing joint (the blade) while the stock at least has a square face and edge. probably then cut the corresponding joint from square stock (once you laminated the cane rubber etc.) turn the handle and shape the bat with a planes knives etc. probably take you the best part of the off season to make.

looking at at least 100 - 200 for the willow
no idea of cane, rubber prices
40 bucks for decent epoxy
oil the bat
10 bucks for a rubber handle

i am making a cricket bat at school im wondering where to get the english willow from because i cant find any sites on the net to buy them from

I made myself a bat a few years ago - played with it for one season and then gave up my weekends in the park with the fellas for weekends in the park with my kids. I learnt a lot about making them in the one that i made - but really feel i needed to make a few more to really get the knack and get the design right.
I ended up getting my willow from
http://www.fisherbats.com.au/index.htm
I also got some quotes from these guys in the UK
http://www.cricketbatwillow.com
and if memory serves me correctly even with shipping inlcuded they worked out pretty even in price - the UK mob were even a bit cheaper - but cricket season was fast approaching and i was impatient to get my willow.
I ended up buying the blanks with the handle already made and attached - mainly because the one bedroom unit we were living in at that stage didn't really allow for the workshop that i have now. So i got to do the fun part! Shaped it mainly with the single spoke shave i owned at the time and wound the string around the handle, put the grip on and knocked it in in record time.
I say blanks because i bought 2 at the time, intending to make another to refine the design - but kid no.1 was on the way by then (she's now turing 5)
So if anyone is interested I'm sure i could be persuaded to part with it...maybe... thinking about it all again has given me the bug to make another.

So how did it perform - well it was a bit heavier than i needed - (not sure what the weight ended up being) - think that was mainly to do with the centre of gravity, but it had a nice big sweet spot and when i hit it - it stayed hit (of course there was the problem of the guy holding the bat - but hey that's not the bats fault) From what I learnt here's a fine line in getting the CofG right - too far down the blade and it 'feels' heavy - too close and the sweet spot can be too high up the blade to be of any use(depends on how you play of course). So you could pick up two bats of the same weight but when you swing them they feel totally different. I even modelled it in Solidworks to try to get it right.

But it was extremely satisfying to make it and use it - just as with anything you make yourself. So i say go for it!!!

Marcus

The most difficult part is finding a workshop with a set of 20 ton rollers to to put the blanks through

there was a program on abc a couple of weeks ago. it probably was on a weekend cos i was watching it or still in the school hols. ( daytime tv)

might be wort ringing abc and try to get a rerun or something ( dont no how that stuff works)

any way they were showing in detail how a bat gets from a tree ( english willow and auzzie willow) to a finished product.

good program

Do a search on this Forum. I remember a guy in Canberra that was making bats and posted here, I also remember that he found some peers already doing same.

Incidentally, the really expensive bats are made here. Most of the cricket suppliers and dedicated shops (Kingsgrove etc) put on days where people will make (or finish) the bat for you whilst you watch.

Depends on your definition of expensive. One of my bats retails at $680. Its an MRF made in India. Another is made locally cost about $550. If I get a custom made bat, It's $1000 plus and is locally made.

Incidentally, the international cricketers all have their bats made for them, locally. They just stick their sponsor's logo on. Most have around 6.