Baseball Bat Blanks

[Tom Henry]

I am planning on turning some baseball bats for my kids coaches this year and want to know if there are any good suppliers out there that I can purchase them from???:D We are planning on having all the kids sign the bats...

[Clarence Miller]

By a odd course of events I had the opportunity to tour the Loisville Slugger factory and you can order their blanks (they call them billits I think) from them directly for about $15 a piece. I'm not a baseball fan but am trying to use it as an reason (excuse) to buy a bigger lathe,

[Thom Sturgill]

Craft supply carries both ash and hard maple, but they are a lot more expensive than mentioned above.

[David Drickhamer]

I just learned of this place on the IAP site.
http://www.gonebatty.net/lumber.html

Dave

[George Morris]

Tom the gone batty place is very near my house in the PA Mts, If you need the blanks picked up just let me know! G

[Zach England]

I bought some on ebay. I have also seen them at a local supplier.

[Toney Robertson]

Are the bats going to be used? Since the kids are going to sign them it does not sound like it.

When my great nephew and I made a bat I just went to my local hardwood dealer and purchased a short of 12/4 ash and I had enough to make 3 bats. Very economical even at the full bd ft price but it was discounted since it was a short.

[Steve Braman]

My neighbor and I are removing 20+ sick ash trees in the next few weeks. some of them are 30" diameter. Too much wood for me. If anyone is interested, I can put aside a few extra logs.

[Zach England]

I assume everyone knows this, but just to make sure, you cannot just take any piece of hard ash or maple and make a competition bat out of it. It is unsafe. I don't think youth baseball or club leagues use wood bats anymore anyway, since wood bats are inherently unsafe, but using a billet that does not meet strict criteria for grain structure is asking for dangerous projectiles.

disclaimer: not much of a wood turner but a huge baseball fan.

Somewhere I saw "seconds" of bats that are partially turned but had a flaw in the grain. I will try to find the site.

[John Keeton]

disclaimer: not much of a wood turner but a huge baseball fan.Zach, your friends here in the Turners Forum can help you with that deficiency in your life - the wood turner, not the baseball fan part!!!!:D;)

[Zach England]

Zach, your friends here in the Turners Forum can help you with that deficiency in your life - the wood turner, not the baseball fan part!!!!:D;)


Yeah...getting there. I have had a lathe for a while and used it a few times, mostly to turn plane knob replacements and chisel handles. I do have bat blank and reading this made me want to go home and turn it. I may try that today.

[bob svoboda]

Yeah...getting there. I have had a lathe for a while and used it a few times, mostly to turn plane knob replacements and chisel handles. I do have bat blank and reading this made me want to go home and turn it. I may try that today.
Nice job John.....The hook is set:D

[Toney Robertson]

I assume everyone knows this, but just to make sure, you cannot just take any piece of hard ash or maple and make a competition bat out of it. It is unsafe. I don't think youth baseball or club leagues use wood bats anymore anyway, since wood bats are inherently unsafe, but using a billet that does not meet strict criteria for grain structure is asking for dangerous projectiles.

disclaimer: not much of a wood turner but a huge baseball fan.

Somewhere I saw "seconds" of bats that are partially turned but had a flaw in the grain. I will try to find the site.

Good point but since it was going to autographed I doubt that it would be used in competition.

Way off topic but I can not disagree more strongly with the statement of "since wood bats are inherently unsafe". IMO aluminum bats are much more unsafe than wood bats. I wish Fed and the NCAA would return to wood bats. I believe that Mass. high schools have after a pitcher was killed by a hit ball. The bounce that Al bats have and the exit speeds they produce are incredible. No reaction time for fielders, especially pitchers and 3rd. My son was pitching 4 years ago and was hit by a line drive. No time to react. Thankfully it hit him in the thigh and not in the head or chest.

Real sports did a segment on the dangers of the high tech Al. bats a few years ago and I was astounded. One of the main opponents of Al bats used to work for LS and essentially started the bat arms race. The BESR for high schools is basically a joke. Let's go back to the crack of the bat not the ting.

Toney

[Don Jarvie]

I've seen some blanks at Rockler and plan on turning a few for my nephews once I get the lathe back together.

[Zach England]

Good point but since it was going to autographed I doubt that it would be used in competition.

Way off topic but I can not disagree more strongly with the statement of "since wood bats are inherently unsafe". IMO aluminum bats are much more unsafe than wood bats. I wish Fed and the NCAA would return to wood bats. I believe that Mass. high schools have after a pitcher was killed by a hit ball. The bounce that Al bats have and the exit speeds they produce are incredible. No reaction time for fielders, especially pitchers and 3rd. My son was pitching 4 years ago and was hit by a line drive. No time to react. Thankfully it hit him in the thigh and not in the head or chest.

Real sports did a segment on the dangers of the high tech Al. bats a few years ago and I was astounded. One of the main opponents of Al bats used to work for LS and essentially started the bat arms race. The BESR for high schools is basically a joke. Let's go back to the crack of the bat not the ting.

Toney


This is valid, and my blanket statement about wooden bats being unsafe is correctly not completely accurate. What I should have said is that wooden bats pose different safety concerns than aluminum bats, especially to spectators. Since I don't wish to start a debate, let us agree on a few things:

if using a wooden bat, a bat with proper grain slope is safer than one without

baseball, with various objects (balls, bats, bat fragments, cleats, Kerry Woods' glove) moving at high speeds and in unpredictable trajectories, involves a certain level of risk

"ping" is not the proper sound of a baseball bat

[Jim Underwood]

And our kids would learn something about wood and where wood products come from instead of thinking it all comes from the store....

[Zach England]

And our kids would learn something about wood and where wood products come from instead of thinking it all comes from the store....

I would so rather make kids smelt and machine their own aluminum bats...

[Zach England]

Actually that kind of sounds fun

[Toney Robertson]

This is valid, and my blanket statement about wooden bats being unsafe is correctly not completely accurate. What I should have said is that wooden bats pose different safety concerns than aluminum bats, especially to spectators. Since I don't wish to start a debate, let us agree on a few things:

if using a wooden bat, a bat with proper grain slope is safer than one without

baseball, with various objects (balls, bats, bat fragments, cleats, Kerry Woods' glove) moving at high speeds and in unpredictable trajectories, involves a certain level of risk

"ping" is not the proper sound of a baseball bat

We can agree on those points.

I will add that IMO the risks that wood bats generate is at a much lower level that the risks brought on board by high tech Al. bats.

Ironically, last night I was umpiring a varsity game when I smoking line drive came so close to the pitcher's head that it nipped the bill of his cap. Absolutely NO time to react. We were 4" from a tragedy.

I myself, a couple of years ago, had to dive out of the way of a line drive and I am 20 feet farther away than the pitcher. I have seen little league kids lunged at an outside pitch with just a poke at it swing and it goes over the fence at 200 feet.

I have coached and umpired baseball for 20 years and Al. should be banned, period. Unfortunately there is too much money in it and no matter what is said, kid's safety comes second.

Toney

[Steve Mawson]

Toney,
Couldn't agree more, my thoughts exactly.

[Don Alexander]

i have played in an adult MSBL baseball league here in NC for the last 9 years the first 6 of which aluminum bats were used and the last 3 of which we switched to wood. while there is still risk involved the number of screaming liners impacting or narrowly missing pitchers has dropped off by a factor of at least 95% there is no doubt in my mind that the switch to wood bats has made our league safer and the side benefit to that is we got rid of that annoying "ting" sound of an aluminum bat hitting the ball

:D

[Toney Robertson]

i have played in an adult MSBL baseball league here in NC for the last 9 years the first 6 of which aluminum bats were used and the last 3 of which we switched to wood. while there is still risk involved the number of screaming liners impacting or narrowly missing pitchers has dropped off by a factor of at least 95% there is no doubt in my mind that the switch to wood bats has made our league safer and the side benefit to that is we got rid of that annoying "ting" sound of an aluminum bat hitting the ball

:D

Don,

Thanks for the real life input. Did you ever see the Real Sports on HBO segment on this subject back a few years? The stats they imparted were sobering to me.

First the NCAA and I believe Fed (High School) does not require reporting when pitchers are hit with a batted ball. How can an organization that is supposed to exist in large part for the student athlete not required that? I can tell you why - $$$$$$.

Second the Minn. coach was on there and stated that he had gunned batting practice and had gotten readings of 116 mph ball exit speed. During BATTING PRACTICE when the pitch is not coming at 85-95 mph and most of the time the batter is not swinging his hardest either. The segment stated that any BES (Ball exit speed) over 95, the pitcher does not have enough time to react. The BES for wood rarely exceeds that level.

Minn. had a pitcher that in a game threw a curve ball to a batter that waited on the pitch and nailed it. Now this is a curve ball with not nearly as much energy as a fastball. The pitcher moved his glove maybe half way to his face and he was hit right in the eye socket. Shattered the bone around the eye but thankfully or miraculously he did not lose his sight. It took all kinds of metal to piece him back together and he had imprints of the stitches in his skin from the ball for TWO weeks.

They tried this BESR for high school bats (maybe NCAA too) but it is a joke. Yes, at the set levels Al performs the same as wood but the set points are ridiculous. I forget the exact points but it was something like a pitch speed of 65 mph and a swing speed of 75. That is little league levels. As the pitch speed and the swing speed increase so does the BES of both bats but while the BES of wood bats climbs on a gentle curve the BES for Al bats climbs VERY steeply and that is why you get BES of 116 mph for Al while wood would be more like 90 mph.

I am sorry for high jacking this thread but as you can tell this is a subject that I feel passionately about and the original comment about wood bats and their "inherent danger" just hit a chord.

Toney

[Ron Thompson]

I've found a supplier for bats with very fair prices and shipping. I've also requested that they offer 1/2 bats for projects and awards ( cut or swliced down the center )

My order should be here any day. I plan to engrave (high speed dental drill) bats for both of my grandsons. I'll post some photos when I'm done.

Contact:
John R Hadley
Blembats
Arlington, TX 76012

817-460-9443 (tel:817-460-9443)
blembats dot net (http://www.blembats.net/)
bats@blembats dot net "Quality Wood Bats at Affordable Prices!"

Ron Thompson
San Jose, CA

[Bill Bulloch]

I have gotten Hard Rock Suger Maple Bat Billets from Walter Ambrosch at www.gonebattybats@gmail.com (http://www.gonebattybats@gmail.com). He has Ash also. A real nice guy; you'll enjoy doing business with him.

[Reed Gray]

A big second on the bat blanks from Walter. I am now on my second pallet from him. I got the pallet load for less than $15 per blank, including shipping, and he can send a mixed bag of woods as well. The blanks are great for a bunch of projects from rolling pins, Irish potato mashers, boxes, sour kraut pounders, boxes, spinning tops, I even got a couple of guitar necks and fret boards out of some of them. It makes a great club or group purchase.

robo hippy

[James B Green]

I have made several bats, about a dozen, so not an expert by any means. I have used maple and ash. My son and his teammates use them mainly for batting practice. The wood bats have a smaller 'sweet spot' than composite/aluminum bats and this teaches them to hit the ball more consistently on the barrel.
Maple is more popular these days as it seems to have more 'pop'. On the downside the maple has more of a tendency to break into pieces were the ash tends to split.
As stated earlier there is an inherent risk playing sports. I don't think that a wood bat poses any greater risk than a metal bat. My advise would be to copy the dimensions of a similar size bat that you intend to make. The biggest mistake would be to have the handle too thin. Otherwise as long as there are no defects in the wood I see no issue with someone using a homemade bat.
I have ordered billets from woodbillets.com (http://www.woodbillets.com)
if you are up for some interesting projects look at these laminated bats at davyjonesbats.com (http://www.davyjonesbats.com)

[Fred Perreault]

I have been actively involved in the Cape Cod Baseball League for 35+ years. It was the first summer collegiate league to return to wooden bats after years of using aluminum. Wood is a far safer baseball bat media than aluminum, and the scouts want to see the kids use the same material to hit with and pitch against as they will see in the minors and majors. The initial velocity off of aluminum, as well as the greater sweet spot makes hitting easier, pitching more difficult, and life more unsafe than with wood. On top of that, the major bat manufacturers try to obtain the best of the ash and maple wood available for their own use. Most woodworkers know what is the better grades of dense hardwood, and the bat makers would like it too. I have spent some time modifying and customising bats for the summer kids, and some that went on to the minors, mostly thinner handles and cupped ends where they weren't cupped. There are major league specs for bats, but much can be done inside of the requirements. The future of maple bats is in question, especially at the pro level. Decades ago, black locust was not uncommon, nor was hickory. There are no current rules aginst using those woods that I know of. I have made bats of both, and there was very little objection. The batter wants to have feel, and light weight.

[William Bachtel]

Steve Wall lumber in NC sells Ash baseball blanks with the correct grain direction.