Best way to rip a baseball bat in half

[Matt Ocel]

Hey - any suggestions on the best way to rip a wood baseball bat in 1/2?
I gotta cut 4 of them. I was thinking a taper jig on the B.S., but how do you keep it from moving off center?

[David DeCristoforo]

"Best way to rip a baseball bat in half"

Hit a fastball with the logo facing forward.....

YM

[Leo Graywacz]

Shouldn't be to hard to build a jig like that. Use a 1/2" piece of MDF for the jigs base. Make a wall that would confine the side to side movement on both sides of the bat. Then have a front an back piece that trap the bat front to back. These front and back traps should be taller by about an 1" or 2" than your sawblade height. Then take the jig center it on the tablesaw blade and lock your fence. You might want to put a couple of stretchers across the two walls to hold the bat down. As long as the bats are the same size you should be able to use the jig on all of them. If not, make it for the bigger bat and them shim accordingly for the smaller bats.

[Ron Dunn]

Curious question ... why?

[Matt Ocel]

Yoshikuni - That would be a crosscut. I need to rip it. LOL

[Paul Girouard]

I'd screw it to a 3 sided sled , bottom , side , and end , insuring the screws where placed , and / or short enough to not hit the blade. You'd have to eye ball the " 1/2 " size of the bat then run the sled and attached at thru the table saw.

Pretty simple , IF your comfortable operating a table saw.

[Matt Ocel]

Ron - it is for a clients basement remodel, they will be installed on a wall and when he entertains, he wants the players to sign them.

[Matt Ocel]

Paul - I would rather cut on the bandsaw as the curf is smaller.

[Paul Girouard]

Same idea if your bandsaw has a fence , a straight edge guide ti run the sled against would work as well . Most Bandsaws tend to wander , a thin kerf blade in a table saw would give a truer line / cut.

But like I said the sled idea and band saw would work , IF it was a good bandsaw

[Matt Ocel]

Roger that! Oh by the way working on uploading pictures of church pews that have to be mitered together

[Ron Dunn]

Matt, thanks for the explanation ... nice idea :)

[Charlie Plesums]

I would use a table saw with blade at 45 degrees to cut a V groove in a block of wood like a 2x4, then set the bat in the groove and bandsaw away. You could tack a scrap of plywood on the bottom to reuse the jig (especially if you have lots of long narrow scraps of plywood like I do.)

[David DeCristoforo]

Yoshikuni - That would be a crosscut. I need to rip it. LOL

Well what all those other guys said is good. That's what I would have said if I'd realized what you meant....

:rolleyes:
YM

[Gary Herrmann]

I think I'd still use a bandsaw. Cutting something like that on the tablesaw would give me the willies.

[Jason Beam]

Matt,

Take a piece of something fairly thick - 1 1/2" or so - like maybe a 2x6 that's about 6" longer than your bat.

Bevel your TS to 45 degrees and rip that 2x6 in half. Now flip one half end for end and you've got yerself a V-groove. Take some scrap and nail each end together (kinda like the way a table saw sled is held together). Make sure you secure the 2nd one AFTER you've set it on your bandsaw (with the blade in the v-groove). This is that extra 6" on the ends. Yer bat can now rest nicely in the v-groove and slice away. You could even set up a fence if you want to help keep that cut as straight as possible.

This could also be adapted to a tablesaw if need be, but I'd still use the bandsaw for this - too easy to have something twist and then you get a kickbat!

[Mike Heidrick]

I would cut it on a bandsaw and than take a couple shallow passes on the jointer to flatten it up.

[Bernie May]

glue two pieces of the wood you want the bat made from using the paper between the pieces. Turn the bat on the lathe and then split the pieces. furniture makers use this technique.

[Rich Engelhardt]

Hello Matt,

Hey - any suggestions on the best way to rip a wood baseball bat in 1/2?
I gotta cut 4 of them
Regardless of the method you use (I used a bandsaw on something similar), you don't want to cut the bat exactly in half.
You want to cut it maybe 60/40.
One part - the 60 - is the presentation piece and the other - the 40 - is scrap.

You know those maple and/or oak rails they sell at the borg for decoration? I got the bright idea of cutting one in half and mounting it as a decorative edge.
It didn't turn out all that well.
After the fact, I looked at some furniture pieces with faux legs mounted flush on a flat piece, and discovered my mistake.

[Matt Ocel]

Rich - Thanks for the advice. I didn't want to waste 1/2 a bat, but I like your idea and my client can get as many bats as he needs

[glenn bradley]

45* slot in a blank large enough to support the bat. The fact that the bussiness end is large than the handle will not matter on this plane. Hot glue him in a few spots along the length and bandsaw him.

[John Yogus]

I believe I received something from this company a short while ago that said they sold 1/2 baseball bats. I looked on their site, but didn't see anything listed. It would be worth an email as I'm almost positive it was these guys. www.gonebatty.net (http://www.gonebatty.net) It would be the easiest and if I remember the cost was pretty good. If not, maybe they can do something for you reasonable as they are a bat/bat billet company. Good luck.

[Paul Girouard]

Oh by the way working on uploading pictures of church pews that have to be mitered together



Hows that going? Photo buckets way faster :D than SMC if that's where / what your waiting for it / to load them.:confused:

[Rick Gifford]

Hello Matt,

Regardless of the method you use (I used a bandsaw on something similar), you don't want to cut the bat exactly in half.
You want to cut it maybe 60/40.
One part - the 60 - is the presentation piece and the other - the 40 - is scrap.

I think this is a great idea. The peice would look better on the wall that way allowing the shape of the bat to stand out.

You could also joint it down to size.

[Ron Thompson]

I've been looking for cut baseball bats for some time now. Just found a source on Ebay.

[Jim Neeley]

I would use a table saw with blade at 45 degrees to cut a V groove in a block of wood like a 2x4, then set the bat in the groove and bandsaw away. You could tack a scrap of plywood on the bottom to reuse the jig (especially if you have lots of long narrow scraps of plywood like I do.)

I'm thinking the key is to build a jig that will "clamp" the bat still, with the jig having a flat side to run on the saw's table.

Like Charles, I'd use the V-groove technique except I'd use a 2x6 or 2x8 and I'd make 2 of them.

I'd lay the bat on top of one and place the second atop the bat.

I'd then screw a few wood screws on each side, placed near the outer edges of the 2x. If you pre-drill the hole through the top board a little bit larger than the screw, it'll slide right through and when you screw it into the bottom 2x, it'll tighten the clamp. I'd end up with something an inch or two thicker than the diameter of the bat (5"-6").

I would then cut this with a bandsaw, with its ability to make a deep cut. I'd use my BS fence (aligned to compensate for blade wander).

Just another approach.

[Todd Burch]

I would cut it on a bandsaw and than take a couple shallow passes on the jointer to flatten it up.

I've done several just like Mike suggests. Free hand rip on the bandsaw and a pass or two on the jointer and BAM! Next project! I used Shaker Pegs to make hat racks. They are very popular. The bats I used I had picked up at garage / estate sales, and I chose ones with names of baseball legends.

Todd

[Lee Schierer]

I've never done this but I did sleep at a Holiday Inn once..... Take a piece of scrap lumber with straight edges. Use a hot melt glue gun and glue the bat to the wood and the saw the bat on a band saw, An L shaped sled would work even better. Once the bat is sawed in half you can remove the hot melt glue.

[Chris Padilla]

So how would you cut a baseball in half? :p

[Alan Lightstone]

This is the only way I've ever seen:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YZVNHI0awN4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V7qqEURbs2U

[Andy Pratt]

You don't have to screw into the bat or glue it, although those methods will work too. I would cut a V notched piece of wood the length of the bat, the deeper the notch the easier it will be to keep true, you will waste this notched wood in the process so use something cheap. I would make sure the board has flat, parallel sides before cutting the notch as this will make it easier to keep things lined up while cutting.

Mark a line down the center line of the bat, rip it on the bandsaw by eye, eating the line down the middle. Don't use the fence unless you're really confident in your blade/setup/machine, in which case you can use it and don't have to mark the bat. Clean up the band sawn sides on the jointer or carefully with a belt sander if you don't have a jointer or are worried about chipout on the end.

I think that if you do it this way carefully you can lose 1/8" or less total on the bat, but you will lose some no matter what so you should do the 60/40 recommendation if that loss of perceived width will look wrong in your final application. If using the 60/40 line as a cut, my method would be harder to do since the blade will tend to want to wander more due to cutting into the bat at a side angle and not going through the center of the V-notch.

hope this helps,
Andy

[Bas Pluim]

Some plastic wrap around the bat, a piece of plywood and a can of expanding foam would make for a quick and easy cradle.

[Robert Willing]

Tilt the bandsaw table at 45 degrees, bring up your fence from the bottom to form a "V" . Bend a piece of sheet metal to make a guide behind the blade and slide one part of the sheet metal under the fence to hold it in place, now lay the bat in the "V" groove and cut away, when the bat enters the sheet metal which is aligned with the blade it will keep it straight.

[Darius Ferlas]

How about this?
Threaded rod could be replaced with a clamp, if practical.