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Looking for input on making a baseball bat

Randy Anderson

Randy Anderson

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I have a request (paying) to make a baseball bat. It will get used so needs to be functional and sturdy. He cracked the one he has so I have a temple to use. The one he broke is a glue up maple construction (DB-271 Hybrid Maple is the name) so intend to make it out of maple. I can find maple baseball bat blanks online but don't know anything about what to look for re grain orientation, etc. Any advice would be appreciated.

I see Rockler sells maple baseball bat blanks for a reasonable price with some good reviews. I assume the blanks are selected for use as a bat.
 
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Woodcraft also has 'baseball bat' blanks. You are wise to wonder if they're actually selected to be functional bats. Even professionally made bats break, so your buyer will have to accept some risk here.

John Torchick, another Tennessean from over in John Lucas' neck of the woods, used to make bats for his grandson who played up to the minor leagues. He hasn't posted on here for a while, but you might try locating him and see what he has to say.
 
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A glued-up maple bat? Absolutely straight grain is crucial, as noted above. Perhaps the glue-up was to get around runout with 'plywood'. An ash bat blank would be best if you can get one -- far superior to maple for durability -- bats were ash for many decades for good reason. I made several with ash for my grandson, based on my early 1960s Louisville Slugger Little League model Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris bats (preserved for decades in my parents' house).
 
A couple years ago we picked up a loaded pallet of bat blank cutoffs. The story on why now using ash when for years maple was prefered is that maple splinters dangerously while ash just breaks. It was a very interesting trip and there was lots more info imparted about bats.
 
When I grew up, ash was the overwhelming choice by everyone from little league through the majors. Major leaguers have preferred maple over ash for the last 20 years or so. Barry Bonds famously switched to maple on his way to his home run records. It is not due to an ash shortage but instead performance, in terms of how the ball flies off the bat. I suppose it can be traced to properties like stiffness, hardness, etc but don't know the the mechanics. Maple bat manufacturers claim that their bats resist breaking more than ash. I have never seen a glued-up ash bat but have seen glued maple and bamboo bats.
 
Here are a couple of pics of the glue up "maple hybrid" bat he broke. The wood core is different, not maple.
 

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Bat facts from the trip. Each player uses about 100 bats. When selecting out of those there will be three groups based on felt weight. game use, practice and rejects. Now think of how many teams and players in the pros and semi and see this is a big business.
 
Didn’t Babe Ruth use a hickory bat? if so, not likely to be used today as I expect it would be a very heavy bat! I’ve made ash bats before, but the team that bought them reported they didn't hit the ball as far as the aluminum bats they use.
 
Finished turning the bat today. Copied the dimensions from the one he broke. Figuring a few good coats of danish oil should be an OK finish for it.

Having some patio work done so the area behind my shop is a mess from the equipment and concrete work debris.
 

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Don, here's a couple of pics. Crack starts about 10" up front handle end of the bat. The black marks are my reference points for dimensions. At that part of the bat it's mostly all bamboo, at least that's what I think it is from the core at the other end. If you look at how it's made most all of the bat is bamboo and the maple is really only present on the hitting faces. I know nothing about the science of bats but seems they wanted the maple for where the ball strikes the bat but felt bamboo was a better material for the main structure of it. I mirrored the dimension of his so hoping an all maple bat doesn't require different widths and tapers. Too late now if it does.
 

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Randy Anderson said:
know nothing about the science of bats but seems they wanted the maple for where the ball strikes the bat but felt bamboo was a better material for the main structure
Click to expand...
I think the bamboo fibers would separate from hitting balls.
Bamboo is a remarkable material and comes in so many different species and sizes.
 
Decided to at least study a bit on bat specs. Seems there's a term called "bat drop" which is it's weight in oz minus it's length in inches. Needless to say the bat I made (39oz) weighs 10oz more than his hybrid does. Bamboo, majority of the mass of his original bat core, is a lot lighter. Mine is still under what seems to be the top end for bat weight of 3lbs. Mine is also outside the spec for bat drop but not sure how they would achieve that on a solid maple 33" bat unless the tapers are slight different toward the barrel end. I think the only regulation spec they pay attention to is overall diameter and overall length. I think the bat drop spec is just a design goal. I've also heard that bamboo core bats are not allowed in competitions so maybe he's closer to being in spec now than before. Nope, I'm not turning it more to meet the bat drop spec. It is what it is.
 
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hockenbery said:
I think the bamboo fibers would separate from hitting balls.
Bamboo is a remarkable material and comes in so many different species and sizes.
Click to expand...

I suspect that the bamboo is by far the strongest part of that bat. It is light but remarkably strong for its weight. It looks to me as if the maple failed just outside the bamboo-maple glue joint.
 
No warranty expressed or implied. My sanding and finishing will all be gone after the first time it gets slung into the gravel or the dugout floor. Oh well, as Richard Raffan says, make things people can use vs just look at.
 
Randy Anderson said:
Decided to at least study a bit on bat specs. Seems there's a term called "bat drop" which is it's weight in oz minus it's length in inches. Needless to say the bat I made (39oz) weighs 10oz more than his hybrid does. Bamboo, majority of the mass of his original bat core, is a lot lighter. Mine is still under what seems to be the top end for bat weight of 3lbs. Mine is also outside the spec for bat drop but not sure how they would achieve that on a solid maple 33" bat unless the tapers are slight different toward the barrel end. I think the only regulation spec they pay attention to is overall diameter and overall length. I think the bat drop spec is just a design goal. I've also heard that bamboo core bats are not allowed in competitions so maybe he's closer to being in spec now than before. Nope, I'm not turning it more to meet the bat drop spec. It is what it is.
Click to expand...
Randy, in case you get another request: I made two bats for my son-in-law and I did manage to meet the -3 drop with solid maple blanks, but only by cupping the ends and by being meticulous with the calipers and shaving off every possible 1/64th to the exact diameter specs along the entire length. I must say that this was the least enjoyable turning I have done: cut, measure, cut, measure over and over and over for hours, all with the predictable "one cut too far and it is firewood" anxiety.

Next time I will buy him whatever bat he wants.
 
Kevin Weir said:
Didn’t Babe Ruth use a hickory bat? if so, not likely to be used today as I expect it would be a very heavy bat! I’ve made ash bats before, but the team that bought them reported they didn't hit the ball as far as the aluminum bats they use.
Click to expand...
I don't think Hickory would be much different than ash for a bat. I believe whoever made it used what was locally available. Maple is the heaviest material for bats I know of, that is why the put the cup in the end.
 
Gord, I was able to get some of the weight off by cupping the end and drilling a bit deeper with a smaller forstner bit. I also went back and took a bit of the dia off the barrel but not touching the handle. It's still heavy but I'm not motivated to go back to the narrow handle and try to get a bit of mass off all the way down. He seems OK with it and knows it's a bit heavy. Yep, don't plan to do any more.
 
One could drill that hole in the barrel a bit deeper and fill with cork. Oh, wait. That's not allowed. (bamboo might be similar to cork)
MLB rules require wood bats, but I'm not sure they must be solid without laminations.
There are "hot" bats made with synthetic materials out there; very hi-tec. My geezer softball league doesn't allow their use.
 
Mike Zip Hamilton said:
One could drill that hole in the barrel a bit deeper and fill with cork. Oh, wait. That's not allowed. (bamboo might be similar to cork)
MLB rules require wood bats, but I'm not sure they must be solid without laminations.
There are "hot" bats made with synthetic materials out there; very hi-tec. My geezer softball league doesn't allow their use.
Click to expand...

The NCAA and high schools keep updating the rules for bats to make them more like wood. Ball coming of the bat faster than it is thrown is too dangerous.

Aluminum bats have a trampoline effect that adds speed to the batted ball beyond the balls’s bounciness that limits its speed off a wooden bat. Wood doesn’t compress like the aluminum whose return to shape speeds up the ball.
 
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