how to make a cricket bat

step 1: put the pre-made cleft in your vice (with soft jaws) and get your drawknife and start pulling off or shaping the willow with the drawknife.



step 2: using the plane as well shape the toe and driving area and make sure your bat has a sweet spot! Willow comes off very easy and quickly so make sure you don't take to much willow off and ruin your bat profile.



step 3: sanding, sanding your bat takes the most time out of all the steps, using hand sanding takes alot of time. and use corase then mdeium then finer sand papers.



step 4: if you own a buffer try and wax and buff your bat but only if you no what you are doing.



step 5: brush the handle with pva wood working glue (it does work very well) and and hand twine your handle.



step 6: using a gripping cone add a grip to the bat.

Spokeshave/Travisher

The travisher is used for creating concave shapes in the back of the cricket bat. You can yet various different radius' of travisher. Most batmakers use a No4 and No5 travisher, the larger the number the more curved the concave is that it creates.

Spokeshaves are used to shape the shoulders and the handle of the cricket bat but can be used anywhere on the cleft.

travisher (first picture) spokeshave (second picture)

Drawknife

Drawknifes are used for shaving willow off the cleft quickly, and can also be used to take thin shavings depending on how the blade is angled. A drawknife must be extremely sharp to ensure it makes precise cuts, this means it often the most dangerous tool in a Podshaver's workshop. The drawknife is pulled towards the batmaker "shaving" off willow from the cleft. Batmakers usually wear leather aprons as it is very easy to cut yourself when pulling the blade towards you. Drawknifes usually take quite coarse cuts but these can be smoothed out using a good plane.

Stuff you need to make a cricket bat.

Cricket bat making is quite and expensive hobby so be sure you have a good amount of dough before you start. The easiest way to make a cricket bat is to buy a part-made bat from a small cricket company (like Fisher bats http://www.fisherbats.com.au), part-made bats are already pressed and fitted with a handle. Otherwise you spend thousands of dollars buying pressing machines and band saws. Anyway this is how you make a cricket bat from a part-made bat.

Firstly this about what you need:

- Sandpaper various grades
- Binding material (& possibly how you are going to do it, you can hand bind)
- Something to shape shoulders and handle if required (rasp/draw knife)
- Something to sharpen tools with
- Good vice and soft jaws so you don't damage your bat
- A good sturdy bench - when you start shaving with your draw knife the bench will move
- Some soft lead pencils if following lines (an eraser)
- Cloths for oiling
- An idea of what weight of bat you are going to make
- Cricket bat grips and gripping cone