Turn a Classic Wooden Bat

Learn how to beat the chatter.

- Alan Lacer

Almost every common wood has been used for bats at one time or another. However, a few species dominate the history of the sport. Traditionally northern ash has been the wood of choice, but currently— at least in the pros—it is a neck-and-neck race with hard maple. A few bats are still made of hickory and beech. For this project, I suggest buying a blank of ash or maple that has been graded for bats. The reason is not only superior performance, but also safety. A bat made from a graded bat blank is less likely to break in use.

Bat blanks are graded differently from regular furniture grade lumber. First, only straight-grained wood from slow-growing trees of moderate size make the grade. The blank must have tight, evenly spaced growth rings and be free of flaws like knots. The best blanks are often split from the log rather than sawn in order to follow the grain perfectly. Extra care is taken in the drying of bat blanks to create an even distribution of moisture throughout the entire thickness.

Tools and Supplies

To make a full-size baseball bat you will need a lathe that can handle lengths up to 36 between centers. For Little League bats, a lathe with shorter capacity will work just fine. It is best to have a live center at the tailstock end, and drive with either a spur or cup drive. If you are duplicating a bat, you will need to fabricate a simple V-block system to hold the master bat (the one being duplicated) directly behind your blank.

The bat can be turned with three tools: a spindle-roughing gouge (1 1 /4 to 1 3 /4), a parting tool ( 1 /4 wide) and a spindle/detail gouge ( 3 /8 or 1 /2). If you are comfortable using a skew, a large one (1 to 1 1 /2) can be added as an option for smoothing the shape and rounding the end of the barrel.