The Art of Hand-Making Cricket Bats

By [http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=John_Markfield]John Markfield
The Art of Hand-Making Cricket bats
The art of hand-making cricket bats is known as podshaving. A cricket bat is traditionally made from willow wood, specifically from a variety of White Willow called Cricket Bat Willow. This wood is used as it is very tough and shock-resistant, while also being light in weight.
The stages of making a handmade cricket bat are as follows:
Select the timber, choosing mature trees (between 15-30 years old) & then cut the timber into rounds.
Using woodworking machinery, the cleft will undergo various machining processes to be cut into the basic blade shape. Each willow cleft is unique, so great skill is required to produce the basic shape. Once the blade has been correctly graded and machined, the next stage is the pressing.
In the woodworking pressing process, the fibres have to be compressed to strengthen the timber to withstand the impact of the ball. This process is a balance between strengthening, but still leaving the blade soft enough to play well.
The handle is secured using water resistant wood glue and is allowed to dry overnight.
The bat is next hand shaped by 'pulling off' the willow using a woodworking draw knife. Maximum wood will be kept in the driving area, whilst working the bat to establish the correct balance of the blade, during this action the balance will be tested as an ongoing process. The coarse cuts of the draw knife are smoothed using wooden planes. The toe end of the bat is shaped to an angle to allow for strength and protection.
The bat will then be both coarse and fine sanded.
The handle is bound using twine, then grips are fitted to the handle and labels are applied to the face, back and sides of the bat.
When first purchased most bats are not ready for immediate use and require knocking-in, to allow the soft fibres to strike a cricket ball without causing damage to the bat and allowing full power to be transferred to the shot. This involves striking the surface with an old cricket ball or a special hammer mallet. This compacts the soft fibres within the bat and reduces the risk of the bat snapping. It may also need linseed oil rubbed into the bat, this fills in the gaps in between the fibres.
A good bat correctly knocked in, ideally would last about 1000 runs including net use.
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