The Story of a Broken Bat

A few days ago I heard a chainsaw down the street.  You are probably wondering where I am going with this.  One of the reasons I started this blog is that I love wood.  Have all my life.  Like working with my hands and I am happiest when I am designing something new.  So a chainsaw to me means someone is cutting up a tree and a tree is wood.  Get it.  Some of my favorite wood to work in is found wood.  There is something about making something beautiful out of something that would have been discarded that appeals to me.  So even though it was cold I pulled on my jacket and headed off down the street.

Turns out I did not have far to go.  It was a neighbor just two doors down and he was indeed cutting down a sizable tree that was causing problems.  Then I realized it was a weeping willow tree.  One of the few trees that is really not worth anything not even firewood.  But as we stood and talked he came out of left center field (you will get the pun in a minute) with a question about could I carve anything from a broken baseball bat.  Most bats are made from ash, some from hickory and a few from maple.  Turns out what he had was ash.  I have never tried carving ash but told him I would give it a try.  He was interested in being able to salvage some small trinkets from the bats specifically if possible a cross.

So I ambled home with my new find and began to give it some thought.  How was I going to safely turn a round object into 1/2 inch slabs.  After a few shots it occurred to me to use my miter saw.  I only needed pieces about 5 inches long and the miter saw made quick work of getting me what I needed.  I laid out my first cross and the result is shown below.  The wood carved about like oak or mahogany and is not bad to work with. This particular cross I wanted to leave knife marks showing so that worked well as well.  All in all a pleasing project that took about two hours start to finish.  Knowing how I would carve this the next time it would probably take a little less.  But I am not good about repeating.  I like to keep trying new designs.

Here is the section of the bat I still have left.  A slab, the finished cross and an outer slab with a curve.  This particular bat was a Toronto Blue Jays version.

Here is a closeup of the cross.  I will be posting the pattern in the next few days as soon as I figure out how to set up a pattern section.  Patterns will be JPEGS.  Look for an article soon on how to re size using JPEGS.

I have a few more designs for these that will also begin showing up in the next few days.

For now though, go make some wood chips!

Bruce