Wooden baseball bats are the standard for MLB players. But how to make a wooden baseball bat is something that not many knows.
It might seem difficult but with a few simple steps and a proper guide anyone can make their own wooden baseball bat at home. As baseball enthusiast we have created the best guide for making baseball bats.
In fact, you can think of it as more of a woodturning project than anything else.
Table of Contents
How to make a wooden baseball bat?
We will help you turn the wooden baseball bat payable using some steps below. These 5+ steps will effectively help to make a wooden baseball bat playable.
But before starting the process, you must collect practical tools which will help you make the baseball bat. The tools you will be needing are:
- Blank piece of wood
- Lathe
- Chisels (Roughing gauge)
- Pencil
- Sandpaper (60-600 grit)
- Stain and varnish
Step 1: Choose your wood piece
The first thing you have to do is to take blank hard maple wood. However, you can take anything other than wood if you want. But try to select wood that is tighter and stronger.
The length of the wood should be 37 inches, width and height should be 3 inches. Pick a marker or pencil and mark it on the wood’s center.
Draw a line from the start to the end of the wood that goes from the center.
Step 2: Mark the wood
Now mark the whole wood in a diameter. Drawing the bat correctly will help you to shape the bat properly.
Each diameter should be pointed out by 4 inches. Mark the blank wood in 8 parts. Your marking should be at 4, 8, 12, 16, 20, 24, 28, and 32 inches. At each part you also need to decide the diameter: from 1” to 2½” or 2⅝” with the knob being 2”.
Have you done it? If yes, then let’s continue.
Step 3: Load it into lathe
At this step you need to load the piece of wood into the lathe. You need to take care while setting up the tools to avoid injuries. If you need help talk with other woodturning specialist or the hardware store keeper.
After setting the wood on the lathe, it will start spinning. Once it starts spinning, you can begin the cutting process.
Keep your eyes on the lathe always while the process, and take your time.
Step 4: Turn it into a cylinder
With everything set up and ready we will use a roughing gauge to chisel into the wood.
It’s a chisel that will help you to cut the chunk of wood to give it a round shape. Now cut every 4 inches in diameter carefully. Ensure that the wood is a symmetric cylinder.
Once that is completed make diameter cuts at every four inches.
Step 5: Connect the diameter cuts
At this point we will be chiselling out the barrel of your wooden baseball bat with the roughing gauge. Remember the diameters we had selected at the beginning we will be following that to make the barrel.
For the barrel we will need to connect the cuts we have made in the previous step for the first 12 inches.
Step 6: Make the baseball bat handle
Once the barrel is done, we will move to making the handle of your wooden baseball bat. Narrow down the handle end of the bat. It should be 2 inches.
Again, make diameter cuts at 4 inches for the handle just like we did for the barrel. To make the diameter cut we will need a skew chisel and not a roughing gauge.
To connect the cuts, use a gauge chisel. Start from the barrel and make your way to the handle.
The final part of turning the wood to a baseball bat is to make the knob of the bat. Using different chisels round out the ends of the knob.
Step 7: Use sandpaper to smooth it out
This is the real final step of making a wooden baseball bat. To start check if there are any bumps. If there are any use a gauge to smoothen it out.
Use sandpaper to make the whole bat smooth with different grits. Start with 60 to 80 grit for rough work. Then go from 120 to 180 to 220 and finally 400 grit to make it as smooth as possible.
These is roughly how you can make a wooden baseball bat. All that is left to do is varnish and wax your baseball bat. Use a parting tool and hacksaw to cut either ends of the bat and sandpaper to smooth the ends.
How long does it take to make a wooden baseball bat?
Within one week (sometime it varies), a wooden baseball bat can be made out. Now it can take a short or longer time that we mention.
It depends on you and your capability to make the baseball bat.
Frequently Asked Questions(FAQs)
Which is the best to make a baseball bat from?
Since all pro players use the best baseball bats you might want to know which is the best wood for bats when making one yourself. To make a wooden bat you can use many different kinds of woods as each have their own special qualities.
Maple, Ash, and Birch are traditionally the best choices for wooden baseball bats but there are brands that makes a blend of wood types to make high quality bats.
Why are wooden bats the best for baseball?
There are many reasons for why wooden bats are the best and is more liked compared to metal or composite bats. For example, you get a more balanced feel from wooden bats and they deliver greater amounts of natural power.
Additionally, wooden bats will get you more feedback from every hit which is something you won’t be getting from metal bats.
Conclusion
The guide we have given you on how to make a wooden baseball bat should be enough to make a basic, good quality baseball bat quite easily.
Our guide takes inspiration from some of the best wooden baseball bat manufacturer in the world. So have fun and make a bat that you can be proud to take to the field.
