Things You'll Need:
- wood lathe
- gouges
- safety goggles
- template of a bat that you like
- calipers
- table saw
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Step 1
First thing that you must have is a template of the bat that you like, of the correct length and taper. You can get this by taking measurements of a bat that you already own, or by looking on the internet for bat dimensions.
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Step 2
Choose a blank (a raw board typically made of ash for bats). The blank must be approximately 3 inches longer than the bat you desire to make, and the blank must be approximately 1/2 inch wider than the fattest part of the bat. Using a table saw rip the blank so that the end or cross section of the blank is perfectly square.
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Step 3
Find the center point of each end of the blank. This can be done by scribing a line from opposite corners of the end of the blank with a straight edge or a square. This will be the point you will attach the blank to the lathe.
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Step 4
Install the blank into the lathe and check the blank for wobble. to check for wobble turn the lathe to its slowest setting and turn on if the blank turns smoothly in the lathe it is good.
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Step 5
Once the blank is properly installed in lathe, with the lathe shut off, move the rest to within about 1/4 to 3/8 of an inch in proximity to the blank and turn the lathe on to its highest setting, and start rounding out the blank with your flat gouge.
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Step 6
Once the blank is round, with a pencil mark the blank for all of your transitions. The portion of the barrel where the taper begins, the ends of the bat, the beginning of the handle, and where the taper ends into the shaft of the bat.
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Step 7
These are your parting lines. With the parting gouge start working out your parting lines. Work the handle down to the desired shaft diameter, at the portion of the bat where the shaft meets with the taper work it down, so on and so forth checking with your calipers as you go. Remember that when working out the ends of the bat, that you don't cut all the way through. Just work it out till the point that the end of the bat flattens out and stop.
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Step 8
Once you have the parting lines worked down to their correct dimension, using the flat gouge remove the material between the parting lines until the transitions are smooth.
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Step 9
With sand paper sand the bat smooth, this is best done while still in the lathe, and still moving. First with a coarse grit, then a medium, and last a fine grit.
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Step 10
Remove the blank the bat from the lathe, and cut off the ends attached to the lathe spindles.
