Billet aluminum bat

[Aukai]

I would like to turn a ~22" aluminum bat out of 2" bar stock. Is it going to be an exercise in dial turning coordination, or is there a better way to do it? Wooden bats splinter, and hollow Al bats cave in when breaking 50 lb bags of ice that are bagged, then re frozen. There tends to be a some what thick layer of solid ice on the bottom, or side, depending on how it gets stored in the freezer.

 

[dpb]

Assuming a conventional lathe, there’s a large handful of ways to do it. If I was making a single unit, I’d probably just sketch it on graph paper, and make a bunch of untapered turning cuts, then file and sand it to the finish profile. Shouldn’t take all that long.

 

[Aukai]

I was wondering about that too, maybe I need to look into a course wood turning file.

 

[mmcmdl]

At World Series time, in Dolgeville: Baseball history has turned on bats made in this plant

Wishing bats made in Dolgeville still carried a 'pro ring.'

www.syracuse.com

Mike . This place is located in town where my property is up in NY . We took 3 boys along with my son and toured the factory for their high school project years back . All bats are still hand made out of Ash . Nothing beats a good piece of Ash !


Did I just say that ?

 

[Tozguy]

Wooden bats splinter, and hollow Al bats cave in when breaking 50 lb bags of ice

What about if you start with a regular bat (wood or aluminum) and put a steel sleeve over it?
Or just a length of steel pipe?

 

[higgite]

Have you ever used a fungo bat? Long skinny handle, regular size near the end of the barrel in the impact zone. We used to use them to hit fly balls to the outfielders during practice. You get a lot of leverage with less effort than a normal bat. Same principle as a hammer. If you want to make something similar of aluminum but don’t want to mess with tapers, you could do skinny handle with a knob on the grip end and a larger diameter “sweet spot” and round off the edges so they don’t tear the bags. Just a thought.

Tom

 

[pontiac428]

I had a hard enough time trying to think about what a body might need 600 lbs. of ice for... In fact, if I ever find myself in that position, it would be time for an intervention. Then again, I could start a late career as a kidney thief. Then I'd have a second use for a solid core t-ball bat.

 

[derf]

Personally, I'd use a pick hammer.....

 

[Aukai]

The pick hammer would break the ice slabs, but you still need to keep the bag intact, and break the cubes loose with another tool(bat), then transfer the bag to dump it out without the bag breaking. In the close confines of a boat, a long swing is not always practical, and you would have to choke up on the bat. I ran this boat for close to 25 years as my part time job, here's a couple of pictures.The fish box was under the deck with 1' above, so the walking space was narrow.

 

[higgite]

In the close confines of a boat, a long swing is not always practical, and you would have to choke up on the bat.

Mike, if you're referring to my fungo suggestion, I was thinking of a shorter version that could be easily wielded with one hand. Something along the lines of this priest.


Tom