Cricket Bat Repairs

[DCC_legend]

Just wondering about sanding down the face of my bat. I've had a bit of bat tape on the face for just over a year and peeled it off today and the face is now sticky. I want to sand the face down and knock the bat in and re-apply oil to prepare it for this season. What type of sand paper would be best to both smooth the face and give it a nice finish?

Cheers.

[Naumaan]

No Idea
but i would say, buy a new Bat sir

[DCC_legend]

Great help there, sir.

[SportsHorizons]

Hi DCC,

You need to use a blade or old smooth knife to scrape the glue off the face and edges of the bat. If you use sand paper to take off the glue, the glue will clogg up, and it will take you too long to clean your bat. Once you can feel the bat is smooth and non-sticky, you can then lightly sand the face of your bat and oil the bat.

[Naumaan]

Great help there, sir.

lol

[IrishOpener]

*Bump*

Just bought a Kookaburra Kahuna 800, it recommends using a 180 grade sandpaper to give the face of the bat a light sanding.

Nobody seems to stock that light of finish. Would emery paper also work?, it's used on metals I think. So must be a very fine grade.

Would you guys be okay using emery paper?...

[SportsHorizons]

If you can't find normal wood sand paper then the emery paper should fine to finish off the smoothing off of the cricket bat. You may need to do a bit more sanding to get it smooth as the grit will be very different from normal wood sand paper. Remember you are dealing with Willow, so you shouldn't be able to damage the bat badly at all if the emery paper does not work.
What are you wanting to actually do with the bat?
Have you oiled the face of the bat yet?

[IrishOpener]

If you can't find normal wood sand paper then the emery paper should fine to finish off the smoothing off of the cricket bat. You may need to do a bit more sanding to get it smooth as the grit will be very different from normal wood sand paper. Remember you are dealing with Willow, so you shouldn't be able to damage the bat badly at all if the emery paper does not work.
What are you wanting to actually do with the bat?
Have you oiled the face of the bat yet?

I'm oiling that bat now, it's pre prepared so not sure how many coats to put on. The guy from Kookaburra said one if that, then another person recommended 2 maybe 3 coats.

Then knock it in for 2 hours, then to sand the bat very lightly on the face,

Then try take it to a net with defensive shots and a very old cricket ball. If the marks appear then go back to the previous step of knocking it in some more with a mallet...

(2nd Question)

When knocking it in, I do hit lightly at first onto the face of the bat, and directly onto the edges of the bat themselves?. Gradually becoming harder with the blows...

[SportsHorizons]

For your conditions, an extra 2 coats of oil should be adequate.

The sanding should be done before the 1st coat of oil is applied, this is to expose the willow for oiling. Then apply the 1st coat of oil and leave to settle over night lying face up. You can knock in the bat the next day. Apply the 2nd coat of oil the next night and leave to settle again overnight.
The most important areas to knock in are the edges and the toe area of the face. These are the most vulnerable areas of the bat. Start knocking in softly and gradually get harder the longer you knock these areas in. The edges need to be rounded by the knocking in process. Once rounded these edges will be hard enough to not dent too much when you hit a new or harder ball directly on the edge. Directly on the edge is any shot at a 45 deg angle to the face of the bat. You do not need to knock in the flat part of the edges as this is an area that should be directly hitting the ball in any case.

The face of the bat does need to be knocked in initially, but will not require as much work as the toe and edges as the middle will get knocked in the more the bat is used in practice. So any seam marks on the face of the bat will disappear as the rest of the face is knocked in with play.

Top quality bats are not pressed as much nowadays due to the performance the willow can offer, but if you want the bat to last you for a longer period it is advisable to knock the bat in over a period of 2 weeks before being played with against new balls in a match or nets.

If you do not feel confident that the bat is ready for new balls, then continue to knock the bat in until you are confident in the bat.

[Hurricane]

best post,.

[uvelocity]

180 grit should be easy to find. if not the difference between 160 or 200, going up or down slightly will be too small to worry.

[Burgey]

Burgeinho has a new stick again this year. on the basis that the old one was "a bit too small, dad". Anyway, the usual problem with the rubber toe guard peeling off on one side.

What do you blokes reckon? Glue it or just get rid of the thing?

[benchmark00]

Burgeinho has a new stick again this year. on the basis that the old one was "a bit too small, dad". Anyway, the usual problem with the rubber toe guard peeling off on one side.

What do you blokes reckon? Glue it or just get rid of the thing?

Get rid of it. Will only damage the bat if he's playing on concrete pitches (no synthetic covering) and he bangs it really hard.

[Burgey]

He's on synthetic decks, but I was leaning towards getting rid of it anyway. Cheers.

[Cricket Bat]

A solvent such as Shellite can be useful to get rid of the frustrating sticky residue when trying to clean bats and cricket gear. Don't overdo it though.