The Wall Street Journal Shows Us How Louisville Slugger Makes Their Famous Bats
The “MLB Prime” wood bat, made by Louisville Slugger, is made of sugar maple. The process begins with the bat running through a locatelli CNC Lathe, which cuts the wood into a bat shape. Next the bat goes through five different rows of sandpaper.
Then, the worker cuts off the nubs and sands the end until it’s smooth. After that, the bat must be cupped before it goes through a filler process. Finally, the Louisville Slugger logo (and other stampings, if needed) is stamped onto the bat. Watch and learn!
The Discovery Channel Shows Us How To Make An Aluminum Bat
Aluminum bats start with aluminum rods that are sliced into short chunks called blanks. Those blanks are put into a lathe with a computerized drill. The drill will then spin and drill a hole in the blanks. Then a shaping devices is jammed into the hole in the blank causing it to stretch to two times the size of of the previous hole. Then the stretched blanks tumble into a big perforated drum so the workers can lower them into a tank of soapy water.
Next, another shaping device is jammed into the stretched blank. The aluminum blank then stretches to the full length and width of a baseball bat. After it is stretched, a technician makes sure the bat is straight. Then the bat goes into another lathe that uses a blade to cut the bat down to size. The worker then puts the bat into a holding device to trim the end of the bat before it goes through a sanding machine. For painting, the bat workers use heavy duty paint. Next the bat is locked into a silk screen machine to apply the trademark information.
Workers then take the bat to the decal department for the decals. After the decals are placed onto the bat, it goes back for a coat of special paint before workers place the end cap into the hollow barrel. The next-to-last step is welding the aluminum knob onto the handle of the bat. Last, the workers add a layer of synthetic leather to the handle of the bat for the grip. You can watch the fascinating process below!
http://youtu.be/do2-fx8kUJE
Watch a Custom Pro Maple Bat Made By Hand Using An X Y Machine
The first step is to weigh the maple. Then the approved maple is placed into a special lathe called an “X Y machine.” The worker then weighs the plank to see if it is the size that the player ordered before placing it into another X Y machine to shape the bat.
Now the bat is weighed yet again (this is quite an important and precision process). Next the end of the bat is trimmed down to size. Then the worker checks the slope of the bat and trims the bat if it is not down to the correct size. The worker then curves the barrel and shapes the knob before sanding the bat.
Finally, the barrel is cupped and painted before the decal department adds all the brand names and stamps on the model number. Watch the process below!
http://youtu.be/p5EDJ_SsEcw
How a Handcrafted Marucci Bat Goes from a New York Amish Wood Mill to the Louisiana Factory
Brett Laxton of Marucci Bats has handcrafted over 100,000 bats, including the one used by Albert Pujols. Part of this video (we skipped to the good stuff) shows the large wood logs being delivered and then sanded down into handmade bats. It’s a beautiful site for us bat lovers!