Cleaning and Conditioning Old Bats
 

I have read in a few places that an old bat can be cleaned and reconditioned by rubbing it with rubbing alcohol and then applying linseed oil. If so, should raw or boiled linseed oil be used? If the bat has a decal, is this procedure still ok or a bad idea? If ok, do you need to avoid touching the decal with the alcohol and/or oil?

Thanks,

Stuart

Matt or Fred Loweman are 2 of the bat experts here. On antiques that have decals or other applied items, some people cover it with a very small amount of vasaline as other oiled based products don't stick to it. I have never used it on a bat decal but hopefully they will chime in

I've personally never used rubbing alcohol on bats.. my guess is it would remove a lot of the finish, and the linseed would put it back on.

I use wood stripping products most and follow with lemon oil. There's other products I use, but I wouldn't recommend without seeing the bat you want to clean cause it could do some damage to foil stamped bats. You can also just try 000 steel wool and some lemon oil, that works well too.

Now the decal question.. that's a touchie subject. It depends on the condition of the decal itself. If its flaking you will end up rubbing it off. If you have a nice decal that's just dirty, I would send it down to Bill Rayburn. He's the best at cleaning decals. I WOULD NOT go near a decal with rubbing alcohol. I do put lemon oil on decals though and it does shine them up.

If you post a picture of the bat you want to clean, I will let you know my thoughts. There are some before and afters in this listing

http://www.ebay.com/itm/110597905576...84.m1555.l2649

I had worked for the Chicago Cubs in the 80's and legendary Cubs equipment manager Yosh Kowano would literally take all the bats that were left in storage at the end of the season and spread them over the floor of the clubhouse, on top of newspaper. He would then rub linseed oil onto each bat and allow it to dry before putting them back into storage for the trip to spring training. One never questions Yosh as to why he was doing something but it seemed he felt that linseed oil would protect the bats and keep them well seasoned for the cold winter storage and the trip to Arizona in the spring. I never have tried this with the bats I had in my possession but if it is good enough process for Yosh..........

I agree with Matt, I wouldn't use alcohol at all and certainly not on the decal. My experience with linseed oil is that it will never dry, it will remain tacky to the touch and attract dust and dirt. I am sure it is fine for keeping game bats over the winter but not bats for display. I am not really promoting business but if this bat is an early 1900's decal bat and you do not have prior experience restoring bats I would recommend seeking out the services of an experienced restorer. There are many products that can be used but not all are safe in any one application. You don't want to be making mistakes on a potentially valuable bat.

It depends on the type of wood, the type of oil and the humidity at the time you apply it. I've found this out the hard way when refinishing old pool cues. If anyone wants to discuss, PM your phone number. I have a buddy with a cue-building shop who specializes in oil finishes (as opposed to spray).

I have a 1910's Ty Cobb decal bat that is in pretty horrible shape, with no trace of decal remaining. When I start the restoration project, I'll keep careful 'before and after' pics. My main concern is how to repair the wood separation in the barrel.

Scott--Press on the grain separation with your fingers, if the separation goes back together you can carefully glue back together with a thin viscosity super glue. Let it wick into the wood and hold for a few seconds. Be sure an wipe off any excess before it drys. If the grain won't close you can lightly sand the sharp edges and smooth it a little. Wood filler gets mixed results, mostly bad but can work on occasions.

Thanks, Bill. The separation is kind of disastrous, which is why I'm even willing to mess with it - can't really hurt its value or appearance.

I have to take some old cues over to my friend's shop, so I will probably let him have a look at this bat as well.

If you are trying to repair some severe separation, you may want to try this:

Obtain a piece of flexible, sturdy material big enough to not quite wrap around the barrel of the bat. I used a flexible plastic 3-ring notebook cover.

Obtain about 6 screw-down radiator hose clamps.

Smear Elmer's wood glue between the grains. Don't overdo the glue.

After inserting glue, wrap with rigid material and clamps. Each clamp can be about an inch or so apart. Tighten clamps evenly and immediately wipe the excess glue away that squishes out. Don't overtighten. A word of caution, the wrap must be rigid enough to apply even pressure along the length of the barrel. Clamping too tight or using clamps without the rigid material could leave you with clamp marks or indentations in the wood. Be patient. Keep the clamps on for 24 hours.

To avoid dealing with removal of hardened glue, wipe the bat grain with a moist sponge after clamping. Be careful here or you'll have residue that may need more work or require sanding! Don't glue in an area under the wrap, since you can't wipe away the excess.

If you are really patient, glue just a couple grains at a time. Position your wrap so you can easily wipe away the excess glue. Again, the more glue you wipe away, the more trouble-free the finished product will be.

I've used this technique on a few bats. Results varied based on my patience and the amount of glue I failed to wipe away.

Thanks John. Unfortunately, mine is much more severe. Other than some dryness, the rest of the bat is very nice.

So is restoring bats acceptable to most bat collectors. I like things original myself but admit cleaned up they do look really nice. I can see both sides. Do restored or even cleaned bats sell for comparable prices to original untouched ones??

Yes, restored and cleaned up bats are both acceptable. What you want to avoid doing is taking a professional game used bat and removing the ball marks, rack marks, pine tar etc but having deadwood, chips and cracks repaired is acceptable and wont hurt the value.

As far as cleaning store model bats, a clean one will sell for more than a cruddy one.

Scott- that looks like maybe a little fire damage too. You probably won't have much luck gluing the gaps. I would sand it down, stain it and then try to color patch some wood filler.
Matt

I don't have a dog in the fight cause I don't collect bats too much any more but if you have a valuable bat and need some work done on it, you won't find anyone better than Bill Rayburn who has posted here and probably not many finer people too.....

Yep, that's what I was told (fire damage) the last time I posted it here. For $100, I looked at it as a fun project. I've been researching label characteristics and collecting period Cobb decal images. Looking forward to doing the paint job. I'm ready to go, but in no hurry.

I like your idea. I have mixed colored wood fillers before to fill in colored veneer gaps in pool cues, with good results.