Cleaning and Conditioning Old Bats

[John V]

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.