August Pick Ups

[Runscott]

Picked up four bats the other day: 1930's 34" "Atlanta Cracker", 36" hand-lathed flat-end ash, 34" Louisville Slugger 125 (can't read signature, if any), Louisville Slugger 'Edd Roush'.

Here's the label of the 'Atlanta Cracker', 34", no damage other than worn label and some marks. Also, the hand-turned one.

[Runscott]

Here's 'before' pics of the Roush '40 ER'. It was very dry and splotchy with separated dead wood and some reddish-brown stains that wouldn't come off with thinner or stripper - all the dark areas in the photos were even more pronounced. It looked like someone had tried to remove the varnish, or it had been left in water - you can see a wiggly line on the bottom pic that looks like what worms do to driftwood. Some will shoot me for this, but the bat was 'all there', but unsightly, so I made a project out of it, and I expect it to be quite a looker when done.

1. injected wood glue beneath separated pieces and clamped - you can see where the 'Edd J Roush' signature is almost totally lifted from the wood - it is now flush and looks very nice.
2. removed as much of the dark splotches as possible, using thinner, then stripper
3. removed a bit more using 220 sandpaper
4. stained with 'red oak', guessing that was close to the original color
5. it's now drying. I'll add a light coat of bullseye French polish tomorrow and post pics

[Mark]

Originally Posted by Runscott

Picked up four bats the other day: 1930's 34" "Atlanta Cracker", 36" hand-lathed flat-end ash, 34" Louisville Slugger 125 (can't read signature, if any), Louisville Slugger 'Edd Roush'.

Here's the label of the 'Atlanta Cracker', 34", no damage other than worn label and some marks. Also, the hand-turned one.

Beautiful job. It seems to me that you saved a fine bat. Any chance that you happened to measure how much weight was added via restoration?

[Runscott]

Thanks Mark, all the pics I posted are 'before' pics - all the dark spots were even darker and more dramatic, but are now less pronounced since I worked on it.

I wiped a darker stain over it this afternoon, and hoping it's ready for a small amount of French polish tomorrow - it already looks much better than before. As far as weight added, it would be negligible - just some glue, stain and Watco Danish oil that probably account for the weight lost due to the wood drying up.

[RCMcKenzie]

Found this photo to go with the T36 De Palma card...