Souvenir (Mini) Baseball Bat

Intro: Souvenir (Mini) Baseball Bat

While there is a plethora of information out there about turning a baseball bat, I couldn't find much on the topic of turning a mini bat. You know, those little bats you get from the gift shop at the ball park for a souvenir. So I got my hands on one, took some measurements and thought I would turn my own. So look no further, here is all you need to know about turning a little baseball bat.

Tools Needed:

A lathe

Calipers (for measuring the thickness of the bat)

A wood burner (for etching in the logo of your choosing on the barrel)

STEP 1: A Few Measurements

So when you turn a baseball bat, you lay out the measurements every three inches. Souvenir bats are 18 inches long, so after measuring every three inches, you will have six segments. The end of the barrel is 1.3 inches, and it maintains that thickness through the six inches. So that takes care of your first two segments. Nine inches down from the end of the barrel, the bat slims down to one inch. At the 12 inch mark, it measures .75". Then at 15 inches, it measures .6 inches. This is the slimmest part of the bat, the handle. Then at the very end, it comes back up to 1 inch. To recap:

0-3" - 1.3"

3-6" - 1.3"

6-9" - 1.00"

9-12" - .75"

12-15" - .6"

15-17" - .6"

18" - 1"

STEP 2: Logo Time

After sanding it smooth and putting on some sort of finish, you can proceed to putting a logo on the barrel. The way I went about this was to print the logo that I wanted onto some of the backer paper that stickers come on. I'm not sure exactly what you call it, but you know the smooth, glossy paper that stickers come on that the stickers just come right off of. Well ink does the same thing.

IMPORTANT TIP:

I learned this the hard way, but you need to go into an image editing software and reverse the image before you print it, so it will apply the correct way.

Just print your image and place it on the bat. Be careful to put it straight on there, so you won't smudge the ink. Rub it on for just a few seconds, then you can pull it off.

Now that you have your image on the bat, you can use a woodburning iron to outline the letters and images however you see fit.

After you're done with that, it's up to you if you want to add some wax or lacquer or however you want the finished product to look.

Comments

[knutknackebröd]

haha nice might be interresting to try and make some drumsticks?

[tomatoskins]

That little bat looks great! I love lathe projects and I hope to see more from you in the future!