Hi All, I want to turn a baseball bat for a friend and have been looking for timber that is 8"x8"x 82" long but all the 8x8s I find are treated. Anyone know a good place to get untreated 8x8s???
Hi All, I want to turn a baseball bat for a friend and have been looking for timber that is 8"x8"x 82" long but all the 8x8s I find are treated. Anyone know a good place to get untreated 8x8s???
Do or do not, there is no try.
I don't know where you'd find that lumber in your area. But who is your friend? Paul Bunyan? That's gonna be a heck of a baseball bat!
Look for someone with a portable or small sawmill, they can cut it for you.
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When failure is not an option
Mediocre is assured.
Id say a 4x4 would do it. Or buy a billet
Otherwise getting it custom cut at a sawmill is the only way I can see it happening.
I want it to be to scale and that long, it would be just a bit over 7" at its widest. That is why I need something that big. This is a paying job so it has to be right.
Do or do not, there is no try.
If it doesn't have to be hard wood, you can get cedar deck posts that size at our local lumber yards.
I'll have to ask around. I didn't see Cedar at HD or at Lowes. I like the idea of turning Cedar.....much easier on the tools and me.
Do or do not, there is no try.
This obviously is not going to be a real bat. So why not make a hollow bat from glued up lumber stock. Something that big most likely will develop checks and splits anyway.
Last edited by Larry Browning; 05-04-2014 at 9:44 PM.
Go to a real lumberyard, not a home center like Lowes, if they don't have it, they will be able to get it.
8 X 8 X 82! Is your friend Paul Bunyon. I can't find untreated 4 X 4's
I agree with Larry. You can find some cedar 8x8 stock but there will be cracks and knots that could probably be filled it bat is finished with that in mind. You might also look at some of the porch columns which are usually hollow but might be able to give you the final shape you need.
Any lumberyard would have timbers like this, not the big box stores. Problem is most timbers are center cut and deep cracks are the norm. Not sure if you can get "heart fee select" timbers in your area but these are far less likely to split. I work with a local guy with a band saw mill and he can cut anything I want. I have had him cut heart free 6x12's and there were no cracks in Doug Fir.
If you were not worried about solid wood, 5 2x8" laminated together would make a solid billet to work with, or make a segmented 8 sided billet for the large end and laminate 3 2x6 together for the handle and glue it into the larger end.
7' is quite a length, so you have quite a long lathe.
Lloyd
Hi Lloyd, I just don't have enough clamps to glue up 5 2x8s. It is a fairly big lathe. I can spin a piece that is 30"x 82"..... but until I bought my small HF lathe turned pens on my Oliver.
Do or do not, there is no try.
My local lumber yard has douglas fir 8"X8" - 8' for only $246.
http://www.dunnlumber.com/Store/Prod...343&pid=203229