Cremation Urn...in baseball bat form

[Tom Hamilton D'ville, GA]

So, the commission is for a cremation urn in the shape and form of a baseball bat. "But it won't hold all the ashes." I says. "I don't care," says the requester, "it will hold what it holds."

Hummm, so 30" long, 2" diameter at large end, about an inch at the handle in. Maybe a little oversize for more capacity?

Drill with extensions? Step drill to leave 1/4" - 3/8" sidewalls? Threaded cap in wide end?

Any thoughts on execution?

Standing by for your suggestions,

Tom, in Douglasville, GA.

[Dale Miner]

I think a bat is about 2-3/8 on the fat end. Maybe a glue up. Router the cavity and glue the halves together before turning.

[Lee Koepke]

Howdy Neighbor Tom! Good to see you around again....

Even with extensions you may have to make a couple of segments. I would certainly like to see it when you are finished, that would be interesting indeed.

[Paul Gilbert]

Unless you have a gun drill, I doubt that you can drill out a baseball bat. The router approach is probably the best way to go about this job.

[Thom Sturgill]

I'll second Paul. A regular drill, especially with extensions will wander. If you get a slightly large blank, rip it in half lengthwise, joint it, route out the hollow, and glue it back you MAY have an almost invisible glue line. Be careful to center the routing and know where the ends are. You can use rings cut from male and female plumbing fixtures to create threads for the cap and the cap can be glued with a little pvc cement after the cremains are placed in the bat.

On the other hand, since the 'urn' is symbolic, drilling a smaller hole (say 1" - 1 1/2" by about 12" deep) would give plenty of wood to allow for some wander and leave some heft to the bat.

[Brett Luna]

Here are the bat specs from MLB.com:

1.10
(a) The bat shall be a smooth, round stick not more than 23/4 inches in diameter at the thickest part and not more than 42 inches in length.

I'm no turner but the rip-router-glue method was the first that occurred to me.

[Shawn Pachlhofer]

it's basically a tall, narrow lidded box.


If I was to attempt this - I would:

hold blank in a chuck - turn and shape bat - leaving "fat end" towards the tailstock - turn bat with and extra 1/2" in length to form tenon for box.

hold bat in place with at least 2 spindle steadies

part off end of bat (will become the box lid) and form tenon

use a hollowing rig to hollow the cavity

after bat is hollowed - carefully part off at headstock end

chuck up the end of the bat (the lid) - and fine tune inside diameter to fit your tenon

if you want to get fancy - you could thread the box lid rather than making a snug fit lid.

either way - fill with ashes - and glue the lid on.

since it's not being used for baseball - you could probably get away with making the barrel a bit larger, say 3" diameter instead of 2.75"

[Dale Miner]

Here is a thought. Might work, might not.

Make the stopper at the handle end of the large part. That is, somewhere near the middle of the length. Hollowing with forstner bits to about a foot deep should not be to difficult, and the handle end could also be hollowed with a forstner if needed. Once the two halves are finished with the hollowing process, they could be threaded or have threaded parts fit, assembled, and finish turned between centers.

[Scott Hackler]

Does it have to be 1:1 real dimensions? My first thought was to make an exaggerated size and shape bat (sort and fat). That would be 1) easier to make, 2) an urn like shape and 3) look like a baseball bat (even though short and stubby). Just a thought...

The only way I see doing a like sized bat that is hollow it to make it segmented and hollow as you go. But... that's a lot of cutting and glue up and in the end it really wouldn't look "real".

[Tom Hamilton D'ville, GA]

Thanks for each of you for your response. Rip and Router had not crossed my feeble mind. I've used PVC for threaded closures so know that process. This will be fun. Updates to follow, but don't wait up late. Subscriptions to this thread will eventually yield info.

Again, thanks for the guidance.

All the best, Tom

[Thom Sturgill]

If you go the rip and router route, make a template before you do the glue-up. Might keep you from turning into the void.