Pricing on Baseball Bats

[Jude Kingery]

Would anybody have an idea how much to price Ash baseball bats? Hand turned course, the blanks run about $24.00. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks! Jude

[Kevin Cole]

Well store bought is around 60-80 but handmade means custom made (sometimes). I have turned a few baseball bats out of maple but never sold them. I never bought a blank I bought a big chunk and cut it on the table saw. It is more cost effective that way. I would sell them around $60 each to start out.

[Jon Lanier]

My son wants to turn is own bat. He'll be 12 for next season, so I've been doing some research on bats. I've seen ranges from 50-300 dollars. It could be determined by market and quality of wood for the bat. Over the winter we are going to consentrate on the handle that he would like. Thickness, taper, stop, all sorts of things. Then when we have that mold down, we will work on head thickness, depth and if we can control it, swing weight and bend point. If I was doing that for someone... being that personalized I'd be looking at the $150's or higher. If I just pump out a bat, $60 would be a good price.

[Kim Ford]

I watched a demo put on by Louisville Slugger at a recent show. This is what they said.

You definately want to buy blanks. A good bat comes from a very specific type of ash that is grown in a certain climate. The trees are only about 8" in diameter, and they are cut to length and then split in thirds or fourths. The split logs are then air dried and then turned into blanks at which point they are seasoned further before final turning. This makes a very strong and stable bat.

They said custom bats go from $150-plus depending upon the buyer. They turned a couple while we watched and it was not a difficult process.

It was fun to watch and listen. I pass it along for what it's worth.

Kim

[Greg Muller]

Buy blanks!

I used to play AA ball in Appleton, WI and turned my own bats with my Grandfather when I was younger. Tried them out during BP and destroyed one after another despite using northern ash (and other woods) we cut every way possible and dried to perfection!

Using Louisville Slugger and some other blanks bought from suppliers produced great bats.

Made a few for friends, relatives and now, my sons. It's a great way to get the boys into turning during the winter when snow is covering the ball fields. Now they're hooked on both of my favorite hobbies- woodworking and baseball. I wonder if that is what my Grandpa had in mind when he taught me?

Charge the material costs plus time minus the fun!
I ended up practically giving them away if they brought me their blank of choice.

[Jude Kingery]

Thank you so much, all of what you each suggested is very helpful. The blanks I ordered are specifically baseball bat Ash blanks. I'd say probably then $60-$100 would be reasonable. Depending on time it takes and so on; the gentleman who asked me to turn them for him wants the two pretty much as sort of a commemorative gift for his two sons (will have them engraved or lasered or something, not sure what the process is, but anyway - he'll have that done somewhere else). His sons used to play, now are fathers themselves. So most importantly they'll have to look really sharp and be perfectly balanced and nice finish, but not quite custom to the individual batter so to speak. Thank you so very much, guys, Kim, Greg! Jude