A number of sports around the world today are known for the distinctive gear that the players use, such as the racquets of tennis players or hockey sticks. Baseball is one such sport, and a popular one, too. Whether someone is a professional athlete or a casual player playing their friends, a baseball player needs the right bats and mitts for a good game, and they can find all that gear at local sports goods outlets. Today’s baseball bats may be either wooden or metal models, and there are plenty of manufacturers for either type. But a player can also make use of doctored bats, or baseball bats that have been modified for enhanced performance. Wooden bats may be rolled bats for better performance, and shaved bats are metal. When someone approaches a softball bat shaving and rolling service, what might they expect? With the right hardware, rolled bats are fully possible, and the same is true of shaved bats. These rolled bats can perform quite well in practice games or casual games.
Making Rolled Bats
Traditionally, baseball bats are made of ash wood, and many baseball bats today are indeed made that way. A wooden bat is tough and flexible for great performance, but they may need some breaking in first. A wooden bat has many wood fibers that will be bent and broken as the bat is used in games, and that is much to be desired. Fiber bending and breaking results in a bat that can flex better and send balls further, and a player may have a small collection of fully broken-in wooden bats to use in serious games. But wooden bats run the risk of getting damaged during practice, so a player may use rolled bats to act as proxies and protect their real bats. A player may look up rolled bats online for sale, or buy wooden bats and bring them to roller services nearby.
At a bat rolling service, the wooden bat is placed between rollers and distressed under pressure, and this replicates the impact of baseballs striking the bat during actual games. The end result is a bat that may perform just like a fully broken-in baseball bat, and this is a great choice for casual games or practice. But these rolled bats are not allowed in sanctioned games, and on-site experts might identify rolled bats on sight anyway. Care should also be taken so that these wooden bats are not rolled too hard, or they may get damaged during the rolling process.
Using Shaved Metal Bats
Many baseball bats are made of ash wood, but some are made of metal instead, and these also prove popular. A metal bat is not solid like a wooden bat; rather, they are hollow on the inside, although they do feature padding that helps reinforce them and allows them to flex whole used. This padding also protects the wooden bat from shattering during use in a game. And since these metal bats don’t have natural fibers, they are not rolled like wooden bats. Instead, they are shaved from the inside; that is, their inner padding is shaved away somewhat to produce results.
A baseball player may look online to find shaved baseball bats to use, but they can also visit a bat rolling and shaving service to get their metal bat shaved. The bat’s end cap is removed, and then the bat is held in place on a lathe table’s assembly to keep it steady. Now, the bat is slowly and carefully fed to a rotating grinder, which will scrape away a few ounces of material inside the metal bat. Care should be taken so that the grinder does not remove too much material this way, since an over-shaved bat may shatter when it is used in a game. And no material at all should be removed from the handle. Once the shaving is done properly, the bat is removed and the end cap replaced.
Shaved bats are a fine choice for casual games, since they are not allowed in official games at all. These shaved bats can strike a ball further than regular metal bats, though they should not be used in temperatures under 65 degrees Fahrenheit.