Baseball Bat Clock

I made a clock made out of broken baseball bats. One might think that there is no good use for these, but I have always wanted to make something out of our collection of them.

• Table Saw
• 2x4
• Screwdriver
• Screws
• Shims
• 5 Different Bats
• Wood glue
• Measuring Tape
• Chisel

I used Fusion 360 to create a design of what I thought it was going to look like. It was helpful to see a 3D model of what everything put together looked like, even if it was not the exact design that I ended up going with.

This was the first step that I did with actual materials. I choose the bats that I wanted to use and the order of the colors I wanted.

First I had to figure out how I was going to cut the bats on the table saw without them twisting around. To fix this issue I attached a 2x4 board for a guide (Shown in the picture above). I had to measure the middle of the bat on both sides to make sure that the saw would cut directly down the whole middle. I used shims to make the handle of the bat even with the barrel of the bat. I then used screws that were just long enough to go into the bat to keep it from moving but not too long that it would make a noticeable mark. I raised the saw blade to make sure that it would be just high enough to make it over the top of the bat. Then I finally put the bats through the saw, not without doing a test bat first. I ran the first bat through and it turned out great. The only problem we had on some of them was that the handle was broken right in the middle so when it was going through the saw, it caused the handle to bounce up and down, but since I only needed the barrels for this project it wasn't a really big deal.

After cutting the bats in half, I cut a thin piece of wood to be the back of the clock and to attach the bats. I used wood glue to put the bats onto the board. To glue the bats and to make sure there was not any excess visible glue in the cracks, I lifted each bat up individually and put glue on the part that would be touching the backboard. After the glue was dry I cut off the excess handles to make the clock face into a square.

First I drilled a hole through the clock to put the clock mechanism shaft into but it was still a little too short, so in order for the clock shaft to be able to fit all the way to the front of the clock face, I made a pocket in the back for the box to fit into. I chiseled a square for the box just deep enough so the clock would fit perfectly. I sanded down the wood and then I finally put the clock mechanism into the face and now my clock is done.