DIY Baseball Bat

Why am I doing this task:

The reason why I am doing this task is simple, it should be a gift for my cousin. He loves the sport of baseball and he also likes gifts like everybody else. But sadly his parents do not share this passion with him as he does. And because he is begging to get a baseball bat and his parents never bought him one I want to build him one. You could now say yes but it is just a 50 cm baseball bat and yes that is true but I still think that 50 cm is still better than no cm. And I think that the gift is the best thing and the idea that I am trying to portrait. And I think some of you that are reading this may have the same passion as he does are somebody is in the same or similar situation that I am in so I wanted to do an instructable over this project and help you to get a Christmas gift or just a gift that you made with your own hands. So enjoy the steps and the materials list and also enjoy the video. Good Luck

Materiales:

In this list that you will find under this text, there are the materials or alternative materials that you need to use in order to successfully do the baseball bat project. Some of the materials in this list that are not used by me are not mandatory to use but if you have the opportunity to use them please do it will make your life so much easier. I will also indicate with a little X which one I used and will write in brackets which one is easier to use. The materials needed are:

Wood. But you can't just get the wood but you need to get the wood in the form known as the bat billet. (You have the option to choose from four kinds of wood types when making your baseball bat (they are not listed from worst to best).

• Ashwood
• Maple wood X
• Birchwood 
• Bamboo

Marker (You need a marker to mark the important areas of the bat, like where it should end on both sides and where the change of thickness should be).X

You need something to hold the wood in place. 

• Laid (easier, because it does not just hold your wood in place when doing the carving but also spins around really fast so you can carve much faster. 
• Clips (these do hold your wood but they can't spin around so you need to do everything alone).X 

Sharpening utensils

Sanding Paper (I would go in a range from 60 and 150 grit)X

Sanding Maschine X

Burning utensils (to engrave something into your design(not mandatory)X

Wood sealing coat (for safety)X

Goggles X

Old clothes that are allowed to get dusty X

Ruler X

Wood strengthener X

Step by Step guide/procedure:

The steps that you will see now are labeled with numbers. The numbers just mean the order you should do the steps. So do not confuse it when I am maybe by step 8 the coating step you should not coat your wood 8 times. This is also just the procedure that I used when you have a laid or other things at home you may need to skip some steps.

1. Get all the materials listed up in the materials.  
2. Mark all the measurements that you need on your baseball bat )where the bat should end on both sides, and the two points you would like to have the change in thickness from the start to the end) When you did everything correctly you should have four major marks. And some smaller ones in the change of thickness like checkpoints. 
3. Go to your sanding machine and start with the sanding process. 
4. Sand until you can not see the marks that you have created before sanding. 
5. Smoothen out your baseball bat after the sanding process with manual sanding. )You need to do this because there will still be some areas of your baseball that will have a bit of bump or uneven spots in them. Start with 60 grit.)
6. Make everything really smooth so that there are no splinters with 150 grit.
7. Write what you want to put on the baseball with a pen or with a pencil. (This is the creative part)
8. Burn/ Ingrave the thing you wanted to put on your bat.
9. Use a wood strengthener to make the wood strong and so that the baseball will be durable. (End of the steps)