First, Please Understand - ALL WOOD BATS CAN BREAK! NO MATTER WHAT BIG COMPANY PRICE TAG WAS PAID! The truth is all wood bats can break... hit too far out toward the end of the barrel or farther down the barrel too near the logo and any bat could break.

The very best way to help your wood bats last longer is for the batter to make ball contact on the proper spot on the barrel. Learn to move the barrel of the bat not only higher and lower (like with aluminum/composite) but also learn to move the barrel of the bat closer and farther away in order to meet the ball on the actual physical "Sweet Spot" check out the Sweet Spot Insights in our F.A.Q.

Another factor in bat longevity is knowing if a bat is made form Split or Quartersawn wood. Only bats made from split billets can be truley high quality. Lots of other factors are involded but it split wood is the most important. Better bat makers will only use split wood to craft the very best bats from. Question? Could a bat made from quartersawn lumber be a great bat? And yes it can be but only if an knowledgable, experienced person is sorting the wood... by luck of the cut only about 3% of quartersawn billets will have both the radial and tangential grains line up and run the length of the bat - that's vital for that individual piece of wood to have all the strength it can possably have.

Next on our list of critical importance for bat longevity is "Ya gotta have the right bat fit for the individual batter!" No cookie cutter sizing here! A custom bespoke wood bat is tailor made to the individual just like a custom suit - they ain't gonna fit anybody else quite right. If a bat doesn't properly fit the batter - chances are the batter's swing will be lower quality than it otherwisw could be.

There's a lot more to properly fitting a wood bat to a batter than what aluminum and composite bats offer the player. Young batters swinging aluminum/composite are used to basically 1) brand desired, 2) bat length, 3) weight drop, 4) end loaded vs. balanced and 5) pricing. Only 2 of those go to fitting the individual batter - length & end load vs. balanced. Drop weight is a league decision. Pricing is a budget issue and brand choice has nothing to do with "fitting" a bat to an is individual's decesion but no  individual fitBrand is just a choice

To fully properly fit a wood bat to a batter more than 25 criteria need to be evaluated.    

Next on the list is make sure you properly index your bat when you swing. Simply - its better to have your bat logo facing up when you make contact with the ball.  We can get into a lot of details on this point but that's what blogs are for.

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***Beware there are more and more so called "bat companies" that don't make any bats -they might not even own a lathe! They just order bats pre-made with their labels put on them from various bat factories and sell these bats on a nice markup to the buyer.  Honestly the idea is a great way to get a business up and running - but in our opinion these are really "Bat Retailers" not bat companies. They have little to no control over production or actual quality and may not fully understand both radial and tangential grain - both are vital concerning the overall strength and safety of wood bats.

The term Bat Company, we feel, implies bats crafted by experienced, knowledgable makers that use their own hands in the process. Enter shamless plug: Our founder's grandfather built and ran a sawmill for more than 25 years on his mountain property. From a toddler, our founder, grew up playing in that sawmill's sawdust and has a lifetime of experience working wood with his own hands. He might not personally do every single individual step of your build but he is the final quality control at every build phase and is our "Paint and Finishing Department". 

Also Note:  Not all of our bats are available in all of the woods. Why? Because some bats will be too heavy for that particular cut/wood combination. We don’t want to see the great lessons that come from wood destroyed by an improperly weighted bat. We’ve selected the best woods for each, with durability and swingability in mind.

The Pro and Cons of Each

Maple

Pros: Maple is a dense wood, many believe its one of the best species to use for wood bats.  Density is directly related to hardness and durability.  The denser the wood used to make a bat, the more durable a bat can be and the more pop it will have.  Also, maple is a diffuse-porous wood.  The properties of diffuse-porous wood are such that it will hold together under higher intensity impact.  Maple will not flake apart on the barrel or splinter.  Thus, the more you hit with a maple bat the grains will compact and press together.  This makes the bat harder in this area of frequent impact. Some believe maple has the hardest surface of the three major species of wood typically used to manufacture wood bats.

Cons: Maple must be dried to a very low moisture content, making it susceptible to gaining moisture over the lifespan of the bat.  As the bat gains moisture it gains weight.  A maple bat being used in a humid climate will tend to pick up a half ounce to an ounce or possibly more, depending on the climate.  Maple is a rigid, sturdy wood and tends to be less forgiving than ash and birch when striking the baseball off the end of the bat or near the trademark.

Ash

Pros: Before maple bats became popular, in the past traditionally wood bats were made of ash.  Ash, being a ring-porous species is generally more flexible than maple, which many players believe allows them to “whip” the barrel through the hitting zone creating more bat speed.  Due to this flexibility ash also, tends to be a little more forgiving than maple when striking the baseball off the end of the bat or near the trademark.

Cons: Ash also needs to be dried to a very low moisture content in order to be used for wood bats.  Ash is a ring-porous wood (open grain).  The properties of ash are such that the bat will continue to dry out during the life span of the bat.  This will cause the grains on ash bats to potentially flake and splinter.  Hitting off the face grain (the grain where to logo is placed) will also cause the bat to flake and splinter.  Players that are not experienced using wood bats often rotate the bat while hitting, causing them to hit balls of the face grain.  This will result in flaking and splintering and cause the bat to be less durable. 

Birch

Pros: Birch is a softer wood which causes it to be more flexible.  This flexibility may allow a player to create more whip and generate more bat speed.  This softness also tends to make birch more forgiving than maple when striking the baseball off the end of the bat or near the trademark.  Like Maple, Birch is also a curly grain wood which lends it to be more durable when making repetitive contact with the baseball in the same area of the bat.  In this sense, birch holds together similarly to maple.  Birch bats will not flake like ash bats can.

Cons:  Birch is softer than many other wood species, causing it to dent slightly when first used.  Most birch bats will need to have a “break-in” period in order for the bat to harden as a result of repetitive impact from hitting the baseball.  The surface hardness of a new birch bat is not near as hard as a new maple bat which may initially, slightly decrease exit speeds. 

Euro Beech

European Beech (not the lesser american beech) is actually our founder's favorite bat wood.  Scientically it has the best or better characteristics of nerdly named traits like modulous of elasticity, modulous of rupture, impact bending strength, specific gravity and others.

European Beech wood, in our opinion, is by far the most durable wood available. Its elastic memory produces a profound trampoline effect creating better exit speed and increased distance. We find the amazing harmonics of the wood to have less vibration insuring more power transferred between bat and ball. Also beech has been used in some of the most demanding tools and implements for hundreds of years!

Conclusion: Over the course of the last 20 years Maple bats have emerged as the most popular species of wood used by players at the major league level. Maple bats make up approximately 75% of all bats used at the major league level.  While there are some benefits to ash, birch and especially euro beech, most players choose maple because so many others players choose maple.

• Beech, actually european beech (not the softer american beech!) is our Founder's favorite bat wood. After learning that ol' Louisville at one time ran experiments on how to weeken the beech billets they were using at the time because they weren't breaking fast enough to fit their then marketing strategy that relied on professional players using an average of 5 to 7 dozen bats per season but the european beech resulted in less than half! But horror of horrors beech is nearly impossable to get - we're always looking and when we get it in it's almost always sold out (committed to orders) within the same day! Euro Beech is just plain tough and has great characteristics for making all kinds of implements, and used for tools more than 400 years!

Not all of our bats are available in all of the woods. Why? Because some bats will be too heavy for the type of wood bat play. We don’t want to see the great lessons that come from wood destroyed by an improperly weighted bat. We’ve selected the best woods for each, with durability and swingability in mind.

While bamboo (a grass) is very durable, it doesn't hit like a wood bat. None are single piece bats. Players who have tested bamboo bats have commented on the lack of pop versus maple and ash. Additionally, bamboo bats are not approved for use in the pros.

Yes, Of Couse and Absolutely and for All Levels of Play!  Note: College and Highschool Players: there's no BBCOR certification required for a single piece wood bat, which is what we proudly offer.

BBCOR standards apply to bamboo bats (a laminated grass, not a wood), metal bats, composite bats (wood, metal and others), hybrid bats and other non-wood bats. The standards were designed to force these bats to perform more like a single piece wood bat for greater safety.

All HAMR Bats are crafted from a hand split billet of maple, ash, birch or euro beech to meet the Rules and Standards for every level of play. And, at a price much more affordable than most aluminum and composite bats, we think it's time you started swinging wood in practice and in especially in games!

If your purchase a HAMR Bat and a coach, league or umpire challenges its use (its because they don’t understand enough about BBCOR), here's the facts:

• Rule: NCAA 1-12:

• The Bat

  SECTION 12.   a. Wood bat.

  1) The bat must be a smooth, rounded stick not more than 2¾ inches in diameter at its thickest part nor more than 42 inches in length.

  2) There must be a direct line from the center of the knob to the center of the large end.

  3) Any material to improve the grip may be used for a distance not to exceed 18 inches from the end of the handle.

  4) An indentation in the end of the bat up to 1 inch in depth is permitted (cupped bats).

  5) All bats other than one-piece solid wood must be certified in accordance with the NCAA certification program, (which includes BBCOR Standards).

• NFHS RULE 1-3-2d. and 1-3-3a and b.
  d. Bats that are not made of a single piece of wood shall meet the Batted Ball Coefficient of Restitution (BBCOR) performance standard, and such bats (bats not made of a single piece of wood) shall be labeled with a silkscreen or other permanent certification mark. No BBCOR label, sticker or decal will be accepted on any non‐wood bat. The certification mark shall be rectangular, a minimum of one inch on each
  side and located on the barrel of the bat in any contrasting color to read: “BBCOR .50.” Note: The NFHS has been advised
  that certain manufactures consider alternation, modification and “doctoring” of their bats to be unlawful and subject to
  civil and, under certain circumstances, criminal action.
  HAMR Bats
• Article 3 – A bat made of a single piece of wood may be roughened or wound with tape not more than 18 inches from the handle end of the bat. No foreign substance may be added to the surface of the bat beyond 18 inches from the end of the handle. Each bat made of a single piece of wood shall be:
  a. 2¾ inches or less in diameter at the thickest part
  b. 36 inches or less in length

• Rule 1.10

  The bat must be a baseball bat which meets the USA Baseball Bat standard (USABat) as adopted by Little League. It shall be a smooth, rounded stick, and made of wood or of material and color tested and proved acceptable to the USA Baseball Bat standard (USABat).

  Non-wood and laminated bats used in the Little League (Majors) and below, Intermediate (50-70) Division, and Junior League divisions, shall bear the USA Baseball logo signifying that the bat meets the USABat – USA Baseball’s Youth Bat Performance Standard. All BPF – 1.15 bats are prohibited. The bat diameter shall not exceed 2⅝ inches for these divisions of play. Bats meeting the Batted Ball Coefficient of Restitution (BBCOR) standard may also be used in the Intermediate (50-70) Division and Junior League Division. Additional information is available at LittleLeague.org/batinfo.

• Minor/Major Divisions:

  It shall not be more than 33 inches in length; nor more than 2⅝ inches in diameter, and if wood, not less than fifteen-sixteenths (15/16) inches in diameter (7/8 inch for bats less than 30″) at its smallest part. Wood bats taped or fitted with a sleeve may not exceed sixteen (16) inches from the small end.

  NOTE 1: Solid one-piece wood barrel bats do not require a USA Baseball logo.

• Intermediate (50-70) Division and Junior League:

  It shall not be more than 34″ inches in length; nor more than 2⅝ inches in diameter, and if wood, not less than fifteen-sixteenths (15/16) inches in diameter (7/8 inch for bats less than 30″) at its smallest part. Wood bats taped or fitted with a sleeve may not exceed eighteen (18) inches from the small end.

  NOTE 1: Solid one-piece wood barrel bats do not require a USA Baseball logo.

• Senior League:

  It shall not be more than 36 inches in length, nor more than 2⅝ inches in diameter, and if wood, not less than fifteen-sixteenths (15/16) inches in diameter (7/8 inch for bats less than 30″) at its smallest part. Wood bats taped or fitted with a sleeve may not exceed eighteen (18) inches from the small end. The bat shall not weigh, numerically, more than three ounces less than the length of the bat (e.g., a 33-inch-long bat cannot weigh less than 30 ounces). All bats not made of a single piece of wood shall meet the Batted Ball Coefficient of Restitution (BBCOR) performance standard, and such bats shall be so labeled with a silkscreen or other permanent certification mark. The certification mark shall be rectangular, a minimum of a half-inch on each side and located on the barrel of the bat in any contrasting color. Aluminum/alloy and composite bats shall be marked as to their material makeup being aluminum/alloy or composite. This marking shall be silkscreen or other permanent certification mark, a minimum of one-half-inch on each side, and located on the barrel of the bat in any contrasting color.

• or League Baseball - Rule 1.10
  (a) The bat shall be a smooth, round stick not more than 2.61 inches in diameter at the thickest part and not more than 42 inches in length. The bat shall be one piece of  solid wood.
  NOTE: No laminated or experimental bats shall be used in a professional game (either championship season or exhibition games) until the manufacturer has secured approval from the Rules Committee of his design and methods of manufacture.
  (b) Cupped Bats. An indentation in the end of the bat up to one inch in depth is permitted and may be no wider than two inches and no less than one inch in diameter. The indentation must be free of right angles and may not contain any foreign substance.
  (c) The bat handle, for not more than 18 inches from its end, may be covered or treated with any material or substance to improve the grip. Any such material or substance that extends past the 18-inch limitation shall cause the bat to be removed from the
  game.
  NOTE: If the umpire discovers that the bat does not conform to (c) above until a time during or after which the bat has been used in play, it shall not be grounds for declaring the batter out, or ejected from the game.  (d) No colored bat may be used in a professional game unless approved by the Rules
  Committe

Absolutely Not! All bat companies are not the same. And all wood is defintely not the same! There are 5 to 8 levels of wood quality in the bat industry depending on the supplier. the higher the level the higher the cost to the bat maker. And with the spike in gas/transportation prices the quality of wood is the first "adjustment" most companies make to help preserve their profit margins.

Although its a fact - there's no magical or secret forest that certain bat makers get their wood from. Certain locations and growing conditions made a huge difference in over strength, quality and potential longevity. How the wood is processed form tree felling, to processing to drying and stored all play a big part in overall outcome of potential quality.

Then its who and how that wood is turned. The quality of equipment, speed of procedure, too fast and it can impart certain stresses tahn a slightly slower turning might not impart. But the big companies with their $100K plus machines want to turn out a bat blank about every 35 seconds. It's cool as crap to see how fast they can turn a billet into what looks like a bat - but its all about numbers to them. They turn 'em out faster and faster and then just hopefully get it right when sorting the higher and lower quality blanks. What about starting with high quality in mind from the start?

***Beware there are more and more so called "bat companies" that don't make any bats -they might not even own a lathe! They just order bats pre-made with their labels put on them from various bat factories and sell these bats on a nice markup to the buyer.  Honestly the idea is a great way to get a business up and running - but in our opinion these are really "Bat Retailers" not bat companies. They have little to no control over production or actual quality and may not fully understand both radial and tangential grain - both are vital concerning the overall strength and safety of wood bats.

The term Bat Company, we feel, implies bats crafted by experienced, knowledgable makers that use their own hands in the process. Enter shamless plug: Our founder's grandfather over 3 decades built and ran a sawmill. Our founder, from a toddler, grew up playing in that sawmill's sawdust and has over 40 years experience working wood with his own hands. He might not personally do every single individual step of your build but he is the final quality control at every build phase and is our "Paint and Finishing Department". 

The question up often: should I choose a bat with or without the ink dot?

Many believe that a bat with a good ink dot (Plus or minus 3 degrees of inclination on the tangential section of the wood) is better than a bat without an ink dot.

Before answering the question, let us try to understand why there is an ink dot on Big Leagues and affiliated baseball bats. The ink dot test was introduced by the Big Leagues in 2009 in association with a wood testing and certifications consultant.

Since 2001, the maple bat has become the weapon of choice for many players. The density of maple gives players the impression that there is more power in their bat than bats made of ash. The downside with maple is that it often shatters dangerously. Over the years, several players, coaches and fans were injured by a piece of maple bat flying onto the field. This is how the ink dot test came to life.

According to the studies, the most fragile point of a bat is located 12 inches from the end of the handle. By placing an ink dot on the fibers of the tangential section of the bat, and keeping all the other selection criteria, particularly the straightness of annual fibers and the absence of knots in the handle, we can see the angle of fibers that are more difficult to see with the naked eye. It is this fiber angle which must be measured, and must not exceed three degrees (plus or minus). The ink dot test is actually a safety measure above all. An angle of three degrees or less decreases the chances of a bat shattering into two or more pieces, thus avoiding the chances that a piece of wood will end up on a player, coach, umpire or even a fan. The measurement of three degrees is very important, especially in the case of maple, because beyond this limit, the fragility of the bat increases exponentially. These tests are carried out at a higher level of play (Big Leagues and affiliated baseball), where the fastballs are predominantly between 90 to 95 MPH and the bat speed also varies between 90 and 95 MPH. The bat then undergoes an impact between 180 and 190 MPH.

If we go back to our original question: is a bat better with an ink dot? The answer is that the bat is more resistant at a professional level. The smaller the impact on the bat, the less relevant the ink dot.

In my opinion, for people playing in non-professional leagues, the ink dot will not impact the performance of the bat. The impact involving ball speed and bat speed is not great enough to compromise the strength of the bat. The ink dot is not synonymous with power of the bat and, I repeat, it is strictly a safety measure.

In addition, when the ink dot is placed on professional bats, the logo must be placed on the opposite side, on the annual fibers of the wood. The player, keeping the logo facing him, will then hit on the fibers of the tangential section of the wood. The bat will have approximately 12% fewer chance to break, but some feel it tends to lose a little power. Without an ink dot, you can place the logo on the fibers of the tangential section and in the same way, by placing the logo in front of you,the player will hit on the annual (radial grain) fibers of the wood and have more power. And what we believe, is a hitter above all is looking for power. In addition, yellow birch is much stronger than other species, so it is the best of both worlds.