Game Used Bat Deadwood Prevention

[Swoboda4]

I recently looked at the back of a game used bat (Easton Pro Stix 141C Burnitz 2002) and found significant grain separation from the last time I checked (3 years ago). Living in the Northeast it's obvious that cold dry weather is not a friend to game used collectors. Also being a cigar smoker I found myself wondering if the same controls that keep my cigar humidor at 70 degrees humidity, could also be used to keep bats from drying out. I think they can. If you keep your bats in a bat tube just keep a small " Boveda " humidy control packet ( BovedaUSA.com ) inside and for 2-3 months (especially during the winter) humidity will be maintained.

If you have an enclosed bat display case containing more than one bat another option is to purchase a Xikar brand small jar, containing crystals and SLIGHTLY fill jar with propylene glycol. Keep it the corner out of sight and you'll get similar results with humidity maintained at 68-70. All these items can be obtained at smoke shops or cigar stores. If they help keep cigars from unraveling, I believe they could also be helpful, in maintaining bat condition. Can't hurt. I would like to know if "Cohibasmoker", "BVC", or Jeff Scott Birdbats.com could comment.-Robert

[BVC]

I ask more questions than I have answers, but your logic seems sound. I only have one bat with deadwood and I've been told to just leave it alone and it should be okay. I actually have a large dehumidifier that I have to empty weekly, so I doubt anything is drying out at my place.

[Swoboda4]

Hi. I'm thinking that something that adds (not removes) humidity is what's needed, not a de-humidifier. Check if I'm wrong though. But firewood splits better a year later when its dried out; that's what happens to a bat over time. It will start to dry out, and then separate. So I'm thinking we have to keep the humidity up there (65-70 degrees), to preserve the wood as is. I'm thinking we can basically eliminate this problem if we watch the environment we keep the bat in. Now most bats- who cares, but if you just bought a HOF bat for $600 you just might want to prevent grain separation on this investment. You wouldn't buy expensive cigars and leave them to dry out in a drawer; or leave an autograph in direct sunlight neither should you keep an expensive game used bat, out to slowly unravel. And I would think that a cracked bat, as most of them are, is more susceptible to quicker drying out since its already "cracked open". I actually had my game used bats on the wall next to the fireplace and I watched both sets of "wood" dry out over time. Whatever you do keep the baseball cards, paper and cardboard away from humidity though.

[BVC]

Sorry, I wasn't implying that a de-humidifier was needed for the OP;rather, that his situation is exactly the inverse of mine: I have too much humidity and he has too little.

[Swoboda4]

OK Thanks. I mentioned a possible PREVENTION remedy for separation/ deadwood. Is there an accepted approach to REPAIR this problem (For those who want to), which seems more difficult than a crack repair. Some deadwood resembles a "pine cone" in separation. Would love to see if there's any photos for this type of repair (Jeff Scott, Fred Lowman, or John Taube).

[CampWest]

You could always try boning the bat to compress the wood grains back together, but it may be too far gone since it started pine-coning.

[staindsox]

This is what you will want to keep your bats at to best conserve them:

RH 40-50% and avoid heat above 72 deg. F

Good luck.

Chris

[Swoboda4]

Thanks Chris and Wes. So the humidity doesn't have to be "cigar" RH of 68-70, thanks. And boning if done by the players, as they did in the old days (when they didn't receive over 100 bats a year free ) would probably go a long way to prevent the separation later, and a good idea to stop it's progress now.