Bat paint flaking?????

[grenda12]

Re: Bat paint flaking?????

I have a Mitch Meluskey '03 A's minor league gamer (that I think I paid all of $1.04 for) with what has become known in the hobby as Brian's Disease (just kidding, Brian), and about which I started a fascinating thread a couple of years ago, complete with an April's Fool Day post in which I claimed that it had mysteriously gone up in flames. I ended up carefully picking up every little "petal" of loose paint with a pair of stamp tongs, and superglueing it down (I think I must have been "on" something, at the time, to have been able to actually do such a thing without going mad) and then putting about fourteen coats of some kind of clear, polyeurethane varnish, which I got in a little bottle at the arts and crafts store, all over the barrel. That seems to have worked to forestall any further deterioration.

Dont know if I want to chance it with a $150 bat.

[godwulf]

Re: Bat paint flaking?????

I just received a bat in today that has this problem. I was a bit disappointed when I seen this as the pulled the bat out of the box.

Can anything be done to fix this or at least help it from not doing it further.

I have a Mitch Meluskey '03 A's minor league gamer (that I think I paid all of $1.04 for) with what has become known in the hobby as Brian's Disease (just kidding, Brian), and about which I started a fascinating thread a couple of years ago, complete with an April's Fool Day post in which I claimed that it had mysteriously gone up in flames. I ended up carefully picking up every little "petal" of loose paint with a pair of stamp tongs, and superglueing it down (I think I must have been "on" something, at the time, to have been able to actually do such a thing without going mad) and then putting about fourteen coats of some kind of clear, polyeurethane varnish, which I got in a little bottle at the arts and crafts store, all over the barrel. That seems to have worked to forestall any further deterioration.

[grenda12]

Re: Bat paint flaking?????

I just received a bat in today that has this problem. I was a bit disappointed when I seen this as the pulled the bat out of the box.

Can anything be done to fix this or at least help it from not doing it further.

[metsbats]

Re: Bat paint flaking?????

Thanks BMH!

[BMH]

Re: Bat paint flaking?????

I honestly have no idea. The finish wasn't a received well with the players, it was hard to maintain quality control, and management had unreal expectations of what the finish could possibly do. So it was scrapped. No thought was put into the durability/longevity of the finish. I have a Scott Hatteburg UV black B363 from 2004 I still use in the batting cages and it hasn't cracked. I do have a Jim Edmonds bat that is cracked all to hell that sits in a rack...I guess it really depends if the finish was dried properly. If it was, it should last...if not, it will crack.

[metsbats]

Re: Bat paint flaking?????

I have black bats from the 1993-2000 seasons which don't have this problem. I have stored some of these bats in a storage bin away from the light and the bin is air tight. Some others i have displayed on a wall rack.

I really think it has to do with the fact that some of these bats were double dipped and makes for a thicker finish more prone to this type of wear. On the black bats I have you can still see the wood grain. On these bats you cannot perhaps?

I did own a 2003 Posada WS bat which was double dipped and i did notice some of the same patterns starting to form on it before I sold it.

David

Here's a photo of the Posada bat.

[metsbats]

Re: Bat paint flaking?????

BHM,

Will all these UV dried double dipped bats eventually have this flaking issue due to age or is there something that can be done by way of storage/temperature control to prevent or mininize it.

I had a Posada 2003 WS game issue bat which had hairline patterns of the flaking starting to form. The bat was never used.

Thanks
David

[BMH]

Re: Bat paint flaking?????

The company would be Louisville Slugger. The bats would be all Louisville Sluggers, we're the only ones who brand like that. The bats pictured have the UV finish on them so my guess is they would have to be from the 2000-2004 time period. The finish was only put on when requested by players, so not every bat made by Louisville Slugger between 2000-2004 has that finish.

[worldchamps]

Re: Bat paint flaking?????

Well that million dollar mistake makes my $250 not so bad

Oh well he is a cheater...i still think he spilled HGH on it ...

[BMH]

Re: Bat paint flaking?????

It wasn't used on all black bats either. At the time we had a finish called Smith finish. It took FOUR days to apply to a bat. It looked great, but the time involved was horrible. So we started toying with the UV polyurethane coatings. The UV technology was new being used primarily by hardwood flooring, furniture, and pool stick manufacturer's.

These other companies applied many thin coats and sanded between. We only applied two thick coats. Our UV lights weren't drying them very well so that caused the problem. We even had the problem on clear bats but not to the same extent. Another issue was the coating was so thick, it would start to crack as the players used it. That was a million dollar mistake...

[Number9]

Re: Bat paint flaking?????

BMH,
You are quite an asset to this forum. Thanks for sharing your knowledge. Glad to know I don't have about 15 bats about to go bad!

ML

[BMH]

Re: Bat paint flaking?????

LOL!!!

God, that did turn out pretty bad...

Alright, back in 2000 we started playing with a new finish procedure that would allow us to dry the bats in seconds using UV technology. It was a stunning finish when done properly, looked like glass. Anyway, the Black bats had problems because the first coat of clear wasn't drying properly before being sanded and having the second coat applied. The vapors from the first coat did thier best to get to the surface but couldn't. When the bats came out of the box and hit sunlight that dried the topcoat even more and shrinking causing the cracking. The program was terminated in 2004.

[indyred]

Re: Bat paint flaking?????

Never seen it before. The couple black gamers I have you can see the grain patterens still and it's more that their stained, not caked on paint like the looks of the one pictured here. Could just be that paint didn't adhere well to the wood. Something in that wood wasn't dried out completley before it got dipped and over time it worked it's way out to the surface cracking the paint like that.

[dwolfe12345]

Re: Bat paint flaking?????

I have a Sandy Alomar Jr. also from the Rangers that is doing the same thing. I wonder if it could be that they store all the bats together, some with tape and others with not. If not maybe the humidity here in Texas makes the paint come off when stored to long?

[metsbats]

Re: Bat paint flaking?????

Perhaps BHM can help out on this one...