73. Make a baseball bat

For Father's Day Melissa asked me what I wanted and the only thing I could think of was a hunk of wood for making a baseball bat.  A number of years back my brother Matt made a bat and since then I had always thought it would be fun to make one myself.  That's why I put it on my list.

Maddie was so excited. She is our gift giver for sure! All three kids drew on the box to give it make it "look pretty."

Who wouldn't be happy with a new hunk of wood.

Here's the first show of progress.  It actually wasn't too bad getting it this far.  My experience with the lathe isn't really extensive so I didn't know how long this project was going to take.

Here's an action shot.  Too bad we couldn't capture one of the thousands of chips of wood that pelted me in the face. Luckily I took the advice that Norm Abrams always gives:
 "there is no more important safety rule than to wear these — safety glasses."

Almost done!  The part that I was most afraid of was chiseling down the ends.  Lucky for me, I got the tool stuck in the grove and the bat broke off easily and just fell into my hands.  The entire time I was working I had visions of the bat flying off the lathe and hitting me in the face.  While that would be funny to watch, I didn't want to be the one that it happened to.

What a mess.  For clean up I had the kids take the small chipped pieces out to the yard and spread them out.  They had a fun time doing this.  Honestly though, I don't think I will ever have all of the pieces picked up and out of the garage.  They are everywhere!

It is fun to say that I have made a bat.  I have no idea what I am going to do with it, but at least it is made.  I am guessing that one of my next projects will be to make something to display the bats that we have.

34 goals down!