Bar stain English willow.
Very similar to the butterfly stain willow and generally very strong with very good performance. This willow type has "character" though many say "ugly", its very good and usually graded at a lower level than the butterfly stained willow.

A very common imperfection is the "False Growth".  This is caused when for some reason the tree has stopped growing for maybe one season.  It can be caused by drought, fire or weed killer.  Nine times out of ten there is no weakness in the bat and they will certianly not break along the False Growth.  It will normally run parallel to the normal grains.

Probably the most common imperfection found is the small knot or "pin knot".  These are generally up to 10 mm in diameter and are still living.  Normally they will be present in the edge and / or back of the bat although sometimes they are visible on the face.  They will not affect the playing of the bat at all.

This blade has a brown line down the middle as you can see in the photograph.  It has been caused by the roots having been cut either by a digger or perhaps a plough. It is rot in the very early stages but not to the detriment of the playing ability.

This is a "dead knot".  The tree has been trimmed up very late and the resulting branch has been left to grow for many years.  Before this can be used to make a bat the knot is drilled out and filled.  As long as it is not on the face of the bat it will have very little detrimental effect on the playability.

"Speck" is another which is due entirely to the growing conditions of the tree.  The tree has grown in earth containing a lot of gravel and / or stones.  The tree has taken tiny molecules up into itself with water and this gets deposited along in between the grains.  It is purely cosmetic and is also the sign of a strong bat that will last.

Cross cutting the willow trunk into cleft length.

Raw clefts before they are processed into bats. These are sent out to other manufactures to make bats out of.

Raw cleft

This photo shows the rubbers or springs being glued and bound together.

A Grade 1 Blade

A Grade 1 is the best looking blade money can buy, though it will not necessarily play the best. There may be some red wood evident on the edge of the bat. The grain on the face will be straight and there will be at least 4 grains visible. There may be the odd small knot in the edge or back but the playing area should be clean.

A Grade 2 Blade

A Grade 2 blade is also very good quality and normally a larger amount of red wood can be seen on the edge of a bat, this has no effect on the playing ability of the bat it is purely cosmetic. Again there will be at least 4 straight grains on the face of the bat with maybe some blemishes, pin knots or "speck" visible.

A Grade 3 Blade

This is the grade we produce and sell most of and it offers very good value for money. A Grade 3 Blade has up to half colour across the bat and is sometimes bleached, again this has no direct relation to the playing ability of the wood, it just has less visual attraction. There will be a minimum of 4 grains on the face of the bat which may not always be perfectly straight. Again some small knots or a little 'butterfly' stain may be present with perhaps more prominent "speck".

A Grade 4 Blade

A Grade 4 Blade is normally over half colour or contains butterfly stain (see our page on Imperfections in Willow). This wood is also normally bleached just to make it "look better", it will still play as well as the other grades. Any number of grains are possible and the willow containing 'butterfly' stain is very strong, there could also be more "speck".

Note: Thanks to JS Wright and Sons Ltd for information on willow.

Generally we would expect a bat to have wide grain if it has less than 6 grains on the face. The width of the grain is entirely dependant upon how fast the tree has grown, each grain represents one years growth. The factors that effect the rate of growth are the soil quality and amount of water available.

In these modern times when growers want a quick return on their investment trees have been planted in the most ideal site for the tree to grow quickly. This means that in the future there are going to be less narrow grain trees available to buy as we have cut a lot of this type of tree and re planted in better sites. This is because not so many years ago we could not supply enough wide grain wood which was in demand, now it has gone back the other way.
Unfortunately when it takes all this time to grow a tree you cannot allow for changes in 'fashion' which could alter from year to year.

In this respect we have cut mature trees in as little as 10 years, but generally 12 to 18 years gives a wider grain with 25 years or more a narrower grain. A narrow grain bat will certainly play well, quicker, but will not have a particularly long life.

On the other hand a wider grain bat (with as little as 4 grains on the face) will play as well, given time, as a narrow grain, it will also , without doubt have a longer life span. The reason for this is that the wood is not as old, so it is stronger and will stand up better to the beating with some of the very hard, cheap balls used in matches these days in the UK.

The highest factor affecting the weight of the finished bat is the moisture content. We are the only manufacturer supplying naturally dry cricket bat blades to the world market. This method (which takes 12 months) has, by experience, proved the best method to dry cricket bat blades. The blades are allowed to lose moisture over a long period of time which gives a far more even moisture content and means that you are far less likely to get moisture trapped inside the blade, which causes heavy weight. When they are put in our driers after 12 months to get the correct moisture content the results are unbeatable. Some customers even purchase the blades with no extra artificial drying, this is entirely up to each individual customer, although if this is the case we can give no fixed guarantees on the moisture content and weight. Jeremy Ruggles has been fine tuning the drying method since he joined the company and our customers say that now we have the most consistantly light weight blades you can buy.

The other factor that can alter the weight of a bat is of course in the making. When choosing a cricket bat a most players ask for a specific weight. In our opinion when choosing a bat more emphasis should be put on the pick up and feel of the bat than any specific weight. A bat can weigh 2lb 14oz but if made a certain way with the weight distributed differently it could feel like a 2 lb 7 oz bat, it is basically down to the skill of the batmaker.

Thank you to J.S.Wright and Sons for the information provided.