Before starting the tour, we would like to express our profound thanks to the Bednarks who took the time out of their busy schedule to welcome us into their facility. A few facts became clear almost immediately, few know more about the bat business than Tom Bednark. Further, BBC is a hands on, customer oriented business. Tom identified specific bats used by specific players, whether major, minor or cape league, and the benefits and detriments of the different lengths weights and styles. Further, BBC brings this knowledge to each of the bats they make. BBC gives the purchaser, whether major leaguer or weekend warrior, the opportunity to interact with the person who will pick the wood from the billet and carve the bat in the lathe. It is this one-on-one contact that is second to none in the industry.
Barnstable Bat Company can be reached via its web site at www.baseballbat.net or by telephone at 888-549-8046. Aside from major league quality bats, BBC makes many commemorative bats and bats of all sizes. We strongly recommend that www.boombats.com visitors support BBC in its efforts. Now for the TOUR!!
Seeing the current contents of the Bednark’s workshop, the outside pictured above, one can hardly imagine how it could have contained anything but machinery meant for the creation of bats. From the templates and sample bats hanging from the rafters to the two large lathes poised at the ready, you get the sense that something special is going on, something more than just a business.
Tom Bednark has always been involved with wood, he’ll tell you that it runs in his blood. A carpenter by trade, Tom followed in the footsteps of his father, a carpenter, and his grandfather, a cabinet maker. When Tom talks about wood grain and ratios of weight to length in high quality major league bats it pays to pay attention, the information comes rapid fire. In 1992 the Bednarks made the decision (legend has it that the idea came to Tom and Christine at a Cape Cod League game) to make a foray into the bat business. By 1994 the Cape Cod League players were enthusiastic users of BBC lumber. In 1996 BBC became one of 14 major league approved suppliers of bats, it had hit the big time.
The first step in making a quality bat, and probably the most important, is picking the correct piece of wood to work with.
(Ted Williams purportedly climbed through billets of wood at the Louisville Slugger factory to pick the lumber that would be turned to create his bats).
For BBC this meant finding the highest quality northern white ash by contacting literally hundreds of potential suppliers. The wood is delivered in large billets which are then gathered, as pictured below, for the process of carving by lathes.
BBC started with a single hydraulic copy lathe in 1993 and soon added another to increase their capabilities. However, creating bats is not as easy as flipping a switch and tossing a bat into the maw of the machine. Indeed, Tom recounted that after the first week of turning he was about ready to send the first lathe back and call the whole project off.
BBC now has the process down to a science and, when pressed, can turn out 200 bats in a day on lathes like that pictured above. Further, the lathes themselves have undergone considerable customization to enable BBC to produce quality bats with as little waste as possible.
Once the wood is chosen, the next step is to determine the style of bat 
to be “copied.” This process is accomplished by placing a template into the lathe that will guide the blade to create an identical copy. The BBC workshop is littered with bats of all shapes and sizes. From store bought bats of the 50's and 60's to the latest model used by John Valentin, BBC has a wide and far reaching collection of bats to work from. It is not uncommon for a major or minor league player to send BBC his favorite bat so that an identical copy can be made.
Once the template is chosen it is time to fire up the lathe and turn the bat. As the bat rotates a blade is guided by the template to carve the bat.
At the same time, while the lathe is spinning the wood, the bat can be sanded by the fast moving operator. A vacuum collects the waste keeping the lathe and the workshop free from debris. The end result looks much like a balustrade on a stairway, with the excess on either end eventually trimmed.
The bats are then collected for sanding and finishing if necessary, with large groups of bats processed together to build the efficiency of the process.
BBC labels its bats in two different ways. The original process, pictured below, involves the customary branding iron which burns the logo into the bat. (Our newly minted BBC bat still has the faint scent of burnt wood). The branding iron is powered by electricity and is pressed into the wood to create the logo.
While the labeling characteristics of BBC bats are discussed more fully in the bat companies page of this site’s bat information section, we can’t resist noting that the original branded logo consists of an oval surrounding an eye catching fish.
More recently, BBC has modified its centerbrand to a more traditional logo that has the company’s name and a sweeping “B” surrounded by a circle. This logo is screened rather than burnt into the bat, giving BBC the ability to place the logo directly on the darker color bats.
The screening technology also enables BBC to screen all types of logos and commemorative messages onto the bats they produce. For example, over the past few seasons BBC has created bats commemorating the Cape Cod League All Star Game.
The final product can be unfinished or finished depending on the player’s preference. We favor the traditional burnt in centerbrand with the distinctive fish logo (SAVE THE FISH!!).
We thank the Bednarks again for welcoming us into their workshop to witness bat manufacturing up close. It is our hope that you will add a Barnstable bat to your collection and pass the word about the quality of both the bats and the people who create and sell them.
