P.E.I. baseball bat company inspired by friend's grandson

The new P.E.I. Bat Company is producing its line of baseball bats, Miltonvale Sluggers, in North Milton.

'My buddy here is an expert woodcrafter. He's got the brains, he's got the equipment.'

Nancy Russell CBC News Posted: Mar 02, 2016 5:00 AM EST | Last Updated: March 2, 2016

Florian Bryan (left) has a look at the bat that Allison Coles has just finished sanding. (Nancy Russell/CBC)

A new business that creates hand-crafted baseball bats, theP.E.I. Bat Company, was inspired by aspecial request from owner Allison Coles'buddy.

"A fella came in and asked, can I make a bat?" explained Allison Coles, whoruns Coles Moulding and Woodworking in North Milton.

That fellawas his friend,Florian Bryan, who'dbecomefrustrated with the price of commercially-produced baseball bats after his grandson Caden broke four expensive batsover the season including two in one game.

Florian Bryan holds the personalized baseball bat created for his grandson Caden. (Nancy Russell/CBC)

"My buddy here is an expert woodcrafter. He's got the brains, he's got the technology, he's got the equipment," said Bryan.

Coles wasn't sure he could fulfill his friend's request,but afterdoing some researchhe agreed togive it a try.

"And here we are," Bryan said, waving at the collection of about 50 batshis friend has produced.

So far, Allison Coles has produced about 50 baseball bats at the new P.E.I. Bat Company. (Nancy Russell/CBC)

"We had a piece of piece of wood and I put it on the lathe and started to turn it," explained Coles. "The one that came out, I was very surprised at how it felt and I'm not a baseball person."

"So I said, maybe we have got something here."

Testing for the best wood

One of Coles'biggest challengeshas beenfinding the right kind of wood. He's done his homework, sendingsamples to theUniversity of New Brunswick's Wood Science and Technology Centre, which tested them forstrength and elasticity.

Coles has produced about 50 bats so far usingash, birch, maple and aspen, mostlyfrom Nova Scotia,but he's nowlooking at P.E.I. wood.

Allison Coles carefully sands a bats in his workshop in North Milton. (Nancy Russell/CBC)

"It's difficult to get what you want," explained Coles. "There's only one or two sawmills left on P.E.I."

Keepingproductionas inexpensive as possible has been another challenge.

Colesturns his bats one at a time, andeach takes about 20 minutes a process he'd like to reduce to more likefive minutes.

"There's growing pains with this," observed Bryan."The first one will go okay and then the next one won't. It's just typical woodworking."

'Loving every minute of it'

"Just loving every minute of it," saidBryan, who drops by regularly to check on his friend'sproduction line.

He hopes the local baseball community on P.E.I. and across the Maritimes will support the venture.

"I mean we're not going to have Tony Batista's name on it," joked Bryan. "It's just going to be Allison and Florian on it. So it may not have the impact."

Allison Coles turns the pieces of wood one at a time to create the shape of the bat. (Nancy Russell/CBC)

A lower-end, lighter version of the Miltonvale Slugger will sellfor around $80, while ahigher-end hardwood bat will go for about$100.

Bryan'sgrandsonCaden,who inspired the company,received a personalized bat for Christmas, andgave it a thumbs-up.

"I almost had to forcibly take it from him to sit at the dinner table because he wouldn't take it off his shoulder," he laughed.

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P.E.I. baseball bat company inspired by friend's grandson

'My buddy here is an expert woodcrafter. He's got the brains, he's got the equipment.'

Testing for the best wood

'Loving every minute of it'

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