What kind of labeling is on this Louisville Slugger?

[camarokids]

I just got one of my latest acquisitions dropped off by UPS . Guess what I have never seen the type of lettering/printing used before on this Louisville Slugger .
Bought it from Lockerroom Memorabilia via eBay .

This link on Birdbats.com shows 2 examples of LS a foil stamp (Pujols) and laser etched (Mike Matheny)

http://webpages.charter.net/birdbats/Birdbats%20Graphics/2004-05%20b.JPG

This Toby Hall bat of mine looks almost like its not engraved , but printed beneath a layer of clear coating . I will post pics in a few minutes .

[camarokids]

Hi there,
Sorry it took so long ... But I have taken pics of at least 5 different types of stamping/markings for Louisville Slugger .

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First pic shows the bat in question on top , middle I believe is flame/burned in and the standard branding on bottom . Correct ?? What about the top bat???

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Second picture shows the Toby Hall bats again...

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Third is a 2000 McGriff with ?? stamping . A 2004 Tino M. and 2004 McGriff (lser etched) and a John Matulia (a cool bat has pebbles stuck to the pine tar) and Josh Phelps (foil stamped)

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Fourth is a close up of the Hall 's .

I have three questions ....(1) what do you call the stamping on the O-64 Toby Hall (2) what do you call the stamping on the 2000 Fred McGriff (3) aren't all (normal, not counting the M-9 ,etc ) Louisville Sluggers bruned into the wood?

[Birdbats]

Just going by the photos, I'd say the 2000 McGriff is gold foil stamped and the Toby Hall bat is branded (not laser etched). Perhaps it looks different because of the finish. Looks like the bat has been double-dipped (called a "Smith" finish) or even triple-dipple in the clear finish. The finish fills in the stamping, making it look and feel almost smooth to the touch. I just received an Andruw Jones bat that is very similar.

[camarokids]

Hi Birdbats,
On your AJ #25 bat does some of the printing look to have some bleeding . If you look closely at my pics of the O-64 you can see some bleeding into the nearby grain of the wood . Does that mean there is branding + some type of black ink then the clear coatings ? That what its starting to looklike .

What do you think ?
Thanks...

[Birdbats]

There's no ink involved. The "bleeding" is from the hot branding -- it burns the wood around the brand. Most of the excess scorch marks are sanded off after branding, but in some cases, the burns are deeper and can't be sanded out completely. There's a link to a video posted here on the forum that shows how bats are made -- you can see the branding and sanding process about halfway through the video. Here's the link: http://www.sikids.com/video/2007/03/13/SIKids_Slugger.SportsIllustrated.html

[camarokids]

Thanks for the reply Jeff, the signature looks so perfectly done . Looks too good to be just burned to me , that's why I was thinking it looked like its printed or something . But , I have been wrong before. I will check out the video . Thanks ...David