A wet winter

A wet winter

I heard on the radio that it has rained somewhere in the UK every day of 2026 so far, and it is currently the 7th of February. That pretty much sums this winter up. Constant rain and damp air might feel like background noise to most people, but in a bat making workshop it has a huge impact and forces you to adjust how you do almost everything.

Willow is still a living material long after the tree is cut. It is incredibly sensitive to moisture and changes in humidity. A prolonged wet winter means higher moisture levels in newly cut willow, slower and more unpredictable drying times, and a greater risk of staining or mould if the timber is not managed carefully. When the air stays damp for months on end, the margin for error gets much smaller. Every cleft needs closer monitoring and a lot more patience before it is ready to be worked.

We generally only buy dry willow, usually sitting between 8 - 12 percent moisture content at the time of purchase. Even so, if these clefts are left stacked inside a workshop during a wet winter, their moisture content will still rise. They do not need to be rained on directly. The wood acts like a sponge, soaking up whatever moisture is in the air, and that damp air works its way straight into the fibres of the willow.

As moisture content rises, the cleft gets heavier. If that cleft is not dried back to where it was when we bought it, it will produce a smaller bat for the same finished weight. And nobody wants a small bat these days.

Pressing brings its own challenges. We add water before pressing to reduce the risk of cracking under pressure. In the summer, that added moisture dries out quickly and the bat returns to its previous moisture level without much fuss. In the winter, especially a wet one like this, that simply does not happen. Moisture hangs around. As a result, bats that we are working on often need to go in and out of drying cupboards several times during the process from cleft to finished bat.

Repairs are affected too. Glue takes longer to cure in cold, damp conditions, which can be a problem when people need fast turnarounds. We can counter this by using drying cupboards, but that is not always possible, depending on what stage of bat production we are at elsewhere in the workshop at the same time.

A wet winter slows everything down. It demands more checks, more control and more patience. But taking that extra care now is what ensures bats are right when they leave the workshop and ready to perform when the season finally comes around.

We have a video on moisture coming out soon so if this is something that interests you then be sure to check instagram and tiktok!