Local company turning baseball bats into mugs

CONCORD, Mass. — It started with a broken bat, and has turned into a business shipping hundreds of mugs.

A.J. Wnukowski, a Concord-Carlisle High School and Ekcerd College baseball alum, has turned a 400 square-foot space above his parents' garage into a workplace for Lumberlend, a team consisting of himself and a few others producing the "bat mug."

"After a broken bat happened, the thought was trying to essentially turn it into a mug because it was no longer going to be used as a bat," Wnukowski said.

The discussion led to Wnukowski and his team going to work to produce the wooden mugs. They produced 16 mugs in their first month in 2016, and Wnukowski said they'll hit 1,600 in April.

Wnukowski, however, had to learn how to properly run a business on the fly.

"I was just listening to a lot of YouTube  videos and essentially just trying to to find out how the manufacturing process worked," Wnukowski said.

The mugs may get some looks before, but Wnukowski's team is producing an original product for baseball fans in the area.

"I think no one really knew what to think of it, because it had never been done before,"

The design on each mug is custom made, using an engraving machine to have words and logos seared into the wood.

"We get [the wood] from Wells Wood Turning in Maine," Wnukowski said. "They send us just this piece, it's just natural wood, nothing on the inside, nothing on the outside."

"We stain them, mahogony stain, gray stain, this is what gives the mugs their functionality. Once the coating is dried on the inside, it allows for hot, it allows for cold liquid, and it gives it that really nice finished product look."

Lumberlend's mugs have turned into a big hit for baseball fans looking for the perfect gift for any occasion.

"Its been kind of a good groomsman's gift for people that have been associated with baseball, love baseball," Wnukowski said. "We do a lot of other specialty stuff, like birthdays and anniversaries, senior days are big."

>>RELATED: 2018 NFL Draft: Patriots pick a pair from Georgia

Wnukowski said the plan is for Lumberlend to move out of his parents' space over the garage into a bigger space in Acton.

Cox Media Group