| |
|
|
The History and Production of the Real Tennis racquet.
|
| |
|
Grays of Cambridge is the home of Real Tennis and rackets racquet production. The Coton
site was first started production in July 28th 1986, after being relocated from the Benson Street site which unfortunately
closed down.
The factory is the only manufacturer of Real Tennis Racquets in the world and is responsible for supplying them
globally. Grays of Cambridge is a small site with just 6 employees who have loyally worked for Grays over many
decades. All real tennis racquets are hand crafted in a factory by 5 skilled craftsmen. |
 |
This picture can be found in the factory wall showing the start
date of 4 of the craftsmen. It gives an idea of the time line of 4 of the employees. Tim Dowe has worked for Grays
for 40years and is a self taught craftsmen. His first job with the company was as a gluing boy at the tender age
of 15. Dennis Mott, the longest serving employee of the factory has worked for a Grays for over 46 years. Martin
Andrews, a trained carpenter and sprayer has been with Grays for 14 years and is the youngster of the factory.
Last but by no means least is Mark Ackroyd who is a trained sprayer and sprays each and every Real Tennis racquet
by hand. |
| The complete manufacturing process of a GRAYS Real Tennis racquet |
 |
English grown willow and ash are selected by Grays to ensure
the best quality. This timber is then transported to the Cambridge site, where it is stored until required by the
factory. |
 |
The timber is cut to the required sizes within the factory using
traditional woodworking machinery. Here Martin is using a strip saw to cut the strips ready to use for the racquets.
Once all the different timbers have been cut to the required sizes they go to the gluing bench. |
 |
Here Tim is preparing the glueing bench ready to glue and set
the 3 types of wood into a real tennis racquet frame. |
 |
The ash, willow and lime wood are all set on the glueing bench.
The glue is applied, |
 |
then the woods are pressed together to form the traditional
real tennis racquet frame. |
 |
Once the glue has set the glued frames are hung ready for the
next stage which is the hand finishing. |
 |
Tim drills the frames so they can be strung by the professionals. |
 |
Raw frames have been machined, grooved, drilled and rounded
ready for the next stage of hand finishing. |
 |
Dennis can be seen here buffing the racquets. One of the many
stages of hand finishing. |
 |
Dennis finishing the racquets prior to being painted by Mark
and drilled by Tim. |
 |
Once the frames have been hand machined they are sprayed by
hand in the spraying booth by Mark. |
 |
After being hand sprayed the racquets are then screen printed
depending on the club logo and colours. |
 |
Once screen printing is finished the frame is lacquered by hand
resulting in ................................... |
 |
...................................the finished product.
The complete hand crafted
Grays Real Tennis Racquet
|
| |
Top
|
