Often times I would find vintage persimmon woods with uneven surface on the face. From golf balls missing the face plate. When I run my fingers through the face , there would be obvious concave spots at both the toe and the heel, mostly toward the toe.
I had passed quite a few of these vintage because not sure if the integrity of the wood structure had been compromised, and not sure if I could make the vintage a playing piece again.
What would you do to refinish the face ? I know the face plate must be removed , however, do you take down more to expose new surface ? Couldn't be building up the face , could it ? How to maintain/measure the roll and bulge angle ? By eye and feel or there is another way ?
I'm always worried of taking off too much to influence the shape and the swing weight, majorly don't want to change the original shape.
I‘ve refinished multiple clubs where the insert is not level with the heel or toe wood section of the club. I can’t say the wood was concave due to hitting a ball, the reason for the low section is the 40, 50, 60+ years of the wood expanding and contracting due to moisture. Once you find an old persimmon club it probably has not been used for at least 30 years and the wood has now been drying out for that amount of time, shrinking and contracting, causing the insert to sit higher. It’s not a big deal.
Look on eBay for a roll and bulge gauge. They were a standard piece of repair equipment in the persimmon era so they are t hard to find.
After resetting the sole plate and insert measure the bulge and roll of the face and simply start sanding the face back and forth across it to level the insert with the surrounding wood. Most people are naturally inclined while sanding to use more pressure in the middle of their stroke and less on the edges. This will actually be a benefit when sanding the insert lower. Use your bulge and roll gauge to measure the face and be sure you are keeping the proper radius.
I don’t think you need to worry too much about losing too much weight to affect swingweight.
Here is the gauge you should look for.
Sorry if it was not clearly stated.
when I run my fingers through the face of the golf club, there were obvious indentations from ball striking and not the uneven surface between the face insert and the face of the golf club and not the separation line from the two.
Some of these golf clubs were well used and neglected in maintenance. The " damage " shown on the club face worried me if the club been played with damp surface which we know will cause premature wear.
Changing condition in the moisture and temperature level will be the biggest enemy to natural wood products. This brought up another issue for using the nylon thread for whipping. It's been done since decades ago and I used the nylon thread for whipping for a long time but, the nylon thread does not offer the protection from the weather like a pitched linen thread would. Especially being a barrier for moisture. That's why I'm going back to search for either the pitched or waxed linen thread for whipping.
I ran into an older Walter Hagen driver, can identify the model but it has no face insert but the grooved lines on the face ( both vertical and horizontal ). It has a rusted shaft in it with paint applied to it at some time to try to preserve it. I almost wanted to make that my next project but, again there was the lowered section on both the toe and the heel from ball striking missing the sweet spots. Whipping was loose but not a big concern,
The head was painted black, couldn't exam if it had repair to cracked lines or damage, that's why I passed it. I try not to get one for the display. I'll try my best to make these playing golf clubs once again.
From what I observed of this particular driver, I'll have remove quite a bit of the surface material to make it suitable for refinishing the face ( if I don't run into surprises like dry rot spots ). Not sure maybe taking off 0.1 to 0.3 mm across the face to start with.
Okay, I see what you are saying. If it were me, I’d trying steaming the indentations to raise them up as best as possible, then go back and sand as needed. I have successfully minimized dents in woods, mostly spruce guitar tops and maple guitar necks, using steam. Those woods are definitely softer than persimmon which has a Janka hardness rating of 2300, while Maple is around 1400 and spruce is 500.
Here is a little video that shows how you can raise the compressed fibers back into position.
Thanks.
It'll be worth a try. Never thought the cloth iron would come in handy in this way. I thought it has to be a pressurized chamber of some sort with steam.
I'll see if that Walter Hagen driver is still available when I have a chance to go about the neighborhood in about a week. This method will probably minimize the ball striking dents. If that's the case, I'll have to see if I have an extra steel shaft in the garage somewhere, hopefully the hosel is 0.335. Maybe I'll bring my digital caliper with me when I stop by there.
Your recently purchased Carl Paul book, if I remember correctly, has a chapter devoted to this topic if you want to go the epoxy filling route. Unfortunately I am 7000 miles away from my copy so I'm not a great help. With that hogan driver I just pretended it didn't exist.
I'll look into this when I have time, yes, I do remember something like that flipping through the pages. I was wondering if anyone had hands on experience of the topic and could offer insight of what works better ?
Oh Well, Guess what ? There is a new listing on the eBay for the same Walter Hagen driver I hesitated on purchasing last time. Surface damage from the golf ball and rusty shaft under the celluloid paint. messed up whipping.......
It saves me a trip going there since this listing is from the same area where this Walter Hagen driver was.
Funny thing is, it was $7.99 at the thrift store plus 10% sales tax, this listing is asking $17 plus tax and shipping.
No wonder it's getting difficult to find vintage golf clubs. People just snatch them up and resale on the internet without either fixing or intention to play with it. Wait til they get burned a few times then they'll leave the vintage golf club alone.
Yap, it's the same one, I remembered the same spot of rust on the shaft and the lines on the top of the head. It'll need a lot of work if not intended to use it to display.