Ben Hogan Apex 99s refurb

I got offered a set of Hogan Apex 99s from an eBay seller I had dealt with in the past, they were described as

Ben Hogan apex 99 excellent condition, seen very little play. Tour issue irons with conforming grooves.

I was a little bit concerned as all the questions I asked were not getting answered right away.

Anyway I decided to buy them even though the seller would only take Paypal gift.

I had a funny feeling, so paid using my credit card through paypal.

This is what turned up

I could have claimed through my credit card, so messaged the seller who just ignored me.

I was undecided what to do with them, the shafts were in quite good condition & the heads although they had seen a lot of play were not particularly banged up.

Then I saw this on eBay for sale & liked how it looked, it's listed as a Raw Hogan Apex Edge Tour Issue.

So I decided to strip them down, save the shafts & get the heads stripped of chrome.

I was quite pleased how they came back from the chrome shop & a little bit of work, they are starting to look quite nice.

This is just one head the E Wedge that I have worked on so far, but I quite like how it's looking.

I have the correct ferules, shafts, new shaft bands & grips, but I might try a set of DG S300 AMTs in them which I have obtained, it's a shaft I really like in my AP2s.

Ferules & Shaft Bands

Looking good

I did a set of mizunos ms-9 in raw and am pleased with the look

Saturday past I bought a set of the white cameos and that is how I am doing them as well

I've done wedges in the past

Overall those heads of yours are going to look amazing and every time you pull one out of the bag you'll feel the pride of having done the work yourself

Congrats

Looking good

I did a set of mizunos ms-9 in raw and am pleased with the look

Saturday past I bought a set of the white cameos and that is how I am doing them as well

I've done wedges in the past

Overall those heads of yours are going to look amazing and every time you pull one out of the bag you'll feel the pride of having done the work yourself

Congrats

Yes you're absolutely right, I always remember the story of Jonny Miller & the clubs he used to shoot that 63 in the last round of the US Open in 73 & how he built them & worked on them himself.

Would be nice to see how your Mizuno MS-9s turned out :-)

I've got a few Hogan Wedges I want to do as well as soon as they arrive.

Very nice project - whereabouts in Surrey are you btw ?

Sooo... How do you strip the chrome off?

In case I want to try this in the future.

Sooo... How do you strip the chrome off?

In case I want to try this in the future.

I asked the same question in another thread, you can take them to a chrome platers & they can reverse the process, I think this is the best way to get it done.

Cost?

I had a set done for $15.00 per head

I've stripped them on others by using a series of flap wheels and then sanding by hand .

Did a set of precept iron heads once and the forgings were very rough. They used a lot of Chrome on them

Mizunos were hard to strip , they had nickel under the chrome so my guy had to do them 4 times

But these apexes are going to look great when they're finished

I see you have new ferrules and shaft bands

What shafts are you re-installing

Very nice project - whereabouts in Surrey are you btw ?

In between Guildford & Dorking, just off the A25.

Cost?

£10 per head

I had a set done for $15.00 per head

I've stripped them on others by using a series of flap wheels and then sanding by hand .

Did a set of precept iron heads once and the forgings were very rough. They used a lot of Chrome on them

Mizunos were hard to strip , they had nickel under the chrome so my guy had to do them 4 times

 

But these species are going to look great when they're finished

I see you have new ferrules and shaft bands

What shafts are you re-installing

I'm not sure, I have the Apex 4 shafts that came in them which are quite good, but I was thinking of trying a set of DGS300 AMTs which I have in my AP2s & I really like them, I picked up a new pulled set a while ago. I might put one of each shaft in a club & see how they feel.

love these!

I had some ben hogan wedges that i sent off to be stripped, refurbed but then left raw, loved them but got an offer for them i couldnt refuse.

they looked like new when they had done them! £25 a head i was charged and thought that was reasonable.

going to do a set of the ftx's in the future

Nice work so far CD17. Giving me ideas on projecting a less than optimum set of 99's. Several of which have a fair amount of face browning. So a couple of questions:

1. The E wedge pic above, could you expand a bit on the "that I have worked so far" comment. How rough are the raw forgings? What did you use to work it? What is the end result that your after? I have a Dremel with a compliment of attachments that I often use for a bit of grinding and buffing on clubs.

2. Always wondered about face browning. If its a residual of the chroming process wearing away or a condition of the raw steel forging that keeps returning. A few nicks and dings (character marks) I can deal with. But really dislike the look of browned faces.

3. Once raw, thinking they may rust up a bit after every use. For those of you that have used raw clubs, what's your post round maintenance? Wipe down and an application of fine oil? I've used gun oil on some hickories I've futzed with of late. Works OK but the surface rust gremlins still appear.

4. Where you took the heads for de-chroming, was it a general purpose chrome shop or one that specializes in golf clubs?

TIA. Keep us updated as this project unfolds.

Nice work so far CD17. Giving me ideas on projecting a less than optimum set of 99's. Several of which have a fair amount of face browning. So a couple of questions:

 

1. The E wedge pic above, could you expand a bit on the "that I have worked so far" comment. How rough are the raw forgings? What did you use to work it? What is the end result that your after? I have a Dremel with a compliment of attachments that I often use for a bit of grinding and buffing on clubs.

 

2. Always wondered about face browning. If its a residual of the chroming process wearing away or a condition of the raw steel forging that keeps returning. A few nicks and dings (character marks) I can deal with. But really dislike the look of browned faces.

 

3. Once raw, thinking they may rust up a bit after every use. For those of you that have used raw clubs, what's your post round maintenance? Wipe down and an application of fine oil? I've used gun oil on some hickories I've futzed with of late. Works OK but the surface rust gremlins still appear.

 

4. Where you took the heads for de-chroming, was it a general purpose chrome shop or one that specializes in golf clubs?

 

TIA. Keep us updated as this project unfolds.

1. I just used an abrasive kitchen cleaning pad, something like brillow pads, not sure if you know these, I'll post a picture, they actually took very little work to get them like the E wedge in the photo. The rough forgings are really good on these heads, they would have been polished before the chrome was applied originally.

2. I'm not sure about the face browning either, but it is either the cooper plating they put on before the chrome, if these were cooper plated, or it is the bear metal rusting, I also really dislike the browning effect on irons.

3. I always clean my clubs after playing with warm soapy water & a kitchen brush, I'm sure if you do this they will be fine, or if not just spray something like GT85 or WD40 on them & they should be fine. It really doesn't take a lot to get them looking clean again. I had a set of Raw Vega's before & they looked fine, I like the raw look, but I won't let them rust massively.

4. I took them to just a normal chroming workshop, unfortunately there aren't that many of these left now, but I think I found a good one.

I'll update with more photo's once they're all polished & the paint fill is done, then more as I get them built up.

love these!

 

I had some ben hogan wedges that i sent off to be stripped, refurbed but then left raw, loved them but got an offer for them i couldnt refuse.

 

they looked like new when they had done them! £25 a head i was charged and thought that was reasonable.

 

going to do a set of the ftx's in the future

I have a set of FXTs too, but they're to good to strip.

I've just taken delivery of two Hogan Wedges, one will get stripped like these, it's a 50º gap wedge, quite lucky to find this one & it was a really good price, I also have a few others, a 60º Pro Grind, I don't really use a 60º + I'm not to keen on the shape, a 56º Colonial which is a bit scratched & I got two Carnoustie Wedges before I realised they are cast & not Forged so I'm not sure about them. The other one I got today is a 57º Tour Series II, but it's also to good to strip + I'm not to keen on the bounce of it.

Thx for the followup CD17. No need to post a pic, familiar with Scotchbrite pads and #0000 steel wool. Use it all the time. Was just curious if you were using a procedure that was something different that what I typically do.

Good to know about the quality of the raw forgings. Thought they may be, given that they're Endo forged Hogans. Relatively easy to find old(er) Hogan wedges that may be good candidates for going raw. I walked away from a Hogan "53" the other day because it was to rough and browned up. Was $3.00. May now have to go back and see if its still around as a resto candidate. LOL.

Planning on any groove work, or good enough as is?

Thx for the followup CD17. No need to post a pic, familiar with Scotchbrite pads and #0000 steel wool. Use it all the time. Was just curious if you were using a procedure that was something different that what I typically do.

 

Good to know about the quality of the raw forgings. Thought they may be, given that they're Endo forged Hogans. Relatively easy to find old(er) Hogan wedges that may be good candidates for going raw. I walked away from a Hogan "53" the other day because it was to rough and browned up. Was $3.00. May now have to go back and see if its still around as a resto candidate. LOL.

 

Planning on any groove work, or good enough as is?

I've done a little bit of work on the 9 Iron grooves, that's the only real bad one, I also had to take a few nicks out of the 7 Iron top line, I just used a dremel then some emery cloth & it looks good. I've given them all a first scrub up & I'm going to give them one more before I start the paint fill.

I would like to find a good 53º & a 57º wedge then I would have a full set.

Thx for the followup CD17. No need to post a pic, familiar with Scotchbrite pads and #0000 steel wool. Use it all the time. Was just curious if you were using a procedure that was something different that what I typically do.

 

Good to know about the quality of the raw forgings. Thought they may be, given that they're Endo forged Hogans. Relatively easy to find old(er) Hogan wedges that may be good candidates for going raw. I walked away from a Hogan "53" the other day because it was to rough and browned up. Was $3.00. May now have to go back and see if its still around as a resto candidate. LOL.

 

Planning on any groove work, or good enough as is?

For $3, I'd have that wedge. WD40, steel wool, some careful filing and a groove tool will have the business end of the wedge functional and looking good whether or not you strip the chrome. I have an old special SI and the chrome is worn off the face. Left to its own devices it would obviously rust pretty vividly - but after its last facelift, you could hardly tell that it wasn't just satin finish chrome.

I've finished polishing the clubs, I'm not going to get them to mint condition because I intend to play them, so leaving all the small nicks & bag clatter. I've started the paint fill & was wondering, is it normal for the Apex 99s to have the Apex filled in in blue ?

I've had three sets of these irons & another set on the way & some have had blue & others black, it there a reason why the different colours are used, maybe different shafts ?

Sorry I know it's not a great photo, but that Apex writing is blue, but this is another set of Apex 99s I have which are in quite qood condition.

Both my sets have black fill (other than red numbers and the gold & red BH sunburst). Maybe UK only?

Looking good.

Both my sets have black fill (other than red numbers and the gold & red BH sunburst). Maybe UK only?

 

Mine too.

Both my sets have black fill (other than red numbers and the gold & red BH sunburst). Maybe UK only?

 

 

Mine too.

Could be, what shafts did you have in them, both the sets I've had with the Blue writing had Rifle shafts.

Paint fill getting done, it's quite time consuming with the three of four different colour paints to apply, but I'm enjoying working on these :-)

I just brought this set too, I only really want the 2 Iron & the SW, it's a shame the 7 iron is missing, I might sell the ones I don't need individually in case anyone is looking for a replacement. They look really clean.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/152093901313?_trksid=p2060353.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

My most recent set has Rifles and are black. Rifles must have been a factory option, they still had the serial number labels.

FYI and you may already know this. I did two coats of paint fill and a coat of clear nail polish on the soles. A single coat wore off the first time they were played. Have three rounds in on the redo, holding up well so far.

Realize I'm here in the States, but I may be interested in a couple of the clubs if you were going to liquidate. Heads only would be even better (if you decide to keep the shafts for inventory). Do not find many individual '99's listed on eBay. On than the odd long iron occasionally.

Was curious what the SW looked like. Think I saw one of them listed recently. It looked different than the usual SI and had Apex on the sole.

My most recent set has Rifles and are black. Rifles must have been a factory option, they still had the serial number labels.

 

FYI and you may already know this. I did two coats of paint fill and a coat of clear nail polish on the soles. A single coat wore off the first time they were played. Have three rounds in on the redo, holding up well so far.

 

Realize I'm here in the States, but I may be interested in a couple of the clubs if you were going to liquidate. Heads only would be even better (if you decide to keep the shafts for inventory). Do not find many individual '99's listed on eBay. On than the odd long iron occasionally.

 

Was curious what the SW looked like. Think I saw one of them listed recently. It looked different than the usual SI and had Apex on the sole.

No I didn't know about doing two coats of paint fill, it's the 1st time I've done it, so thank you.

No I don't see hardly any single Apex 99s for sale here, I've seen a 2 iron before, but hardly any. That's why I thought it would be a good idea to split this set, especially as it's not complete anyway, yes no problem about the single 99s, let me know what you need, the only other one I was thinking of keeping was maybe the 9 Iron, but if you need it you can have it, the face on this raw one has come up pretty well & I can send just the heads, they should be here on Tuesday so I'll see how good they are.

Man those are going to look nice when your done

I've had some problems with the paint fill on the numbers, it won't dry, so I've ordered some red nail varnish, some of the irons are okay, but others have smudged, so I might do them all again, I think it's because the number stamps are quite deep & I filled them up :-(

Also the gold around the BH stamp is quite hard to get right.

I still have to fill the Apex, but I'll wait until the nail varnish comes.

It may be because you're using a varnish. IDK for sure. I've had good results paint filling using Tamiya acrylic paint, found at hobby shops. Also have read that Testor paint works equally well. Fast drying (couple of hours but usually give it overnight) and levels nicely. I apply with a appropriate sized artists brush with a fine point. Especially needed for the gold on the sunburst. Used a Q-tip for paint removal in that area.

The Tamiya colors ID numbers: X-1 (black), XF-7 (red), X-31 (gold). Two light applications is preferable to one heavy. Then plain old clear nail polish that the Mrs. had around for the protective coat on the sole. Don't need to clean off the overrun, can't see it.

Those raw heads look amazing!!

I've stamped and paint filled quite a few clubs and have had great success with Testor's model paint. Also has worked well for some putter remodel's I've done were everything has been stripped and redone much like your hogan's there. Those are beautiful - have fun with the remodel!

Thx for the followup CD17. No need to post a pic, familiar with Scotchbrite pads and #0000 steel wool. Use it all the time. Was just curious if you were using a procedure that was something different that what I typically do.

 

Good to know about the quality of the raw forgings. Thought they may be, given that they're Endo forged Hogans. Relatively easy to find old(er) Hogan wedges that may be good candidates for going raw. I walked away from a Hogan "53" the other day because it was to rough and browned up. Was $3.00. May now have to go back and see if its still around as a resto candidate. LOL.

 

Planning on any groove work, or good enough as is?

 

I've done a little bit of work on the 9 Iron grooves, that's the only real bad one, I also had to take a few nicks out of the 7 Iron top line, I just used a dremel then some emery cloth & it looks good. I've given them all a first scrub up & I'm going to give them one more before I start the paint fill.

 

I would like to find a good 53º & a 57º wedge then I would have a full set.