Mil Spec Restoration Advice Needed

I'm posting this to gather the collective wisdom of those on this forum. A few months ago I picked up this 350 gram Mil Spec for $89. At that price I couldn't pass it up. It has been well used but not too harshly abused. Since I already have two original 350s, I have decided I want to strip the pro plat from this one and have it restored in oil can or some other black finish. The Scotty shop is not in the running for this. I'm likely going to go with BOS. But I'm open to suggestions from others.

So I pulled the head and it weighed in at 356 grams. That was the same weight of my other gen 1 head. This head will certainly need some top line work to remove these dents. I don't expect it to loose much weight here.

Now the face is where I need some advice. The milling is not very clear. I'm also bothered by a few of the dents/dings. But while they are annoying to look at, I'm wondering if I should just live with them. Would a re-mill of the face remove these dents? If so, how much weight would this potentially lose?

The $55 re-mill price at BOS is making me think hard about this. But after all is said and done, I want this to look pristine.

Thanks for any and all feedback. Help me bring this putter back to life.

If you want pristine let them re-mill it. They'll tell you how much weight you'll lose... 3 to 5 grams I think. Don't know how much the plating weighs, but guessing you'll end up around 345.

They re-milled a TeI3 for me and it was immaculate although planed flat. Haven't seen their light mill pattern, but would expect it to be comparable to stock.

If you want pristine let them re-mill it. They'll tell you how much weight you'll lose... 3 to 5 grams I think. Don't know how much the plating weighs, but guessing you'll end up around 345.

Oddly enough, most of the headweights on these tend to skew 3-5g high, e.g. you'll see 33/350's weigh in around 354, so a light remill could actually result in achieving a perfect 350 headweight.

Looks like overall it's in pretty good shape OP, great deal! Not much material at all would need to be removed to make this thing mint. FTR I would highly recommend BOS.

EDIT: Just re-read the OP and noticed where you said you did weigh the head after pulling it and it's 356. I was close! :derisive:

DEFINITELY mill the face!

Remove the nickel, mill the face then bead blast and then gun glue it.

It will come out a soft yet dark black....

Like this

Thanks for all the feedback. The head is arriving at TorreyRat today. Yes, I will have the face remilled. I'm going with the shiny oil can patina finish. Once I have it back I will share pictures.

I sourced an original Scotty custom shop shaft to put in it. But as I was measuring the tip, it appears whomever owned this before must have bored out the hosel when they reshafted it. I found old true temper markings on the shaft and the tip measured at .370 on my caliper. So I ordered a black shaft from Golfworks to see if it will fit. I also ordered some .355 to .370 shims in case I want to put in the Scotty shaft I bought.

great choice. i need to reach out again to him to send my Circa 62 asian spec in. looking forward to seeing photos. I have a Mil-Spec as my gamer that was sent to the custom shop a couple of years ago. love it.

Good choice on the remilling. It's a personal preference, but for some reason to me the unmilled restos look like they're lacking to me, like they were done in some dude's garage, regardless of how high end of a shop they were done at.

Good choice on the remilling. It's a personal preference, but for some reason to me the unmilled restos look like they're lacking to me, like they were done in some dude's garage, regardless of how high end of a shop they were done at.

agreed.

Following to see this thing finished!

Good choice on the remilling. It's a personal preference, but for some reason to me the unmilled restos look like they're lacking to me, like they were done in some dude's garage, regardless of how high end of a shop they were done at.

 

agreed.

IMO all depends on how bad the face looks. Mine was pretty clean so I opted not to do a face re mill The OP's is pretty rough in comparison so I prob would have done the re mill on that one.

yours is an exception. i was thinking more along the lines of a smooth face after restored as opposed to a restored lightly milled face like yours.

Agree with face milling and I love the original BOS Oil Can - nobody does it better (cue James Bond song. :-)

Great pick up BTW.

Rob

The wait is almost over. George at TorreyRat just sent me these preliminary photos. I have to share them as they look fantastic.

I will take more once it is back in my hands.

You better post pics !!!!!! That looks amazing.....if you care to share what that cost was ????

beaut. looks very nice.

What a beauty!

+1, that looks fantastic!

Try to get some outdoors pics so we can see this thing glimmer in the sunshine, OP!

do you know what the head weight is now?

I will weigh it once I get it back next week and include that information in the next update.

More tease pics from George. The customer service provided by him has been outstanding.

He weighed the head at 346.3 grams. Lost a bit more than I had hoped. But easy enough to toss in tip weight when I put it back together.

And now, the outside pics.

That turned out FANTASTIC. Nobody does oil can better.

After seeing the pics I was guess it would lose about 8-10 grams. Face was pretty bad.

Love the colors used. This is going to be a great gamer!

That is goregous!

Beauty for sure. BOS is the king of oil can. Any reason you can't just send a putter directly to BOS or is George TorreyRat the same business?

Resto came out great.

TorreyRat is a broker for BOS and a fellow WRX'er in the end sending it direct or to TorreyRat is the same but why not help a WRX'er out

One_putt_blunder is correct. George, aka TorreyRat is the equivalent of a reseller for BOS. The benefit is he is basically your dedicated rep and will personally hand deliver your head to BOS. In addition, he usually gets a better price and a shorter turn around time. I cannot begin to tell you how incredibly helpful he has been during this process. He had many suggestions on the finish and color selection. (FYI I can't say I always listened to his advice. I intended this putter to be a tribute to my Ohio State Buckeyes with the Scarlet and Grey look. The shiny black oxide would have probably been a better base but I was stubborn with the shiny oil can selection.) He also is able to offer a modest discount over BOS pricing. Check out his Instagram page if you want examples of clubs he has helped relive their glory days.

https://www.instagram.com/torreyrat_golf/

I'm sure I would have been happy had I sent it to BOS direct. But at this point I'm even happier having worked with George. The head should be back in my hands tomorrow. I shipped him the head on October 5th. It will be back to me on October 30th. That is some impressive turn around times for something that looks so great. I can promise you if I have additional work in the future George will be my first stop.

The head just arrived. It looks even better in person than it does in the pictures. I’m hoping I can get it shafted later this week and update with photos. For now though, you will have to do with just one more collage from George.

very nice.

Beautiful result OP, and credit to BOS, George and all involved -that is what oilcan should look like!

My contention is that this piece was instrumental in the Bucks' epic comeback win this weekend... now we just need to keep feeding the machine to keep it rolling! Another oilcan resto if possible... :nyam:

Who's next? :polling:

Looks fantastic !! What did they tell about the maintenance of the finish? Keep it oiled? How durable will it be?