Going to Hand Craft some wedges, what tools do I need?

FirePro · May 23, 2018

Looking to hand craft some wedges from some raw forged wedge blanks, send pictures and specs of tools I will need and if anyone has some design ideas I am interested to hear. I will most likely be creating doing some sort of V-sole much like my Z745's as I get along with these irons quite well. for people that have blunted the leading edge how well does this work to prevent digging or would it be better to use a v-sole for this?

Manz60 · May 23, 2018

from this forum

http://www.golfwrx.com/forums/topic/22167-grinding-a-wedge/

where did you get the raw blanks?

hope this helps

M60

FirePro · May 28, 2018

ya I can't seem to find that attachment, I may just hand sand everything and yes I get that it will take for ever. it looks like the guy used 80 grit belt so I am assuming I can use the same via block and remove less material

blink3665 · May 28, 2018

In the past I have used a Dremel tool. I don't have one of those cool grinding belts.

Where did you get those blanks?!?

Nessism · May 28, 2018

The pros use a belt sander. A bench grinder would be next step down followed by a power sanding disc. Depending on how much patients you have a fair bit of material can be removed using a file. How heavy are the heads and what is your target finished weight?

FirePro · May 28, 2018

In the past I have used a Dremel tool. I don't have one of those cool grinding belts.

Where did you get those blanks?!?

https://www.tourspec...edges-3pcs.html

Current weight

52 - 327g

56 - 332g

60 - 335.5g

End weight

TBD,

I am going to find the shaft I want (KBS $-Taper) then take me current wedges and install them into the shafts at which point I will start adding weight until I find the feel I like. I will then remove the heads from the shafts and make these to match the weights I like. I want to do this so I can try and keep a relatively centered CoG or even slightly toe-word which means I don't want to get into tip weighting.

I played the other day with a 3 wedge setup PW (46) 50 and 56 and really didn't miss my typical higher lofted wedge which means I can keep my top end of my bag the same and put the 5 wood I picked up in the bag as well.

I will most likely bend the 56 to 58 and bring the leading edge forward to reduce offset as much as possible and ether bend the 60 to 62 or bend it to 58 as well and keep as a backup this is still TBD

FirePro · May 28, 2018

The pros use a belt sander. A bench grinder would be next step down followed by a power sanding disc. Depending on how much patients you have a fair bit of material can be removed using a file. How heavy are the heads and what is your target finished weight?

I can get my hands on a belt but its not the soft one in the post above, im sure if I take it slow I can use what I have. would anyone have any direction of what files and sanding blocks to use, brands would be helpful

Mikeski · May 28, 2018

Go buy a cheap belt sander like a Ryobi from home depot. Buy the different belt grits you'll think you need.

The belt sander has a lock button so you don't have to hold the trigger down.

I clamp (gently) my belt sander into my bench vise when I need to grind a club which is very rare. If you don't have a vice just lay the sander upside down, press the lock the button, hold it with one hand and grind the club with the other hand. Finish up with a dremel tool with grinding stones or even the sandpaper drums.

If you have a Harbor Freight near by even better. You can get all you need from sanders to belts to dremel type tools there for cheap.

Thanks for the link to the blanks. Might have to order some and make some wedges.

Nessism · May 29, 2018

Most wedge heads come in about 300 grams so you have a lot of material to remove to get into this range.

Twohey · May 29, 2018

If you're not sure if you'll be doing this often, start with the more economical options. I used a $30-50 30" belt sander I got from harbor freight years ago. Go to home depot and get the variety pack of the Diablo 30" sanding belts. The 80 grit one will make short work of taking off material. Use the finer ones to finish.

FirePro · May 29, 2018

I was also considering having them plated with copper, I would have to find the company again but I think it would be a great look who knows. and I have access to a buddies grinder which the previous owner made his own vertical belt which can be adjusted, its just not the soft underportion that the other one seems to have

blink3665 · May 29, 2018

Ok. I don't mean to threadhjack... But with those blanks... how would one create a finish like Keyoei does on their wedges and irons. I love that raw 'just off the wheel' look of their MBs.

Jwags · May 30, 2018

I was also considering having them plated with copper, I would have to find the company again but I think it would be a great look who knows.

just my 2 cents but I had some Miura 1957 wedges stripped and redone in a copper finish and i could never get them to spin the way they did before. The grooves all seemed to be fine but i dont know if it was the copper or what. I ended up moving them on and have since got raw vokeys and have no issues spinning them.

good luck with the project nothing like playing clubs that you helped create.

Mikeski · May 30, 2018

Whats the hosel size for these?

Didn't see anything on their website unless I overlooked it.

FirePro · May 30, 2018

I sent them a message on their website and they said they were taper but you may need to ream them out a tad. ya the raw looks good as well thanks for the feedback on the copper

update they are .355 (Taper Tip)

FirePro · June 11, 2018

So I went out and purchased a table top belt sander and sanding wheel as well as a hand file, sanding blocks, scale and some sand paper with a little help from Petro Points.

I still have some work to do to find out the end weight of each wedge but I could not help myself, I had to start shaping metal. since I love my Z745's I thought I would have them influence my design on a few levels.

I got a little carried away and started squaring off the front of the wedge to achieve the peaked toe of the Z745's and did not take pictures of this.

I then shifted my focus to the top line of the wedge and drew my lines and since I could not get the belt grinder in that tight space threw it in a vice and started hand filing the top line.

I was wanting to do a C grind on this wedge but when balancing the wedge on my finger I could tell that the CoG was more towards the heal then the toe so I decided to keep the mass intact towards the toe and started removing material from the heal so I could open the face up and not have the leading edge come up to much.

its still around 316g so I have some room to move I just need to find the weight I want it to be. I think it came out alright so far. It still needs to be cleaned up a little but you get the idea

blink3665 · June 14, 2018

Great work! Keep up the posts with lots of pics!

FirePro · July 4, 2018

just a small update, been working on these on and off because I have been trying to figure out what shafts I want to put in them, currently I have on order 2 37.5" $-Taper X for the 52deg and 56deg and a 38" $-Taper for the 60deg. once I get the shafts I will be putting them in the heads and trimming the shafts to length, once I have them to length I will work on finding the finish weight of the heads as I still have a little mass to play with. once I figure out the end weights I will finish grinding the heads to the final weight then figure out how I want to finish the backside of the wedges, Im thinking of taking a round hammer and denting the back of the wedge, I imagine this sort of dented pastern would look amazing once it starts to rust and patina.

how do the V soles look so far?

All 3 so far

52deg

56deg

60deg

blink3665 · July 5, 2018

Very nice progress! I'm a big fan of the VSoles.

I bought a ball peen hammer to give that 'dented' look on some ball markers. Make sure you buy one that is heavy enough. The crappy one I got form Lowes isnt really doing the trick. I'm gonna need to grab something with some substance behind it.

FirePro · July 5, 2018

thanks for the input

Downtown_Brown_41 · July 5, 2018

Those look awesome. I’m interested in how they perform

FirePro · July 6, 2018

Those look awesome. I'm interested in how they perform

thanks as am I, just need to get the weights dialed in and cleaned up a bit, shafts should arrive today so its about to get real. to bad I have to go away on business next week :S but it does afford me the ability to mess around with this stuff so I guess ill keep working ha

Edit:

Shav's have arrived

FirePro · July 7, 2018

used a ball-peen hammer to get this look, whats your thoughts? not that it matters since I can't go back ha. When this rusts it should look pretty sweet me thinks

getting ahead of the bag chatter lol

Downtown_Brown_41 · July 7, 2018

I wish I had those skills, looking good

FirePro · July 8, 2018

I wish I had those skills, looking good

I appreciate it. I think a big part of it is the willingness to mess something up ha. I figured I would purchase the heads to force myself because once I had the heads its ether I start working away at it or use them as expensive paper weights and I already have a paper weight my son made so I might as well give it the ol' college try. if I could do this for the rest of my life I would die a happy man I wish I could acquire the skills and experience the legends like Don White and Mike Taylor have, that would be unreal.

should I do the same dents in the sole of the club I wonder?

blink3665 · July 9, 2018

How careful did you have to be with that Ball Peen hammer? Were you just wailing away on the head? Like I mentioned, I didnt get a heavy enough hammer and wasnt able to get the depth of indentations that I wanted with it so i didnt get too far.

cvhookem63 · July 9, 2018

How careful did you have to be with that Ball Peen hammer? Were you just wailing away on the head? Like I mentioned, I didnt get a heavy enough hammer and wasnt able to get the depth of indentations that I wanted with it so i didnt get too far.

For more precise peening, you can use a metal dapping punch set. It will come with different sizes and you can hold it in place and hit the flat end like a hand stamp.

blink3665 · July 9, 2018

How careful did you have to be with that Ball Peen hammer? Were you just wailing away on the head? Like I mentioned, I didnt get a heavy enough hammer and wasnt able to get the depth of indentations that I wanted with it so i didnt get too far.

For more precise peening, you can use a metal dapping punch set. It will come with different sizes and you can hold it in place and hit the flat end like a hand stamp.

Just ordered a set on Amazon. THANK YOU. This looks a lot more precise than a hammer. I was looking for something like this but had no idea what it was called so I never found what I was looking for!

FirePro · July 11, 2018

I was just hammering away, not going to lie I was worried about cracking the head or it breaking at the crotch when I got close to that area. the idea of being able to punch it is much better and something I would rather do but for this set of wedges im going to do the same method so they don't look different from one another.

rileyprather · July 12, 2018

When I get an extra $50, I know what my next project will be. Dang it, I need to stay off of this site!!

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Going to Hand Craft some wedges, what tools do I need?

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