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Renovating old and rusty Wedges back to life


Howard_Jones

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You can do it at home!
I hate rust. It does not do anyting good, exept it might look nice, but thats it. So what do you do when the wedge has become rusty, grooves and face are in bad condition. Buy new ones? You should think of the fact that grooves as we are used to, want be available in just a few monts from now, but they are still legal for play for another 14 years. (for most players). Here is what you can do. And dont worry, it does not demand any special skils or tools. The only special tool you need is a regroover. The rest i guess most of you got at home already.

Here is 3 Callaway Vintage wedges, played for about 4 seasons. They were all "Well done"


I guess most of you will think that this set of wedges is crap, ready for "recycling?.

Start out by putting them on a scale, so you can keep track on weight changes due to the repair job needed. If you don't want to make SW adjustments, its very important that you do the job with a minimum of weight loss. I'l show you how. Start by soaking the wedges (to the middle of the ferrule) in Coca Cola over night. Coke will eat up the rust, but nothing more. After a night in Coke, they should look something like this. Since black oxide is rust to, any old oxide will be gone with the red rust. There are still spots of rust left, but don worry.

By using CRC 5-56 or WD40 and sanding paper (320 corn size), the "left overs" will be gone in a few seconds.

You don't need to get it all of at this time. Only enough to SEE damages to the wedge. Several operations later on will take the remaining rust, so for now, its good enoght.
Since one of the wedges got a damage in the sole and leading edge, we should pay some attention to it now.

YOU DON'T START THIS JOB WITH GRINDING. What you got to do, is some old fashion "cold smithing". A Wedge is a piece of solid steel. It would not be damaged like a thin steel plate were damages moves mass in one direction only. In solid steel, anything that try to penetrate, will make the mass to resist by raising walls of mass from the impact surface. The damage area will be both lower and higher that the original surface. Instead of grinding away steel that belongs here, you "cold smith" it with a hammer.

The hammer it self should be totally free from scratches in the hammers face. If it got some, grind it of with a fine file before you use the hammer on your wedge. YOU DON'T FIX IT IN THE VISE for this job. (its there for photo purpose only) That might cause you to knock it
out of both lie and loft, and we dont want that. You just take the wedge in one hand, and the hammer in the other, and by gentle taping on the edges of the damaged area, the mass from the walls who is raised up, will know be used to "fill up" the damaged area. Don't use force. Just use several gentle taps, and it will be nice.

The photo does not show this very good, but at this stage, we cant cold smith it any better- Its time for a very gentle grinding with a fine file.

I'l leave it for now, and move on to the face and grooves. (will be back later on in this post)
To check for wear and damages, you paint the face with a pen to get a contrast color.
With a very fine file, gently grind in a diagonal pattern. (Standing X) You are only supposed to remove 1 - 2/10 mm. Any damage will be visible to you during this job. (remaining color means that this part of the surface is lower than the rest. Rust and wear)
(I 'm cheating a bit here with photos from a different job, due to photo quality, but the job an result is the same)




The face is flat now, so its time to do the regroover job. I Put a piece of tape on the toe, in case the tool slips (don't want deep scratches on the toe)

Before the last cut with the groover, i'l grind the surface of the face with sanding paper (Corn 80).
All done it will be like this.

The wedge is ready to play again, but we do want a good looking wedge, don't we?
Any damage will be done, but remember to do it with care, and think of weight loss.
There are a lot of small jobs i'm doing to get the best finish, but its not documented with photos.
Unless you want to change the color fills, there might be a chance to save the original color. Sometimes they look like this.

This job is a bit risky, but by using strong alcohol and a soft nylon brush, you can "wash" the paintings, but do it quick and gentle. The alcohol might kill the paint, even if its not as strong as acetone. If you do OK, it will be like this.

On this set, i was going to change the colors anyway, so by using acetone, and the brass brush from my golf bag, i'l take it all of.

Pay attention to the surface on the wedge. All grinding is done in one direction only. DO NOT use to big corn size, and DO NOT make rosets by circular sanding. Black oxide, Gun Browning (for those who loves the color of rust), or polishing does not "hide anything". Any scratch will be visible in the end. The last finish is done with corn size 320.
The sole/leading edge on the 58/11 becomes like this. I could have done "better" but that will force med to adjust SW in the end. The total weight loss on this wedge was 1,5 grams or less than 1 SW point. ( No attention needed for most players)
,

The paint job is not hard at all, if you do it "my way". Do the paint job before black oxide, browning or polishing. Non of this treatments will hurt the paint. The trick with paint is to do the colors in the center first. Have some acetone and e few "Q tips" (ear cleaning rods with cotton) handy, so you can wipe of paint who gets in the wrong places. This photo show of that the color job started in the center, and that the other colors (red and silver), is don last. By that method you can use a plastic ?, to "wipe" of the paint so that it only fills were it should. Don't worry about paint spill on the flat parts of the surface. Just let i dry with the rest. It should dry up, for 4-6 hours, but keep it a cold place the last hour or so. It will make the paint harder, and therefore easier to grind of. Don't ever try to grind on "warm" paint. It becomes "chewing gum".
Use corn size 320 an slowly grind of unwanted paint IN ONE DIRECTION ONLY. Don't make grinding marks now. They will be visible in the end.

,

This wedges was to be made with Black oxid finish, but its the same job if you want them in Gun Brown (Rust color without dangerous rust)
,

If you want a combination of "Chrome look" but black at adr, you can do it like this.
Before picture :
After the job above is done, you are ready for polish. From a surface grind with 320 corn size, i use a soft polishing pad on a 18V battery driven drill, and some drops of Autosol Chrome polish
,
It will take 5-6 rounds with the polish to get a nice "Chrome look".(its still a raw 1020 carbon steel wedge, and no chrome present)

Now you use masking tape to protect areas who is not going to be black oxid.

All done with the paint it looks like new (the grooves are even better)
.


The tumbnails in the end of this post dont belong there, and i dont know how to remove them :-)

DO NOT SEND PMs WITH CLUB TECH QUESTIONS - USE THE PUBLIC FORUM.

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[quote name='Gehly' date='09 July 2010 - 06:04 AM' timestamp='1278680672' post='2564493']
too much work, I'll just buy a new wedge :sorry:
my time is too valuable
[/quote]

Some peoples kids! haha

Awesome work man! Defnitly for the do-it-yourself type people out there and I will be trying this for sure. Thanks for the walk through.

The Big Dog ~ G425 LST | AD UB 6x
The 3 Banger ~ Mavrik MAX | AD DI 7x
The 5 Banger ~ Mavrik SZ | Motore F3 7x

The Metal ~ T200 4-W
The Shovels ~ SM7 54, 58
Flatstick ~ Spider X Chalk Stability Tour
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@Gehly - 3 wedges like this takes less time to do than many golf rounds iv been playing :-) Good enough, your time i valuable to you, but where do you buy new wedges with square grooves in a year from now.? You better start "Power shopping" if you wants to play square grooves the coming many years. Im just telling about a way out of that problem

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@sidewinder0613

Its not durable at all, or depending on how you treat them. The wedges shown was made black with Birchwood casey Perma Blue. It will take 3-5 treatments to get the color wanted. One treatment takes only 2 minutes (1 minute to get it on, wait 1 minute, wipe of, and rinse with water). The sole itself get pure steel again after a few shots from sand, or if you are the digger type. The rest stays on pretty well i think. I use silicone oil after washing (after every round), and let it stay on to the next round. That will keep the rust away. I only wipe of the face before playing.
DONT EVER use CRC 5-56 , WD40 or similar products with rust removing agents. Black oxide IS RUST, so the oil "protector", will be the killer of the black oxide.

The nice thing about this "home" black oxide, is the easy way to do it again when ever wanted. 1 Tube of Perma Blue is "a life time supply" for anyone who does not do this for others.
[url="http://sport.birchwoodcasey.com/Finishing/FinishingList.aspx?CategoryID=735f46a9-9bec-4146-bb28-3ad829ba4b04"]http://sport.birchwo...28-3ad829ba4b04[/url]

On page 2. in the link above you will find the "Browning" (Plum Brown) for them of you who loves the patina and color of red rust, but still likes to keep your wedge alive. Do the browning, and protect it with silicone oil, just like it was black oxid. The reason for black oxide, is to make a surface who can hold on to a thin film of oil. The oil is the rust protector. Without oil, its only rust who becomes even more rusty.

DO NOT SEND PMs WITH CLUB TECH QUESTIONS - USE THE PUBLIC FORUM.

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[url="http://shop.ebay.com/?_from=R40&_trksid=m570&_nkw=Perma+Blue"]http://shop.ebay.com/?_from=R40&_trksid=m570&_nkw=Perma+Blue[/url]

Autosol is a "standard" product in any car accessory shop, gas stations, and so on...
[url="http://www.autosol.com/"]http://www.autosol.com/[/url]

Its perfect for cleaning and polishing steel shafts as well.

DO NOT SEND PMs WITH CLUB TECH QUESTIONS - USE THE PUBLIC FORUM.

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[quote name='Howard Jones' date='09 July 2010 - 03:33 PM' timestamp='1278707595' post='2565360']
@OldskoolTexan

Whats the putter head it self made of ?
Type, model ?
Is it a permanent remove or temporary?



[/quote]

<br>Its a Tad Moore 8802 style with a copper. [url="http://www.tadmoore.com/barn-find/"]They make this fancy one with some exotic insert[/url] but this is just a copper insert. The head is beatup so I wanted to remove the face and paintfill to do some rehab. <br><br>I have a gun blue kit so I wanted to get is sanded then try to do 4-5 coats of that to really get it as dark as I can. THEN buff and replace the insert. I assume that the face can be refixed with some DP810 but I dont want to damage the insert by just digging it out. Unless a spongier caulk would give better "feel" than the already spongy DP810.<br><br> Never know, I can go to Texas Knife and find some nice material to use as an insert. Maybe micarta, mother of pearl or this SICK [url="http://www.texasknife.com/vcom/product_info.php?cPath=587_588_590&products_id=2742"]mixed abalone[/url]. I can definitely post a thread if it turns out nice. I purposely bought a beatup putter for this project.

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Tanks for nice feedback folks!. If my English skills was better, i could have made a much better description of what to do with what and when, but you got to live with it as it is. Anyway feel free to ask any question. I made this to help out, the same way others done to me. Even if i have to admit that i'm a former Gunsmith, this job does NOT demand any handyman skills. Just some time and love for your gear and you'l be fine. This year i'm taking classes at Mitchell golf equipment institute to become a professional club maker. I simply can not see equipment "out of order" or not fitted to the player without doing something about it, so i guess its "a call" ;-). I'm thinking about offering repairs like the above, on chromed irons as well, since nobody if offering this service here in DK.

DO NOT SEND PMs WITH CLUB TECH QUESTIONS - USE THE PUBLIC FORUM.

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[quote name='Howard Jones' date='09 July 2010 - 06:30 AM' timestamp='1278671430' post='2564380']
I hate rust. It does not do anyting good, exept it might look nice, but thats it. So what do you do when the wedge has become rusty, grooves and face are in bad condition. Buy new ones? You should think of the fact that grooves as we are used to, want be available in just a few monts from now, but they are still legal for play for another 14 years. (for most players). Here is what you can do. And dont worry, it does not demand any special skils or tools. The only special tool you need is a regroover. The rest i guess most of you got at home already.[/quote]

Outstanding work! Definitely sticky worthy.

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Very cool stuff thanks for sharing brotha, sticky this please.

Titleist TSR3 8* / Fuji Ventus Black TR 6X               

Titleist TSR2+ / Fuji Ventus Black TR 7X               

Callaway UW / Fuji Ventu Black 8X

Edel SMS iron 4-5 / DG TI X100 /////  SMS PRO irons 6-PW / DG TI X100

Edel SMS 50V, 54T, 60T / DG TI S400/ BGT ZNE 130

Edel PROTO




 

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