RAW IRONS POST YOUR PICS

[Kale_m]

Those Nike are so sick

[justasgood]

 

[rocketmutt]

@jasonTeI3 all of those came out amazing looking, Hogans are stunners @justasgood these apex's are filthy

[NixLix26]

 

Still waiting to get these in hand, but had a friend I made through Instagram take the finish off a set of 712 cbs I always wanted to patina. After completely stripping them he buffed them out and bead blasted got them all back together. So the patina process will start for me as soon as I put them in play. Can’t wait to see how these look after a few months in South Carolina ocean air and sandy o ran style courses. Raw finish and all club work done by Criterioncustoms On Instagram

[EDT501]

I already had a problem with non-stainless carbon steel kitchen knives and this thread made me seek out some high maintenance irons too.
 

Got this back from Doug Oughton several weeks ago, man can he work some magic. These irons were my gamers through high school when I played my best golf and were very worn and now look/play better than new. Been playing around with a half set getting my preferred specs dialed in and finished my final build today. Now I’ve got raw wedges through 3 iron and they’re cleaned up and ready for play, can’t wait for the patina to start settling in. 
 

[brad1978golf]

My Cobra King / NCW raw set. 

[NixLix26]

good to see some action on this thread.  

[jmck]

I missed this thread first time around.  I wore out the same set in chrome, then picked up a second set in raw.  Still haven't found anything I like better.  Winter project is BB&F ferrules, so give me another month or two and they'll look even sharper.  Might take them back down to rust-free raw and start over there too.  Undecided on that, guess it kind of depends what the hosels look like after heating them up to pull the heads.  Maybe play around with paintfill too, once the new ferrules are on there.

[swgolf12]

Had these Nike's done by Doug last winter. Going to sell my 5-PW cavity back set pretty soon as I've been hitting it better with my 5-PW blades set. Going to re-shaft the blades with the new PX LS and some sweet BB&F Ferrules. 

 

 

[Seminole08]

On 10/21/2020 at 11:13 AM, swgolf12 said:

Had these Nike's done by Doug last winter. Going to sell my 5-PW cavity back set pretty soon as I've been hitting it better with my 5-PW blades set. Going to re-shaft the blades with the new PX LS and some sweet BB&F Ferrules. 

 

 

Those look sick. Did you just have them stripped with the brush finish?

[HISPL]

Double post sorry!

Edited November 1, 2020 by HISPL
Double post

[HISPL]

On 4/10/2020 at 2:48 AM, maamold said:

I would love to hear what Titleist has to say about that.

Likely nothing, I raised the point that the heads are hollow and how do they forge them like that, but got no response funnily enough!

 

So how do they get away with stamping forged on them?

I gather they are “form forged” meaning cast then stamped in a forging press... Much cheaper than using billet steel and stamping it like Mizuno for example.

Edited November 1, 2020 by HISPL
Double post

[swgolf12]

On 10/31/2020 at 2:38 PM, Seminole08 said:

Those look sick. Did you just have them stripped with the brush finish?

 

I'm not sure. I just had Doug do the standard chrome strips and to not touch the grooves. He did blast the faces so they looked perfect. 

[brad1978golf]

Raw but not “rusty” yet. Just have 4-5 months of winter to sit and drool. 

[student of the game]

On 10/11/2020 at 8:26 AM, brad1978golf said:

My Cobra King / NCW raw set. 

What method did you use to remove the black finish? I am thinking about doing this to my set

[brad1978golf]

47 minutes ago, student of the game said:

What method did you use to remove the black finish? I am thinking about doing this to my set

I soaked in vinegar for 3-4 days. Taped off the ferrules with electrical tape as well. And then I light scrub with fine steel wool. 

[KMo23]

Here’s my Callaway raw MB’s- hit the back with green scotch brite but faces look way different!

[TheInfidel]

Must be the more angular design but all the Bridgestones on here loow RAWESOME!

[V-Blade]

Almost done with what I thought was going to be my winter project - assembling a beautiful set of Cleveland 588P RTG heads I picked up this summer.  Had a set back in 2000 and sold them because I didn’t know how to reshaft the S400s in them, especially just being married and living in an apartment (propane torches don’t go over well in a tower).  

 

I put in some Dynalite Gold XP R300s 1x hardstepped, added Prosofts and went with 3/8” increments starting from the + 1/4” 5 iron.  Didn’t think I would get to try them until the spring but we had OK weather on Saturday.  Final shot was a full PW to 1’.  I’m not going to ever get more lucky than that, so to the basement they go for a well deserved winter rest.  I think the shafts played nicely and just need to turn the ferrules a bit.  Might bend the 8 - PW slightly as I seemed to catch the heel when chipping (due to the increased length).  
 

Overall, I am really happy to have a set again after 20 years.  If they turn out to be as nice as I think, maybe I will make them the primary set and put in graphite. 
 

Edited December 1, 2020 by V-Blade

[swgolf12]

9 hours ago, V-Blade said:

Almost done with what I thought was going to be my winter project - assembling a beautiful set of Cleveland 588P RTG heads I picked up this summer.  Had a set back in 2000 and sold them because I didn’t know how to reshaft the S400s in them, especially just being married and living in an apartment (propane torches don’t go over well in a tower).  

 

I put in some Dynalite Gold XP R300s 1x hardstepped, added Prosofts and went with 3/8” increments starting from the + 1/4” 5 iron.  Didn’t think I would get to try them until the spring but we had OK weather on Saturday.  Final shot was a full PW to 1’.  I’m not going to ever get more lucky than that, so to the basement they go for a well deserved winter rest.  I think the shafts played nicely and just need to turn the ferrules a bit.  Might bend the 8 - PW slightly as I seemed to catch the heel when chipping (due to the increased length).  
 

Overall, I am really happy to have a set again after 20 years.  If they turn out to be as nice as I think, maybe I will make them the primary set and put in graphite. 
 

 

 

 

These were my irons a few years in High School. Amazing soft feel, not too much offset, compact top line. They look great!

[ARL67]

A guy on my Toronto Golf Nuts forum posted some raw MP-68 for sale.    They look sweet and love the brown-orange ferrules too !

 

 

 

Edited December 1, 2020 by ARL67

[V-Blade]

1 hour ago, swgolf12 said:

 

These were my irons a few years in High School. Amazing soft feel, not too much offset, compact top line. They look great!

Many thanks!  Clearly, your parents loved you to get you these.   🙂

I also had a set of the 588T RTG blades back then.  Those had a pretty sharp edge and flatter sole IIRC. 

[swgolf12]

3 hours ago, V-Blade said:

Many thanks!  Clearly, your parents loved you to get you these.   🙂

I also had a set of the 588T RTG blades back then.  Those had a pretty sharp edge and flatter sole IIRC. 

 

I was in High School from 2001-2005 so they weren't exactly the current model when I played them 🤣

[autronicdsm]

Had some rusty wedges for a while. Over the winter I decided to remove chrome from these TA1s and leave them raw to complete my set. Everything came out nice, except for 2-iron. Removed a bit too much, then tried to save it with a welder 🙄 Custom Iomic navy grips and BB&F ferrules. Waiting for rust now 😁

 

 

 

[PorkChopExpress]

Seriously - BEST THREAD EVER!!!

[jmck]

16 hours ago, autronicdsm said:

Had some rusty wedges for a while. Over the winter I decided to remove chrome from these TA1s and leave them raw to complete my set. Everything came out nice, except for 2-iron. Removed a bit too much, then tried to save it with a welder 🙄 Custom Iomic navy grips and BB&F ferrules. Waiting for rust now 😁

 

 

 

Did you DIY the chrome removal?  If so, how?  Looks great BTW!

[autronicdsm]

20 hours ago, jmck said:

Did you DIY the chrome removal?  If so, how?  Looks great BTW!

 

Thanks!

Orbital sander with 40 and 100 grit on the faces, and a bench grinder with 80 and 120 grit flap wheels to sand chrome off. Then used a 180 grit nylon surface prep wheel. You may notice what looks like orange/copper colored stains around few spots. It's whatever left of chrome that I didn't want to keep sanding and remove too much weight. Must have been low spots on the surface?

 

If I had to do it again, I'd buy thinner wheels. I used 1" thick and it was hard to remove chrome where neck transitions into the head. I think less than 1/2" would work well but they are pretty expensive.

[aaronsnow]

I just finished putting this set of irons together. I bought these 690cb irons for dirt cheap, had the chrome stripped off and then "Gun Blue'd" them and did some white paint fill. Shafted them with some KBS Tour X-Flex shafts. Can't wait to get these on the course and see how rusty they get!

[Philly Golf Guy]

I have a set of raw Adams MB2 iron heads coming my way.  This will be my first set raw, but really like how they look. 

 

Some very rookie/newbie questions are:

 

- Can I apply heat to them as I would any other head if I need to pull shafts out or does that risk damaging it?

 

- They are rusted now so would I need to remove the rust if I want to blue them?  If I just leave them, will they eventually patina or do I need to do something to them to make that happen?

 

Thanks for any help and I'll post up some photos once I have them built!  

[jmck]

1 hour ago, aaronsnow said:

I just finished putting this set of irons together. I bought these 690cb irons for dirt cheap, had the chrome stripped off and then "Gun Blue'd" them and did some white paint fill. Shafted them with some KBS Tour X-Flex shafts. Can't wait to get these on the course and see how rusty they get!

Love those.  Both the heads and the look you've got on them.  I have a set of MP-32s which have been done the same way.  I really like the way the gun blue ages if you leave it alone.  It gradually wears off on the faces/soles, so those areas start getting rusty, while on the backs/hosels it takes on an oil can/black ox look, depending on how dark you got them to start with.  Give me a few to dig out the 32s and I'll take a pic or two.