Wedge Refinishing Project

[NevadaGolfGuy]

So I bought three old tour action 900 raw forged wedges off the bst last summer, they were sold as tour issue but I have no idea if they are. They had a gorgeous florida grown patina on them that I quickly wore off playing here in the dry western nevada desert. They had a little face wear but not much, I beat them down pretty hard this summer/winter and then replaced them with some new 588 forged wedges.

 

Anyways, enough backstory. I'm out of club ho money so I decided I needed to tinker with something. I pulled the shafts and started polishing them and refinishing them. Some of you may know that I work for a fairly large machine shop from my laser marking thread a little while back. I realized that I had just about everything at my fingertips besides an experienced wedge grinder to do it for me so I went to work. I really wish I had before pictures of these for you guys but I didnt think about it at the time.

 

Once I finish them as far as grinding and polishing, oh and I need to stone the faces a touch more...they're still a little concave and the grooves are still a touch rolled in. I'm going to mask them off and reblast the faces and torch the heads and do a nice paintfill job on them. It's a work in progress but I already have a pretty damn good looking heel grind I did on the 60 done so lets see what you guys think. All together I have about one hour into the project. With the exception being the heel grind on the 60 degree there should be a minimal weight loss with what I have done so far but I am figuring on having to possibly use tip weight or possibly get super fancy and do a porting and add tungsten or something else in the ports, still not sure yet.

 

Let me know what you think guys! Especially about the heel grind, first time I've attempted anything like that on a golf club but it turned out basically how I wanted it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[DT15]

Heel grind looks pretty flawless, great job!

[NevadaGolfGuy]

I wanted to get some sort of cool grind going on either the 48 or 52 as well but they are a pretty narrow soled wedge as is so that about all I could come up with that I thought I could pull off. I'm not the next Mr. Kwok by any means but I'd be lying if I said I wasnt a little proud of that heel grind. This will be the first time I attempt torching anything as well so I'm curious to see how they turn out!

I kind of wish I had more junked out raw wedge heads to tinker with, perhaps with my tax return or something.

[CommerceTiger]

Very nice! What color paintfill you planning on?

[DT15]

[quote name='NevadaGolfGuy' timestamp='1392181828' post='8650055']
I wanted to get some sort of cool grind going on either the 48 or 52 as well but they are a pretty narrow soled wedge as is so that about all I could come up with that I thought I could pull off. I'm not the next Mr. Kwok by any means but I'd be lying if I said I wasnt a little proud of that heel grind. This will be the first time I attempt torching anything as well so I'm curious to see how they turn out!

I kind of wish I had more junked out raw wedge heads to tinker with, perhaps with my tax return or something.
[/quote]

If you are looking to have fun with them, I would go with a sort of M grind like Titleist does. Give them both rear heel and toe relief that kind of flows into the rear of the wedge. As far as torching goes, don't be afraid. My first torch job was on a $250 Scotty. Just go for it! The great part about the torch is that if you don't like it, you can buff the finish off and start over. Word for the wise, the top of the blade and the hosel heat much quicker and will turn color much faster than the sole / rear muscle portion. Keep the majority of your heat in the latter areas and allow the heat to dissipate into the hosel and upper thin blade portion. The very top of the hosel may require a little attention if the heat doesn't reach it as well. The greatest thing about torching them is that variations in color and design are what makes them look awesome, so there really is no way to go wrong!

[NevadaGolfGuy]

[quote name='CommerceTiger' timestamp='1392182146' post='8650085']
Very nice! What color paintfill you planning on?
[/quote]

Thats pretty well going to depend on what color I pull off with the torching. If I can get them to that nice brownish purple I may do a light blue or something else kind of pastel or light. I think it would be a nice contrast and typically pretty eye catching since I plan on selling the heads when I'm done.

[DT15]

Oh and not sure if you would like the look, but it would be awesome to torch the entire wedge, then tape off the entire face minus the grooves and blast them back to raw. The satin contrasting the torch finish would be awesome!

[NevadaGolfGuy]

I've worked in machine shops and minting companies for as long as I can remember, torching isn't really a new thing...but torching a clubhead will definately be a first.

[CommerceTiger]

Sounds pretty nice, should look very classy!

[NevadaGolfGuy]

[quote name='DT15' timestamp='1392182671' post='8650127']
Oh and not sure if you would like the look, but it would be awesome to torch the entire wedge, then tape off the entire face minus the grooves and blast them back to raw. The satin contrasting the torch finish would be awesome!
[/quote]

Hmm, I like that idea. I could try both versions and see what I like most.

[NevadaGolfGuy]

okay, tomorrow I'll do my best at doing an m grind. Not sure which I would rather do it on though, the 48 or the 52

[DT15]

[quote name='NevadaGolfGuy' timestamp='1392184237' post='8650223']
okay, tomorrow I'll do my best at doing an m grind. Not sure which I would rather do it on though, the 48 or the 52
[/quote]

looking forward to the results!

[NevadaGolfGuy]

Sadly, forgot the heads in my office this morning so its going to have to wait till tomorrow