Hand Forged Putters

[Coralray]

A year ago I sold a business and have since devoted my time to teaching myself the lost art of hand forging putters, and irons eventually, as made by the likes of Tom Stewart and Robert Condie. I use vintage wrought iron, recycled wrought iron, 1018 steel and Damascus. Hand forging the old fashioned way yields old fashioned style putters, blades primarily, but I have managed to forge a few flanged blades as well. Most putter collectors like the Anser style in a milled head it seems and I am curious to know how my work will be received. Putters are forged from a bar or rod of metal using hammer, tongs and anvil and finished with hand planed and sanded hickory or exotic wood shafts and fine leather grips. The prototype of course is the Calamity Jane of which I have become quite proficient at making. Clubs are all numbered sequentially with Roman Numerals with the last three to leave the forge numbered LIV, 336 grams, LV at 346 and LVI 325 grams. Lie and loft are at the discretion of the buyer, but these range from 65 to 70 degrees lie and 2 to 6 degrees of loft. Is anyone interested in such an item? They are beautiful, but being entirely hand made will be expensive, especially the Damascus which is incredibly hard to make by hand. Am I on a boondoggle here or are there people out there who would play and collect a hickory shafted putter, entirely hand made. The name, R. Schueneman Maker Omaha.

[Colin20]

Do you have any photos of your completed putters? This would provide readers with a better idea of what you offer. Personally, I wouldn't be looking to putt with a hickory shaft but the forging process sounds very interesting.

[SteelieD]

Yes... Pictures would be great.

[willsnope]

Very interested in photos... Something about something truly hand made just sparks my interest

[TigerStrong]

I'd say...

boon·dog·gle
ˈbo͞onˌdäɡəl,-ˌdôɡəl/
NORTH AMERICANinformal
noun
1.
work or activity that is wasteful or pointless but gives the appearance of having value.
"writing off the cold fusion phenomenon as a boondoggle best buried in literature"

[Coralray]

I am currently at the PGA Merch show and do not have a computer, so I will try to add photos from my phone. Here are the three heads referenced which I have with me. I'll try to add another photo in another reply.

[Coralray]

The photos don't seem to come up on my phone, I'll post more when I get home this weekend.

[oneaugusta]

yes would love to see your work

[jrich61820]

Wow, sounds awesome, but like others would really like to see some pictures:)
Look forward to seeing them!
Jrich

[Coralray]

At the computer now, let's see if I can manage pictures...[attachment=2588137:IMG_2841.JPG][attachment=2588139:IMG_2845.JPG][attachment=2588141:IMG_2847.JPG]

I just epoxied the heads to the shafts after nicking the hosel with a hand file.

[willsnope]

Those are incredible looking. Nice work

[Etiger83]

Those are outstanding. I couldn't putt worth a lick with them but very impressive

[jrich61820]

WOW! Impressive!!!
I wouldn't be able to hit a barn with those style putters, but i can appreciate the effort it took to make those.
Outstanding job!
Jrich

[TigerStrong]

Yeah they look great but is there a market for such a blade?

[Apex93]

[quote name='TigerStrong' timestamp='1422315774' post='10823747']
Yeah they look great but is there a market for such a blade?
[/quote]

Well, I would buy one.

These look great - please keep us posted!

[blink3665]

I think it would depend on the price range and what YOU are looking to get out of it. That price of putter would probably put you in a boutique market. your customer base would be lowered further by the style of putter. If you are looking to do this in your spare time and you find joy in the process of making these... then it could be worth while. If you are doing this to start a small business for income purposes I would advise against it.

They are beautiful putters!

[Coralray]

Thank you for the kind replies. It is a soulfull occupation, forging iron and fashioning hickory and leather into golf clubs. The forging method I use is as ancient as the first iron golf clubs from the early 1600s and used up through the 1920s. Wrought iron, not steel, was used from the beginning. Hickory was introduced to the golf world in the mid-1800s and remains a viable option for a putter today, for a superb feel and audible click. Nearly all hickory era putters are too light and too lofted, but perfect for the 4 stimp greenspeeds of their day. The above offers an updated version of Bobby Jones' famous Calamity Jane, ready for modern green speeds with 325 rather than 275 grams of head weight and 3 versus 8 degrees of loft. Total weights range from 465 to 510 grams. Lie angles are typically a flattish 65 degrees, which promotes a swinging stroke needed to make a heal shafted putter work best and was used by Jones. The wry neck or offset blade was patented by Willie Park Sr. in 1895 and remains in the various forms of Calamity Janes, Iron Masters', 8802s and Ansers the progenitor of the winningest putter style ever.

[Colin20]

Great photos of your craftsmanship. Do you have any photos of the flanged blades you mentioned in the original post? Also, do you ever use modern steel shafts?

[Shanti2]

Great craftsmanship! Thanks for sharing your work and technique.

[Coralray]

[quote name='Colin20' timestamp='1422431870' post='10833267']
Great photos of your craftsmanship. Do you have any photos of the flanged blades you mentioned in the original post? Also, do you ever use modern steel shafts?
[/quote]

Here are a couple of pics of XXXVIII, which has sold. Hand forged out of a 5 inch length of 1 1/4" diameter wrought iron rod salvaged from the Globe Granary in Superior, Wisconsin, it is a low grade of wrought iron which was made in 1885 and has been busy holding up the giant grain warehouse for 125 years. A wide flange like an 8802 is hard to draw out, so I stopped at what appeared to be a 1:1 top line to flange width ratio to keep a sense of symmetry.

[attachment=2592333:FullSizeRender.jpg]

[attachment=2592335:IMG_2791.JPG]

[Carson33]

They look great. I would imagine that you are heavily involved in SoHG and such? If not, I would recommend it. Also, there is a hickory section on this forum as well.

[Carson33]

On another note, are you working on some Tom Stewart replica blades? Where do you source your hickory?

[Coralray]

[quote name='Carson33' timestamp='1422543564' post='10840789']
On another note, are you working on some Tom Stewart replica blades? Where do you source your hickory?
[/quote]

I am only making putters at the moment, however I have made a few flanged niclicks, or hickory sand wedges, the most elusive of hickory clubs, and plan on making irons as well in the future. Hickory is coming from Ron Luster in Omaha, he makes rough shafts of hickory or more recently 1" x 1" x 36" blanks with the corners rounded off. Additionally, I have bought hickory boards at Menards and cut them to size and hand plane them with a Stanley 101 thumb plane into shafts. I also have experimented with other traditional shaft woods and more exotic woods that may not have been considered by the likes of Stewart or Condie. But for a few changes, a putter head is a mashie waiting to happen, so I think I'll be able to make iron heads. To start, I thought I'd focus on putters since people are inclined to spend five to ten times on a putter as on any other individual iron. Grooving and dot punching is a two person job, so I tend to leave faces without, which probably sets my capability up pretty well for making featherie and gutty era clubs pretty well. My current putters have delicate hosels which have been taken down thinner than Stewart era clubs so I can get the sweet spot a little more centered. With the weight in the head it makes for a really solid feel. Hitting a ProV1 with a 350 gram hunk of wrought iron feels great, the best, and it gives the quintessential click Titleist is famous for.

[Titleist-Golfer]

Excited to hear and see more as you grow the craft.

What is the price of that sweet putter (last one posted)?

[Coralray]

A liver transplant surgeon from Johannesburg, South Africa bought two of the four flanged putters I pulled off. Since then I have had a dozen crumble to their death on the anvil: low grade vintage wrought iron can be very fickle to forge. I won't divulge the price the two sold for, but the two remaining are priceless and will remain in my collection until I can master forging a flange using steel and then with a higher grade of wrought iron. Probably a year off.

[Colby327]

Sorry to hear about the current difficulties, but the craftsmanship on thosee finished putters is really something special. Excellent work.

[PeanutsDaddy]

The raw look of the heads, paired with the hickory shafts, gives an 'old world' appearance. Beautiful hand made designs.

[Coralray]

[quote name='PeanutsDaddy' timestamp='1422887364' post='10867747']
The raw look of the heads, paired with the hickory shafts, gives an 'old world' appearance. Beautiful hand made designs.
[/quote]

Thanks. The clubs are old world in their construction: The first irons made by blacksmiths some 400 years ago used the same smithing techniques and metal material used to make LIV, LV and LVI, namely a forged socket or hosel, not drilled out, and wrought iron. Around 1900 Spalding introduced steel and drop forging to the world of golf club manufacture which enabled club makers to satisfy the huge demand from the booming growth of the game at the time. From the beginning smiths to the artisan cleek makers of Fife, Scotland around 1925, irons were made the same way, by pounding the iron to forge the socket around a mandrel. Names like Condie and Stewart from St Andrews and Gibson of Kinghorn or Nichol from Leven were among the last to employ the hand forged ways. I am hoping to revive the lost art of making hand forged golf clubs. The wrought iron makes for a great putter material, super soft and dense feeling. Being wrought iron it will rust: Wrought iron however contains silicon slag which aids it in resisting oxidation and causing grain to appear in the metal with age. Collectors of old hickory clubs appreciate the patina of vintage wrought iron, it ages with a grain that a polished club will never show. Caddies and players of the hickory era would polish their clubs with emery cloth or a bib-pocket full of sand. So the question is to allow the patina to begin building or rub it off and keep the putter shiny.

[PeanutsDaddy]

Coralray,

as a history teacher I find your knowledge of the subject enlightening and refreshing. A craftsman who seems to understand the significance of his craft. Thank you for the historical perspective. I'm always looking to learn.

Mike.

[Mob]

Very cool hobby. Nice work. Did you get any pictures of you doing the forging work? If you did, please post those as well. Would love to see your set up.