RAW IRONS POST YOUR PICS

[koleschofield34]

Love the look of a raw finish, hoping to get raw irons in my next set but may be hard being a lefty!

[cadman88]

Not really RAW irons, but I did sandblast these wedge heads to see how they'd turn out. I haven't done anything with them since, but probably would rust up pretty quickly.. (yes, I know they are cheap wedges..)

 

[Kale_m]

Those look great! Did you weigh them before as after to see how much weight you would have to add back?

[cadman88]

No, I didn't bother weighing them.. if I was to rebuild them I'd use tip weights to get them where they need to be. Again.. these are cheap wedge heads.. the sandblasting took all of 10-15 minutes.. here's what they looked like before I did them..

 

[Jwags]

 

I just picked up this set of raw 716 CB’s from a mate who refinished them. Excited to get them on the course this weekend and getting them a tad rusty.

[seasuks]

Here you go...full before and after on a set of Honma Rose Proto 4 - 10.

Before After

4 250g 245g

5 255g 253g

6 262g 253g

7 268g 265g

8 275g 270g

9 284g 280g

10 291g 286g

Obviously the weight loss on each head wasn't the same. The 5 iron only lost two grams while the 6 iron lost nine. Fortunately, I also measured the tip weights that were used when they were initially installed so I know what the total weights were assembled. When they came from the factory they were mostly in the D5 - D6 range, which I actually like, but to make sure they were consistent throughout the set when I reassembled, I went down to D3 since I couldn't find any tip weights that were more than 10g. If they feel too light when I hit them later this week I'll add lead tape to get them back up.

I'm a big believer that if I can't play good, I at least want my clubs to look good, so I went with some BB&F ferrules and let my nine year old son do the paint fill. I know the ferrules don't look as good as if many of y'all would have done it, but given that I only have a rag and acetone vice a 1" belt sander/polisher, it'll do since they eventually get beat up anyway.

I used gun blue on them like I did with my MP 33s many years ago because it hides the stage of orange rust between raw and the good brown oxide layer that develops over the course of a few months. In person it kind of looks like they were torched, but what's blue/black now will become a dark chocolate brown over time.

 

 

 

 

[NixLix26]

So awesome

[swgolf12]

Who did the work for the stripping of the chrome? They look great! Well done!

[Valtiel]

Awesome! Love the colors and the gun blue.

[seasuks]

I sent them to Doug at Oughton's Golf based on the recommendation of others in this thread. The fact he was far less expensive at $15/head was just gravy. Took about a week and a half to get them back and they went from South Carolina to Doug in California, and back to me.

[boomboomfred]

 

Titleist 680 3-PW. Had them stripped by BOS and love the result. Great set of irons.

[NHemming11]

Beautifull ?????

[justhawkin]

Thinking about going raw on my 680s. You notice any issues with swingweight or grooves using BOS?

[tgoodspe1991]

Question about the raw irons--does the rust not get everywhere? Like in your car, on your hands every time you grab them, etc? I like the idea and look of slightly rusted irons, but it seems like it'd end up crazy messy.

[llamont]

 

I recently picked up a set of raw Adams MB2 irons (3-PW) w/ stiff KBS Tour shafts. The CBX wedges are raw as well and have patina'd more since the pic above. I joked in a previous post that there's a little reverse logic with the blade irons/cavity back wedges but it works.

 

[llamont]

My clubs are far from as rusty as I've seen but they don't make a mess. My instructor has a set of completely rusted out Apex MB irons and they didn't leave any residue when I handled them. Same for his SM7 wedges.

[DFS PFD]

No, never heard of anyone having an issue remotely like that with golf clubs.

[sdandrea]

 

[tgoodspe1991]

Okay awesome, that's good to know!

[Valtiel]

I've only ever seen it be an issue with clubs that have accumulated lots of excess rust during either intentional efforts to rust them (leaving them outside in wet weather etc) or during long periods of storage. The rust that gets everywhere is excess built up rust that you never really get on clubs that are seeing any amount of even irregular usage. If that were a problem, you would see pros putting giant rust streaks on their golf balls everytime they used a raw wedge. ?

[tgoodspe1991]

True! I always assumed Pros combated the issue by just getting replacement irons or wedge very frequently. However, Xander's seem to be still his original irons when he debuted them so I suppose it's not an issue!

[llamont]

Added a fresh spritz of patina juice to my irons and wedges today... They should be nice and ready for the weekend.

 

[Cubsfan24]

I have a set of raw Vega irons and I'm wanting to remove the white paint fill. Would acetone be ok to use to accomplish this? Just wasn't sure if it would do anything negative to the finish.

 

Thanks!

[boomboomfred]

They were a bit light but I added tip weights to get swing weight right. Grooves are fine and spin rates are normal. The set was heavily used before I had them stripped. No noticeable difference in performance after stripping. I’d encourage you to get it done, but then there’s be one more set of raw 680’s in the world! Haha

I think stripping a well used set of irons is great, cost effective way of breathing new life into a set. Browning on the face doesn’t look bad when the whole head is brown.

 

 

[Cubsfan24]

 

Post paint fill stripping. I think the raw finish pops more without the paint fill.

[cadman88]

Tried sandblasting a Callaway MD2 wedge today.. needs to be gone over again.. but not too bad..

[95124hacker]

Yoro Craft MP-64’s & 68’s

[PorkChopExpress]

Taylormade RAC TP MB ZTP

Sent down to Oughtons Golf for chrome stripping.

Casey Birchwood clean prep and bluing with lots of steel wool buffing, then the barricade oil wipe.

Comes out a gun metal finish

 

[seasuks]

 

The orange "rust" is flaky and what you'll initially see if you put them in saltwater, or something else to accelerate the process, and yes, that will come off on your hands.

The "patina" is actually the iron oxide layer that forms gradually over time and does not come off on your hands, towel, etc. Even though it is rust, it is actually protecting the metal from further corrosion.

Personally, I don't like the looks of the clubs while waiting for the oxide layer to build up which is why I always put gun blue on my raw heads when I initially get them back. Eventually the color will go from a blueish black to a dark chocolate brown and the only bare metal you'll ever see will be on the soles if you're playing/practicing a lot, especially if it's sandy soil, and on the face where you hit the ball most often...which looks absolutely baller as long as it's on the sweet spot.

[Superbrit]

Finally after searching for a while now (and not finding an affordable set) i have found some Vega VDC-01 First prototype irons, im hoping they arrive today, but the pic is the actual ones.

 

Shafted with KBS C-Taper 125S+ shafts, the nice seller sent them to his club builder to adjust the loft and lie spec's for me - 1* weaker lofts, 1* flat lie from standard