Putter mods shopping list - Dremel tool

[bigolherschel]

Hello everyone, I’ve bought a Rife stainless steel putter (with some old black finish and a ton of dings) that I plan to refinish as my first attempt at a putter refurb. 
 

I am great with an angle grinder (one of those random specific skills that isn’t marketable at all) but have never owned a Dremel. I’ve used die grinders in the past, but don’t know where to start in buying one.

 

Any advice or consensus around brands, attachments (sandpaper kits, scotch brite pads), value, etc? I’m particularly looking for information such as “always spend the extra $25 to get the 4000 model instead of the 3000 model because ________” 

 

Thank you! 

[MachineHack]

The only time I’ve used a dremel on a putter is to polish the recess on a ping anser. Def get the dremel branded attachments they seem to last longer.

 

other than that I’ve always found dremels are really good for ruining my work piece really quickly lolol 

 

the cutoff wheels coming in handy 1-2 a year 

 

Generally, if I want to remove dings I use my hand files, or my linisher with a very fine grit belt on…. After that it’s hand sand for everything. It might take longer but the results are better 

 

removing paint I media blast but mainly as I’ve got 2 mates I can go and use their cabinets, you can do a paint stripper but I personally like the finish you get with media blasting better 

 

what finish do you want to put on it? 

[oneaugusta]

10 hours ago, MachineHack said:

The only time I’ve used a dremel on a putter is to polish the recess on a ping anser. Def get the dremel branded attachments they seem to last longer.

 

other than that I’ve always found dremels are really good for ruining my work piece really quickly lolol 

 

the cutoff wheels coming in handy 1-2 a year 

 

Generally, if I want to remove dings I use my hand files, or my linisher with a very fine grit belt on…. After that it’s hand sand for everything. It might take longer but the results are better 

 

removing paint I media blast but mainly as I’ve got 2 mates I can go and use their cabinets, you can do a paint stripper but I personally like the finish you get with media blasting better 

 

what finish do you want to put on it? 

+1 on what he said.  dremel tool will leave dips in the area your working on.  Hand file with small files to keep flat and then good old fashion elbow grease with various grades of sandpaper.

[HandsomeMatt]

Dremels are great for lots of things, I use mine all the time.They do seem to burn up fairly quickly though, I get the Dremel 3000 at Lowes . Flapper wheel attachments are especially handy, it's true about the dips and they can mess stuff up much more quickly than elbow grease will but once you become skilled with it and can manage a light, even touch it's pretty great. The difficult part is keeping it moving over the full area so it doesn't grab, toplines and necks especially, can't get heavy handed and need to keep your angle square.

              My entry into putter refurbs used to be knocking the chrome off of 8802's and then hand sanding until they were raw steel and then I'd get out the Birchwood Casey to gun blue them. Done bunches of them, even brought back a Cameron Santa Fe  from being a dinged up paperweight to trading it for a set of MP-68's . I use flapper wheels to prep iron shaft tips and have cleaned hosels with the chainsaw sharpening bits , it's a great tool for club work. 

[bigolherschel]

On 9/7/2022 at 6:27 PM, MachineHack said:

The only time I’ve used a dremel on a putter is to polish the recess on a ping anser. Def get the dremel branded attachments they seem to last longer.

 

other than that I’ve always found dremels are really good for ruining my work piece really quickly lolol 

 

the cutoff wheels coming in handy 1-2 a year 

 

Generally, if I want to remove dings I use my hand files, or my linisher with a very fine grit belt on…. After that it’s hand sand for everything. It might take longer but the results are better 

 

removing paint I media blast but mainly as I’ve got 2 mates I can go and use their cabinets, you can do a paint stripper but I personally like the finish you get with media blasting better 

 

what finish do you want to put on it? 

What sort of hand files do you use and js there a certain brand you prefer or could link? I bought an old stainless Rife Aussie with a beat up black finish. I plan to strip it (though I don’t have access to media blasting, planning to do abrasive pads) and put on the caswell black. 

[bigolherschel]

15 hours ago, oneaugusta said:

+1 on what he said.  dremel tool will leave dips in the area your working on.  Hand file with small files to keep flat and then good old fashion elbow grease with various grades of sandpaper.

Ten four thank you. Interested in learning more about the files and sandpaper techniques you’ve used. Also, what would you use to strip a black finish without access to media blasting? 

[bigolherschel]

14 hours ago, HandsomeMatt said:

Dremels are great for lots of things, I use mine all the time.They do seem to burn up fairly quickly though, I get the Dremel 3000 at Lowes . Flapper wheel attachments are especially handy, it's true about the dips and they can mess stuff up much more quickly than elbow grease will but once you become skilled with it and can manage a light, even touch it's pretty great. The difficult part is keeping it moving over the full area so it doesn't grab, toplines and necks especially, can't get heavy handed and need to keep your angle square.

              My entry into putter refurbs used to be knocking the chrome off of 8802's and then hand sanding until they were raw steel and then I'd get out the Birchwood Casey to gun blue them. Done bunches of them, even brought back a Cameron Santa Fe  from being a dinged up paperweight to trading it for a set of MP-68's . I use flapper wheels to prep iron shaft tips and have cleaned hosels with the chainsaw sharpening bits , it's a great tool for club work. 

Awesome. How has the finish held up on the birchwood casey gun bluing? 

[MachineHack]

7 minutes ago, bigolherschel said:

Ten four thank you. Interested in learning more about the files and sandpaper techniques you’ve used. Also, what would you use to strip a black finish without access to media blasting? 

paint stripper gel probably

 

although I’d probably reach out to a local finishes shop (like ceramic coating or chrome or whatever) and see if they would do it for some beer cash lol

[MachineHack]

24 minutes ago, bigolherschel said:

What sort of hand files do you use and js there a certain brand you prefer or could link? I bought an old stainless Rife Aussie with a beat up black finish. I plan to strip it (though I don’t have access to media blasting, planning to do abrasive pads) and put on the caswell black. 

mine are old craftsmen files I’ve had for idk awhile, since craftsmen was actually owned by sears still lol prolly like 05 I got them. 
 

bahco make some good 5 file sets, it’s useful to have half rounds and rounds and flats of different side 

 

Let us know how you go with the caswell, I had a look at it but ultimately decided against it. I haven’t had particularly good experiences with cold applied metal finishes in the past 

 

looking at the finish on those rifes, you might find it’s actually powder coated and might need a special stripper for it, not 100% sure I don’t paint strip many things these days 

[HandsomeMatt]

             Gun blue isn't an option on stainless , only carbon steel, ultimately it always turns brown though, even with regular oiling. I recently refinished a Piretti using Caswell's and it came out so good I used it on several others, a couple Coggin putters (one polished stainless and one raw carbon) ,a carbon steel Cushman putter , and I even did it on an old raw Cleveland RTX3 gap wedge. The face of the wedge has held up surprisingly well too. Caswell's can be used on both carbon and stainless and can be reapplied for a darker finish, I wish I'd gone that route earlier since it's more versatile and I like the finish a bit more, not so brown.

     Rife's are great putters to do that kind of stuff with,  I had an old Abacco that I morphed into essentially an oversized 8802 . I ground off a significant part of the back and reshaped it. Took a lot of lead tape to get it back to a playable weight but my goal was to create a prototype for a custom I'm interested in having done at some point. I knew I'd never play it as it was, even though it was nearly mint condition, and resale value for it wasn't worth even listing it so I drew up a bunch of templates after tracing the sole and kept messing around until I got the scale and shaping to what I liked, transferred that shape onto the bottom and kept grinding away until I got there, then finished it up with a belt sander ,then Dremel, then sandpaper.

            It was fun to transform a Del Mar/Odyssey 9 shape into that , plus I love the idea of removing material from what was  just a cast commonplace afterthought and turn it into a model that now has potential to spawn something else. 

Edited September 9, 2022 by HandsomeMatt
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