Has anyone tried designing and building a wooden driver?

[donaldp83]

I decided last week that I was going to glue some scrap Maple together and make a driver head. This is a prototype to see what the process would be like before investing in any blocks of persimmon or other wood. The head before sanding was about 204 grams and I still have some work to do, but mostly just want to hit it and move on to a solid block.

 

I am wondering if anyone has ever done it and come out with any tips, mostly with regards to insert material and sole plates? I am open to any pointers as I plan on trying to build a few going forward. Thanks!

[xgolfx]

You did not leave enough neck on the club. It will be very difficult  to align the center of the head with the shaft because the insert is not in place  

 

CHARLEY PENNA

[IndyArcher]

I have absolutely nothing to offer in terms of a build, but regardless of my lack of expertise, I will say that looks beautiful! I've no doubt that with what you've done so far, you'll be able to get a true finished product 'off the ground'!  

[bcstones]

what did you use to glue those pieces together in the first place? Did you mean to actually play it or just trying to experiment on the process of making from a solid piece of wood.

[AdamMH]

In terms of inserts, you can simply cut a slot and pour epoxy in for something quick for your prototype. There's lots of options for stock material out there, you could use a phenolic sheet cut to size as an insert, or epoxyglass. A solid chunk of ABS isn't a bad choice either.

I'm slowly brewing up my own design over here as well...

[donaldp83]

Thank you all for feedback and tips- I just decided one morning to start and just started going with no prior experience as most of my golf these days is persimmons or hickories. I know this is a place where there are people that know more than I ever will, so I thought I would see what I could learn! My intention with this one was to go through the process as I would with a solid block to see if I wanted to invest in material. This was just scrap material I had that I glued together with wood glue to simulate a solid block. 

 

Thank you for insert ideas- I will certainly check into those ideas!

 

 

[donaldp83]

4 hours ago, xgolfx said:

You did not leave enough neck on the club. It will be very difficult  to align the center of the head with the shaft because the insert is not in place  

 

CHARLEY PENNA

Can you tell me a little more what you mean by this? Thanks!

[donaldp83]

Well, I took the club to a local simulator and it performed and held up well! It was pretty fun to take some swipes and have it do exactly what I designed it to do.

 

I am still all ears and very eager to learn more from folks around here who know way more than me. Please reach out with any feedback and/or tips!

 

Now that I know it can be done I want to find some Persimmon blocks, but they are difficult to find. Any leads there would be awesome! For now I may try another Maple with some scrap I have around again to do a couple things different (like not cutting the neck shorter to retrieve a broke bit).

[Swingingk]

I love what you've done here - very impressive. I've thought about doing this as well and it's nice to see that someone has had success.  Very inspiring. 

I'm no expert but I will add some observations I've made.  Every persimmon driver I've seen has the grain of the wood aligned with the shaft, ie:  if you look at a picture of a wooden wood you'll see the grain lines running along the face diagonally in the same plane as the shaft.  Also if you look at a picture of the head at address you'll generally see the grain shows in a horseshoe or U-shaped pattern where the heart of the tree from which it came would have been out off the toe somewhere.  I don't know if I'm explaining this in a way that makes sense but that's about the best I can manage.  Look at some of the many pictures posted here in the forums to see what I mean.  My guess is that this technique was established over time and experimentation as the strongest orientation of the grain possible.

Keep up the great work and please keep us up to date on your experiments!

 

[donaldp83]

On 2/12/2023 at 9:29 PM, Swingingk said:

if you look at a picture of a wooden wood you'll see the grain lines running along the face diagonally in the same plane as the shaft.  Also if you look at a picture of the head at address you'll generally see the grain shows in a horseshoe or U-shaped pattern where the heart of the tree from which it came would have been out off the toe somewhere.

Thank you so much for the comments! When I slapped the Maple together it had a cup to it and since it was a "prototype" I just glued it the way it best fit together, not even alternating end grain. On a solid block I would intend on it being as close as possible to how they were made by the experts, that is if I can find blocks that allow that! Thank you for the reminder- I really appreciate your thoughts!

[AdamMH]

As far as materials are concerned, you likely won't be able to just swing by a hardwood supplier and buy persimmon. You may have to find a smaller, local mill and buy in quantity direct. I bought Osage Orange instead as it has fairly similar properties.

[bcstones]

You might also try find a Woodcraft store (not sure of your locale). They, or at least the San Antonio TX & the Austin TX stores had an area that held partials of many woods, some exotic, in blocks. 

[Shallowface]

On 2/9/2023 at 2:18 PM, donaldp83 said:

Can you tell me a little more what you mean by this? Thanks!

Your neck design reminds me of how Louisville Golf made their oversized persimmon drivers.  

 

When you say you used scrap maple did you glue blocks of it together?  MacGregor made a laminated wood in the late 70s called a MacGregor 300 Uniblock that was made of only 4 pieces of wood glued together.  Fascinating that it sounds as though you came up with a similar idea.

[elwhippy]

Keep going. You have me deepest admiration. My woodworking attempts usually end up as fire wood. 

[Wade Patton]

Sorry I've not read the entire thread, but did see the OP.  And am just noting here that yes indeed I intend to build a few wooden clubheads.  I'm starting with putters and then may build a few drivers and brassies.  I have access to persimmon, ash, black locust, ash, hickory, Osage orange, and other woods possibly suitable.  I'm favoring Osage because I love to work it and it's super strong and dense. It won't take a ton of weight to get it balanced properly.  Also I'm building for use in Hickory events (where it will have to be approved by the association, so I'll be patterning my builds closely after pre-1935 equipment.

But at the moment I have to go work on the transportation unit and wanted to put down a post so I don't forget this thread. Comments welcomed.

[Wade Patton]

I have the luxury of being able to harvest my own wood. I just collected some really old osage the other day. I'll have plenty of material to tinker with.  My persimmon trees don't that big, but now and then they get storm damaged and I wasn't thinking of golf clubs back then, but did have a good one down a few years back. I have loads of black locust to work with. But before I get into all of that I must tune up my assorted hickory clubs. Today is consumed with automotive service. Birdies to all.

[bcstones]

if one builds their own wood clubs, would it be possible to "oil harden" them...I'm not even sure how that is applied - under pressure???

[AdamMH]

18 minutes ago, bcstones said:

if one builds their own wood clubs, would it be possible to "oil harden" them...I'm not even sure how that is applied - under pressure???

I could very well be wrong, but I believe any finishing oil that penetrates the surface of the wood will technically cause "oil hardening" - the oil will set and become hard in the surface. It would have to be oil specifically for finishing and not something like mineral oil or cutting board oils, maybe a tung oil or boiled linseed oil would do it? The stuff penetrates easy enough that you'd probably just have to submerge the piece briefly and wipe off the excess after a few minutes. You can apply polyurethane over most finishing oils, but read the label before you buy to make sure.

[bcstones]

2 hours ago, AdamMH said:

I could very well be wrong, but I believe any finishing oil that penetrates the surface of the wood will technically cause "oil hardening" - the oil will set and become hard in the surface. It would have to be oil specifically for finishing and not something like mineral oil or cutting board oils, maybe a tung oil or boiled linseed oil would do it? The stuff penetrates easy enough that you'd probably just have to submerge the piece briefly and wipe off the excess after a few minutes. You can apply polyurethane over most finishing oils, but read the label before you buy to make sure.

If I did choose to make wood clubs, I'd use a combination of boiled linseed oil & turpine to get the oil deeper into the wood (been doing this for decades on furniture, canoe/kayak paddles & other wood projects) & will be doing the same on hickory shafts if & when I get started on that.

[Wade Patton]

Well first of all there's not going to be much oil-hardening of Osage Orange, the density of that wood prohibits it from absorbing much of anything. That's why it's cured/dried weight is such a high percentage of it's green weight.  There's no "extra" room in their for moisture while it's living and a likewise small amount of capacity for absorbing finishing oils.  Finishing oils are those that polymerize and become hard as they cure. There are only a handful of those and they are also the type of oil that can auto-ignite.  They are nothing like lubricating or cooking oils (but for Walnut oil, which will harden, and is used in culinary applications). Actually eat flaxseed too--and that's what Linseed Oil is. But nevermind all that. Linen is made from Flax and the seeds of flax are also the "seeds" for linen.  We just don't call it "linseed" in the food world, only the painting/vintage wood finishing world.

It's my understanding that "oil hardening" only became important after the old-growth persimmon was used up and they started using lesser quality persimmon and other woods and especially laminated maple.  I also have hard maple (Acer Saccharim) I could use, but it's not nearly as hard and dense as Osage. The Persimmon that grows here doesn't get that big in diameter but is tall and skinny. I'll try some when Nature kills one for me, but I'm not cutting any of my sound, fruit-producing persimmon trees just yet.

I don't know if they used special processes, but think maybe they did. Just heating up the wood and oil would get deeper penetration, thus more density and hardening effect.

I tend to use heat and beeswax to finishing Osage. But I may experiment if I ever get around to carving some clubs. Most of my woodworking is "unplugged" and Osage is very workable that way.

I think Osage is plenty hard without oil-finishing, but would certainly oil-finish any other species for golf club use. Most woodworkers make up their own blends of finishing oils, solvents and/or driers in order to get the results they want for the wood and applications they're dealing with. Everything has tradeoffs. When I get some things made up I'll report the details. No secrets, it's work.

[bcstones]

@Wade Patton interesting...I've no experience w/Osage Orange. I have used that process of turpentine/Linseed on hard/rock maple, mahogany, oak, & maple (also softer woods like cedar, pine & lemonwood). I've also used teak oil on teak & walnut oil on walnut...as for persimmon - living in this part of Texas, I have some persimmon trees on the property - some have fallen/died sometime in the past, but not very large diameters - unter4".

[donaldp83]

I have not been on here in months, but am really excited to see what you come up with! Work has been so busy I just kind of forgot about this, but I have taken 100 or so swings with mine and played my first round of the year with it.

 

The Maple is beginning to mark up- I am actually surprised  it has held up as well as it has. My intention was just to see what the process was like before purchasing blocks of harder wood but it is more than playable now. Looking forward to hearing others' experiences and getting going on my next one...