How difficult is it to reshaft clubs?

Dill Pickleson · July 7, 2008

Hey guys, I just got all new clubs and am looking to make them exactly how I want them. I ordered a grip kit and am planning on doing that myself for the first time. I was also thinking about ordering a hybrid shaft from golfworks and ten TTDG shafts for my irons and wedges.

Now I've heard that regripping can be fairly simple, we'll see. But for someone who has never reshafted a club in his life and has no idea how to do it, is it even worth trying?

I think it would be a lot of fun if I knew how and I know that the work would be done exactly the way I want it done.

So I guess I'm wondering:

What equipment to you need to reshaft clubs, if you have nothing to start with?

Does it take tons of practice or could it be done right for a first timer?

Is it too risky and not even worth trying?

MrMorganUSC · July 7, 2008

I don't have any experience re shafting as well but it is something I am going to try out. This week I am going to be building a workbench to mount a Vice and a shaft puller to. I am going o get one of Wildwilly's shaft pullers.....they look to be the real deal and you can get them for $110 shipped. I am also going to get one of JB's spine finders of ebay ($65) and do that as well.

So on top of that....I have gathered that I need:

Vise

Shat puller

Heat gun (Lowes has a good one for $24)

Grip Kit (from golfworks.com)

Grips

Ferrules

Epoxy

48 inch Aluminum Ruler

Hosel Cleaning Kit

Shaft cutter

I will be getting all of that stuff except for shaft puller, vise, heat gun from Golfworks.com. You could also get it from Golfsmith.

That is all I need as far as I know. I got a couple of clubs I am going to practice on before I start on my J33cb's. I got some Satin PX 6.5's on the way for those :clapping:

I have been watching videos on youtube and golfsmith.com to see how to do this......looks pretty simple....watch those...they will help out alot

Anyone with experience please chime in.

Scott

Dill Pickleson · July 7, 2008

i think im just gonna get some shaft extenders for the irons and deal with the hybrid stock shaft for now cause my money flow isnt that great, i wish i was you right now cause that sounds like FUN!!!!

MrMorganUSC · July 8, 2008

I want to Bump this back up and see if some of the experienced clubmakers will chime in with some responses.

I gave a response but I have never done it before....all I said was what I have researched.

Thanks in advance

Scott

highergr0und · July 8, 2008

I'm not too experienced, but steel shafted irons are much easier than woods. With the irons, you pretty much just need a little torch, and some heat resistant gloves to pull the shafts. Just heat up the hosel area and twist the head off. Make sure to use a thick glove (welders maybe) or you'll have a semi-permanent reminder burnt into your hand. The woods require the shaft puller cuz you can't heat the graphite too much or twist it. You need the extractor to apply a great force to a lightly heated hosel. For reshafting, you need a wire brush (plumbing aisle at lowes), acetone to help break up epoxy, and maybe a drill and bit to help remove the expoxy from the hosel by carefully running it against the walls without damaging them. It's quite important that you remove all of the old stuff for a good fit with the new.

From there, there are a lot of threads and articles on building. This is for normal irons, none of the callaway bore thru stuff. If you're working with stock uncut shafts, trim the tip (if parallel) according to the instructions. If it's a taper tip, there's no tip trimming. I then dry fit the club, measure it (twice), mark it, remove the head, and cut to length. I spine the shaft using bearings bought from lowes wedged in a vice. Basically like the jb tool with no steel tube. Then get the swing weight you want (you can skip this is you don't have a scale or don't care), and build the club.

Dry fit again and mark how deep the tip goes into the hosel. Rough up the tip to that point with sandpaper. No need to overdue it (ie no flat spots), but it's necessary so the epoxy will bond. Mix up your epoxy. I apply a light coat to "grease" the shaft for the ferrule. Push the ferrule onto the tip, put the clubhead onto the shaft and push the ferrule up. Hold the head end in your hand and bang the shaft into the ground to seat the ferrule. Make sure the shaft goes all the way to the bottom of the hosel. Take the head off and apply some epoxy to the inside of the hosel and the tip of the shaft below the ferrule. Insert the tip in and spin it a bit to make sure epoxy coats the hosel well. Pull the shaft and add a bit more epoxy for safety, and reinsert. Wipe up any that squishes out with a cloth. Make sure there is no epoxy residue on the shaft, ferrule, or head. Line up the spine how you like. Nobody can decide which way is best. I like it at 9 o'clock, but it could be all in my head.

Now with the shaft perfectly seated and lined up, place it in a warm place leaned up against a wall in basically the playing position. Wait 24 hours! It's tough, but don't go and see how it's doing. That club doesn't exist till the next day. If you wait a while and mess with it you can break the bonds that are forming and you'll have to start from scratch. After it's dry (24 hours), use acetone on a rag (cut up t-shirt, not paper towel) to turn the ferrule. Basically just work the rag around it. The ferrule will start to dissolve. What you're goin for here is a clean transition from hosel to ferrule with no overhang. Then, throw on the grip and you should be good to go. Grips are easy although the little grip installer tool from golfworks makes life much easier. Tape, solvent, and slide it on. I use a cheap razor knife with hook blades that you can pick up from Lowes to remove old ones. Just hook the tip of the blade under the grip and pull a little up as well as across so you don't get the shaft.

I haven't had any club break, but i'm not experienced like a lot of guys here. I built a measuring plate like the mitchell sole board for $1 plus a little piece of plywood I had lying around. I can post instructions on that if you want. It's spot on according to my x-16s, cleveland hibore, and mizuno f50 specs. I use the economy swing weight scale from golfsmith. It's crucial that you get length right and quite important to get the swingweight right. The hosel cleaning brush and shaft cutter can be found at lowes for cheaper than online. I bought the bearings for $15 at lowes and I think my ghetto spine finder works just fine. If I did it all the time I would buy a real one though. No real reason to go overboard with tools on your first club. Just make sure to buy epoxy, grip tape, and solvent from a golf place.

I also recommend you practice on a club or two before doing your gamers. I'm still hesitant to do woods as a $6 shaft mistake doesn't hurt as bad as a $60 one. I haven't made a mistake yet, but I want a bit more practice. I don't work for lowes or golfworks seeing as I mentioned each one several times. Sorry if I'm long winded. If I gave bad advice, someone let me know and I'll take it off.

MarkinTN1 · July 8, 2008

Wildwilly shaft puller? enlighten me please....

Scott, I've been building my own clubs for about 4 years and it the funnest hobby I've ever had. Its not brain surgery and its about 90% thinking and 10% doing.

Easiest on the pocketbook when you decide what you are going to do first and what tools you'll need. There is a ton of info on the internet on how to do almost anything you could want to do. Decide what you are going to do and then make a list on what steps to take and their order.

Lets see your list,

Vise- I'm using a $10 drill press vise from harbor freight, the key is the clamp pad, get the metal sided rubber one $15

Shaft puller- Now the fun begins, whatever you spend if it works it'll end up being worth every penny of it. I'm using an ebay sold "shaft extractor", theextractor.com, new its $55, I got mine used for $20 after I pulled a new titleist D2 I stopped questioning its ability. Steel shafts you don't even need a puller.

Heat gun (Lowes has a good one for $24)- mine came from harbor freight $10, any of these are prone to failure by the nature of the beast (high heat). An essential tool, really comes in handy but not for pulling heads, not enough heat too much dispersion, butane microtorch $12 harbor freight, plenty of heat in the right place, don't be afraid of the torch.

Grip Kit (from golfworks.com)- If you don't do grips with an air compressor (which I highly recommend) then just get the tape and the solvent.

Grips- great but look into prosoft inserts, great vibration killer and an easy do and not expensive. MyOstritch.com

Ferrules- yep, try to closely match the o.d. of your head's hosels, hundreds of threads out there on this step, read them all.

Epoxy- yep, I like the 4 to 6 hour set time, I prefer bramptons 10/10 (some don't). You can get the black colored kind and there is an advantage to it.

48 inch Aluminum Ruler- humm...let's bite the bullet here, you really need to get accurate, repeatable length measurements, I built my own, redid it several times, rethinking it I should have just gotten this and been done with it. the industry standard.

https://mitchellgolf.com/mg/viewItem.asp?idProduct=1315

forget what golfsmith or golfworks sells, go with this and be done with it.

Hosel Cleaning Kit- I picked up a couple of golfworks hosel cleaning bits when the local golf galaxy closed, they work good but wear out quick but you can also chuck up a carter pin in a drill with a piece of sandpaper wrapped around it and get the same results. I don't see me using the hand held brushes, you can also pickup wire brushes in the plumbing supply part of home depot that work well you cut off the handle and put them in a drill.

Shaft cutter- $30 from harbor freight, 5" chopsaw, for the money and the features check this one out,

http://www.golfworks.com/product.asp_Q_pn_...1016_A_cn_E_803

I've found its easier to just pickup the saw and go out of the garage onto the driveway to cut graphite, too much dust, this saw not only offers some water dust control but that little shaft cradle should give a better 90 degree cut.

Let me add on:

http://www.grizzly.com/products/1-X-8-Belt-Disc-Sander/H8192 at $139 its high, but oh so handy, your gonna need a 42 inch belt sander to do ferrules with a linen belt, but what makes this unique is the addition of that 8" circular sander on the side, I find a sander essential to squaring cuts and all kinds of things in clubmaking, you can do steel tip prep on it too, I do graphite by hand with a utility knife.

Swingweight scale- try to find one used, I got mine when a golf shop was closing paid $40 for a $200 Maltby, you have to have patience to find a deal if not this one will do a good job at a reasonable price.

http://www.golfsmith.com/products/240806

Gram Scale- can't go cheap on this either, needs to be able to weigh 500 grams with accuracy to .1 grams. I paid $60 for my jennings CJ600 but I think the iweigh or ohaus models are better. Notice that was .1 gram not 1 gram. Here's where I got mine and they did come through on a customer service issue. Check out the brands and what you'll pay.

http://www.saveonscales.com/index.html

That brings you to a pretty good level with some capacity to expand, after that you would get into shaft measuring (I like deflection methods) and loft/lie measuring and adjusting (that can run from $700 to $1500) in the meantime we can get that done for $5 a club.

Let me post some forums that have very active clubmaking folders, be sure to use their "search" feature and after reviewing whats already been said (this topic included) if you still have a question ask it.

http://www.golfdiscussions.com/yabbse/index.php

http://www.freegolfinfo.com/forums/

Whatever you do, do not let your wife know I told you this stuff.

MarkinTN1 · July 8, 2008

High, you gave great advice, looked like sound methods and procedures to me. Now go get on those graphites.

And when are we gonna do the x-16's?

MrMorganUSC · July 8, 2008

High and Mark....thanks for the awesome replies...that is what I was looking for.

Mark,

You sound like a professional. I may end up with all of that equipment one day but right now I am keeping it to the bare essentials to do my irons. I got some Satin PX 6.5's coming in the mail to put in my J33CB's. They are clean pulls from S58's and are 1/2 over standard which is what I am looking for.

This is what I will be doing:

-This week I am going to get some 2x4's and start to build a work bench as see at this link:

http://www.hammerzone.com/archives/worksho.../below20xl.html

I already have some 3/4in MDF left over from a sub box that is going to be nicer that particle board.

-Vise from Lowes....for something like $20

-I bought on of JB's Spine aligners....so these PX's will be spine aligned. It looked to easy and is cheap so I figured why not.

-I also bought a WildWill HYDRAULIC shaft puller as seen at this link:

http://www.golfwrx.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=156055

It looks to be very well built, it's cheap, and easy to use.

-I won a Ping Weight Balance Scale from ebay. I didn't need it right now but i figured if I can get it for a good price I might as well. I will get into Swing weight after I get the shafts installed. Here is a link to the scale:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...em=260258383360

-Lamkin Oversized Grip kit from Golfsmith

-A dozen Iron Ferrules from Golfsmith

-24 hr Epoxy from Golfsmith

-For the Hosel cleaning I will probably get something out of the plumbers section at Lowes.

-Heat gun from Lowes

-already have a drill

-Already have aceatone

I think that is about it......for right now

I was going to get a basic Aluminum ruller from golfwrx but I think I will go ahead and get the one from the mitchell website like Mark said.

As far as the belt sander.....I have a Dremel tool with all kinds of attachments including a sander....i think I will see how that works before I buy one of these......probably just use sandpaper.

Lie angles....$3 a club at my local shop.....I will let them do that for right now....and probably forever.

I think that is all I have to say about this right now.....

Mark chime in again with your thoughts on what I said.

Thanks

Scott

highergr0und · July 8, 2008

That was an awesome reply by Mark. I'll probably move that direction sometime, but my main goal to start was to see how cheap I could do it. I also like making the tools like my "mitchell" board. Maybe if I could push my friends to let me build them sets, it might start to be worth it. Or maybe just offer basic building for free around town. It is addictive.

The x16s are going up on the classifieds soon. I've read how to do it but don't want to deal with cutting the shaft tips to wedge them in there. Plus I'm loving my Maltbys. For graphite, I'm looking at building a geek failsafe 3. Or I might reshaft the hibore. I need to build a more consistent driver swing first to fit myself into a shaft. My launch numbers are all over the chart.

MrMorganUSC · July 8, 2008

That was an awesome reply by Mark. I'll probably move that direction sometime, but my main goal to start was to see how cheap I could do it. I also like making the tools like my "mitchell" board. Maybe if I could push my friends to let me build them sets, it might start to be worth it. Or maybe just offer basic building for free around town. It is addictive.

The x16s are going up on the classifieds soon. I've read how to do it but don't want to deal with cutting the shaft tips to wedge them in there. Plus I'm loving my Maltbys. For graphite, I'm looking at building a geek failsafe 3. Or I might reshaft the hibore. I need to build a more consistent driver swing first to fit myself into a shaft. My launch numbers are all over the chart.

Yea I am trying to build a "start-up" kit so to speak. I got these J33CB's with X100 and I am balloning them and I think they are 1/2 under standard. Now I am 6'2 and I did my writst to floor measurement and just as I though....I need to be 1/2 over std. I also hit some Cobra Irons at a demo day with some Project X shaft in them and I lover the flight of them (not balloning like my X100's on some shots). So basically I was losing distance and I am going to see if it was the shafts. So like i said in a earlier post I got these Satin PX 6.5's on the way that are 1/2in over std. so they should be great for me (I hope)

I use to have a Mizuno combo set and had them reshafted at a local shop from S300 to X100. Well they charge $18 just for labor (I brought the X100's with me). Even though that might be industry standard....too much for me.....so I am going to do it myself and also start a new hobby.

We will see how it goes....

Scott

MarkinTN1 · July 8, 2008

Scott, you'll have plenty to do the job, the clubruler will be helpful in you getting correct measurements. You can put on the heads, let them dry then cut to final length, I mark 3/16ths short to account for the grip cap, checkout some of the posts on the other forums, and choose the methods you like, some use 1/4". It's good to get others opinions and try them to see if you like them. I used a ping scale just like that for my first set, its great for swingweight matching, because your matching not necessarily trying to hit a specific number. Its a pretty amazing tool, it balances on a bend of the base, its still sensitive, put a club on it, get it to balance, then put a dollar bill on the clubhead, it will change, even that simple its that sensitive. You can do an advanced search on the forums and change the date to a year out and you'll find info on anything you can think of including starting clubmaking and you can learn how others saved money or found useful tools. that puller looks great. You know JB has videos posted on youtube, that show him using the spinefinder, his hydraullic puller and even an NF4, thats the next tool I'm after, I've had the parts cuts and just haven't built it yet.

High, selling the x16s is the smartest move, I'll never forget taking my PSx14s to a clubmaker and asking about a reshaft and finding out that I could sell them and buy a set with the shafts I wanted cheaper than getting them reshafted. Lately I had a friend inquire about a Callaway iron set reshaft and I researched it again and I gotta say I'd like the challenge and would probably do a set just to say I could do it. But if you've already tasted the world of components with the maltbys you know its not worth it, there are too many heads out there that outperform them and are much easier to work with.

I could go and on, but the wife is kicking me off her computer and I'm traveling early, check ya'll later.

Mark

Joe081484 · July 9, 2008

Yea I am trying to build a "start-up" kit so to speak. I got these J33CB's with X100 and I am balloning them and I think they are 1/2 under standard. Now I am 6'2 and I did my writst to floor measurement and just as I though....I need to be 1/2 over std. I also hit some Cobra Irons at a demo day with some Project X shaft in them and I lover the flight of them (not balloning like my X100's on some shots). So basically I was losing distance and I am going to see if it was the shafts. So like i said in a earlier post I got these Satin PX 6.5's on the way that are 1/2in over std. so they should be great for me (I hope)

I use to have a Mizuno combo set and had them reshafted at a local shop from S300 to X100. Well they charge $18 just for labor (I brought the X100's with me). Even though that might be industry standard....too much for me.....so I am going to do it myself and also start a new hobby.

We will see how it goes....

Scott

If you are going to keep the swingweights the same you might need to some tip weights to even out the clubs. This kit from golfworks is a good start, has a good combo of anything you'd need and will last you a while.

http://golfworks.com/product.asp_Q_pn_E_GW2005_A_cn_E_1895

With the swingweighting make sure you dry fit them at least once I usually put the ferrule on and then I use a similar weight grip (whenever I take a new kind off I always save it) that I have cut off an old club and throw it on the shaft so everything swingweights out correctly then make adjustments as necessary.

MrMorganUSC · July 9, 2008

Yea I am trying to build a "start-up" kit so to speak. I got these J33CB's with X100 and I am balloning them and I think they are 1/2 under standard. Now I am 6'2 and I did my writst to floor measurement and just as I though....I need to be 1/2 over std. I also hit some Cobra Irons at a demo day with some Project X shaft in them and I lover the flight of them (not balloning like my X100's on some shots). So basically I was losing distance and I am going to see if it was the shafts. So like i said in a earlier post I got these Satin PX 6.5's on the way that are 1/2in over std. so they should be great for me (I hope)

I use to have a Mizuno combo set and had them reshafted at a local shop from S300 to X100. Well they charge $18 just for labor (I brought the X100's with me). Even though that might be industry standard....too much for me.....so I am going to do it myself and also start a new hobby.

We will see how it goes....

Scott

If you are going to keep the swingweights the same you might need to some tip weights to even out the clubs. This kit from golfworks is a good start, has a good combo of anything you'd need and will last you a while.

http://golfworks.com/product.asp_Q_pn_E_GW2005_A_cn_E_1895

With the swingweighting make sure you dry fit them at least once I usually put the ferrule on and then I use a similar weight grip (whenever I take a new kind off I always save it) that I have cut off an old club and throw it on the shaft so everything swingweights out correctly then make adjustments as necessary.

Thanks for the advise. I don't know if I am going to be messing with the SW right now or not. I just bought the Ping Scale because it looked high Quality and I got it for a good price. I have never paid attention to the SW of my clubs before.

I was thinking to check the SW after I got everything done and adding weight if needed with lead tape but that looks bad in my opinion.....these tip weights would do the trick.

Thanks

Scott