A couple of refinishing questions

[bma725]

I've got a bad feeling about this.....

Hopefully somebody out there can point me in the right direction, as I'm kind of lost as to what to do with a couple of clubs I'm working on right now...hopefully one of you has some ideas.

Situation #1 - I've got a Cleveland Classic AL-44 that is in great condition other than a slight chip in the clearcoat on the insert. I like the color of the stain, but the chip is worrysome so I'd prefer to take off the old clearcoat and put on a new coat. Problem is, the AL-44 has a woven graphite insert, and I've never refinished one of those before. I'm guessing the fibers are held together with some sort of epoxy that would likely dissolve and ruin the insert if I try to take off the clearcoat with a normal paint remover, but I don't know how else to get it off. Any ideas?

Situation #2 - I've never been one of those people that removes inserts when refinishing, just too many problems. When working on fiber or phenolic linen inserts, I've always applied to the stripper right to the insert to make sure I got the old material off. I know that's a big no no for some people, but I never had a problem with it in heads done in the past, and I always avoided doing so with inserts that I knew were cycolac so that I wouldn't melt the plastic.

Problem is I'm working on a head where the insert was supposed to be fiber, and everything looked original so I put the stripper on the insert and now I'm thinking I made a terrible mistake. When I started taking off the old layers of varnish and stain, it looks like the insert is essentially melting in some areas, and it's taken on a sticky consistency. I'm guessing I got bad information about what the insert is actually made out of, or someone replaced the original fiber insert with cycolac. Either way, I'm at a loss for what to do here. Is the insert salvageable? I've lost a tiny bit of material from it in trying to cleaning it up, but it looks like if I could get it to harden again, I could sand it smooth and it would be playable. If not, is there anywhere to get inserts anymore....other than the guy on ebay selling a hundred at a time?

Any help is much appreciated.

[persimmonpal]

Hi~
On club #1, I think you should be okay applying stripper to the graphite, but to be safe I would apply double sided grip tape to the insert.. leave the backing on the tape. Try and overlap the insert a little bit. You can then apply your stripper without it toching the insert. When you remove the tape, you will have to hand sand the finish off of the insert and surrounding areas.
Alternately, if the plate is off, apply a bit of stripper to the bottom portion of the insert, that is hidden when the plate is on.. you can then see if it will react, and if it does, will not be noticeable when the plate is back on..
As for club #2, It depends on how deep the stripper has eaten into the insert... If its very superficial, you may be able to sand the insert smooth without affecting the loft, bulge and roll... What color is the insert? I have lots of blank inserts, of various colors & materials..and may have what you need..
Good luck!
-John

[Bella Woods]

I agree with John on club #1. The stripper would probably be OK on the insert, but I would follow his advice and not
take any chances, there is no reason to. The stripper should not do anything to the epoxy, I would worry about the graphite
fibers.

[u][b]There is one other option[/b];
[/u]
You can clean up (sand/file) just the face leaving the old clearcoat on the remainder of the club.
Then put new clearcoat(s) on the entire club including the face, lightly sanding (at least 400 grit) and steel wooling (at least 000)
the remaining (non-face) portion of the club prior to the new clearcoat. This is something you would normally do in between coats of finish anyway.
Then, you don't have to refinish the entire club from scratch (Re: stain etc.)

I have done this many times on clubs, because its the face of the club, you normally can't even tell it was done.

[bma725]

[quote name='persimmonpal' date='22 February 2010 - 10:44 AM' timestamp='1266857049' post='2269112']
As for club #2, It depends on how deep the stripper has eaten into the insert... If its very superficial, you may be able to sand the insert smooth without affecting the loft, bulge and roll... What color is the insert? I have lots of blank inserts, of various colors & materials..and may have what you need..
Good luck!
-John
[/quote]

I'm hoping it's superficial, but it's hard to tell right now. The old clear coat isn't even completely off in some spots, but if I put anything on it, I'll end up destroying the whole thing.

It's a white/black/white combo. It's the strangest thing, the model in question is a Cleveland RC-85 3 wood. Last month I used the exact same stripper on the Driver and 4wood in that set and had no issues whatsoever. Just doesn't make much sense.

[bma725]

[quote name='Bella Woods' date='22 February 2010 - 12:16 PM' timestamp='1266862565' post='2269326']
I agree with John on club #1. The stripper would probably be OK on the insert, but I would follow his advice and not
take any chances, there is no reason to. The stripper should not do anything to the epoxy, I would worry about the graphite
fibers.

[u][b]There is one other option[/b];
[/u]
You can clean up (sand/file) just the face leaving the old clearcoat on the remainder of the club.
Then put new clearcoat(s) on the entire club including the face, lightly sanding (at least 400 grit) and steel wooling (at least 000)
the remaining (non-face) portion of the club prior to the new clearcoat. This is something you would normally do in between coats of finish anyway.
Then, you don't have to refinish the entire club from scratch (Re: stain etc.)

I have done this many times on clubs, because its the face of the club, you normally can't even tell it was done.
[/quote]

Thanks. So if I do it that way I should be able to get the clearcoat off without effecting the coloring the of the face, or least without effecting it a lot, right? I ask because the AL-44 was one of the lines where Cleveland stained the face to match the rest of the head, and I'd like to keep that look as original as possible. If it's going to be too noticably different, I'll just do the whole thing so they match.

[Bella Woods]

If the "chip" in the clear coat is not so deep that it goes down into the wood, yes. I did not know the face of the Cleveland had
stain on it, but if you are careful it shouldn't matter. You may not even have to take all of the clear coat off to fix the "chip".

You are basically just cleaning up the face and adding one or (preferably) two coats of finish. By the time you add the new coats, you
can't tell that the rest of the club has more coats of clear coat than the face.

I usually do this on clubs where the finish etc is in very good overall shape but the face/face screws are messed up a little bit,
and the clubs have a decal or model number etc that can't be easily replaced or exactly reproduced (some of the old PowerBilt decals).

On a "normal" club with a "natural" face you can even take it down to the wood. You end up with a club that is all original (decals etc) but
basically refinished to some degree. Sometimes, the results can be outstanding.

I call it "facing the club"