Restoring/Refinishing irons

[wrmiller]

It's how much?!

So, ok, it's probably because I'm spending way too much time in this forum, but I have recently been looking at older iron sets on Ebay. Mostly Wilson Staffs, because those are what I played until the early 90s.

So I'm looking at some at auction and I'm thinking: Gee, these aren't too expensive, maybe I could put together my old 80s bag and take a trip down memory lane. Need some woods (got a couple, working on others), now about these irons...

Most need regripping, and most will need refinishing. Checking out refinishing costs and whoa! Maltby wants $30 a club head (more if they pull the shafts). Ok, 8 irons is over $250 with shipping and tax, then grips, and don't even think about shafts. Are there cheaper places to get irons re-plated/restored?

I'm thinking that you could easily get over $400 restoring/modernizing a set of classics (including purchase). My wife won't go for that, since I recently got my MPs as a (expensive) Christmas gift. I guess I'll just have to play my modern blades with my persimmons for now. :(

[persimmonpal]

Hi~
Rechroming irons is a bit expensive, for sure..
If you decide to do it though, here is the place: Way better than Maltby, imho.
http://www.theironfactory.com
The charge for a single head is 26.00 if ou send just the head.. That equals to 208.00 plus figue total of 30.00 shipping either way. For shafts, depending on what you want, should run 100.00 on ebay, add in another 30 for grips and figure 10.00 for ferrules, griptape, epoxy and hosel pins for a total of 378.00...
This being said, the Iron Factory is by far the best place to get your irons rechromed.. they do fantastic work!

[drewspin]

Don't rule out finding a vintage set on eBay in great shape... there are tons of them.

[persimmonpal]

Very true!! You can find them in great shape, and pretty inexpensive too...

[84425]

You are probably cheaper of looking for (near) new sets on ebay. But sometimes we don't allow ourselves to wait for those and we want a quicker fix :-D

I've seen some wonderful work done to some old Titleist irons and/or old Wilsons by Frank Viola, I'll see if I can find a link to said irons

[url="http://www.aceofclubstp.com/"]http://www.aceofclubstp.com/[/url]

The ironfactory has allready been mentioned, and do a search for James Patrick in the forum to see some work he's done on a set of Callaway's [url="http://jamespatrickgolf.com/"]http://jamespatrickgolf.com/[/url]

[oldironman]

[quote name='drewspin' date='24 February 2010 - 06:03 AM' timestamp='1267020187' post='2273809']
Don't rule out finding a vintage set on eBay in great shape... there are tons of them.
[/quote]


I know Robert Kent at House Of Forged no longer lists clubs on Ebay, but he may have a few sets af re-finished clubs sitting around. Great guy to deal with. Send hm an email, couldn't hurt.

[wrmiller]

Thanks guys, for all your help and input. I've bookmarked some of the suggested sites for future use.