Bulls Eye Putter Refinishing

[DNice26]

Where to go?

Curious if folks could inform me as to where I should go to have an old Titleist Bulls Eye putter refinished?

What would the cost be?

Anyone re-finish theirs? Pics?

[DNice26]

Anyone?

[chrisbellaire]

These brass heads are the easiest to refinish on your own, as there are no chemicals or finish to speak of. Just sand and polish!! You can do it by hand but it would take awhile. An average hobbyist has access to an electric sanding cone/sanding belt/sanding wheel, just sand lightly until the knicks are gone. A hand file may be needed for deep knicks. Be careful to keep the face as flat as possible, and don't over-sand as you are removing weight. When the sanding is done, polish with a cotton buffing wheel using the various compounds to your desired gloss. When nearly finished, if the topline has too much glare you can sandblast, lightly sand, or lightly wire-wheel to a satin sheen.
Enjoy your new hobby!!!

[Shambles]

The most I would do to a bullseye would be to hand polish with brass polish and I would do it lightly to try to avoid too much shine. It won't take much time, a lot less than you would think. The trick is to avoid excess shine.

I think it's a bad idea to use sandpaper and worse, any kind of power tool on a bullseye putter. I'd be afraid of eating too much metal and worse yet, affecting the loft or the flatness of the face. I would not buy a bullseye that looks like it's been polished and is free of dings without giving it a very close look/see and even then I'd still have doubts because of the possibility that the loft has been affected.


Shambles

[DNice26]

Thanks to you both!!!

[professor_doom]

I'm in the middle of re-finishing one. It's a heavy blade, so I can be a bit aggressive with it.

[RookieBlue7]

I thought being dinged up and a patina was part of the appeal of them?

If you want it shiny, drop it in some CLR for 5-10 minutes to remove the patina and then all you gotta do is buff it to a shine. Don't know if I'd get real creative with sandpaper or anything that's gonna remove material because of the fragility of the design. A good metal polish should be fine after cleaning it up with the CLR.

[Danny Lee]

I have over a dozen Brass Bullseyes of various vintages. Most are impression stamped on the bottom with a series of letters and numbers that describe the various features.

I agree with being very careful, I have haqnd polished mine to such a fine finish that you really have to use care not to scratch them with just an average cloth.

If they are severely dinged up, you can use a sanding block, but with some very fine sandpaper.

Just using a really soft cloth and hand pressure will work out most of the smaller dings. Mine are so smooth, I use microfiber mitts or lambswool buffing pads but still do it by hand. I have even used powered pumice that you can get at good hardware stores. It is normally used for refinishing fine woods but works great on the brass Bullsyeyes.

It comes in two grades, pumice and rottenstone.

[jmvargas]

the brass on the original bullesyes were very soft but really gave it a lot of feel before all these new inserts came out..

i really liked my old one which i used from 1968 to the early 2000s but it did look pretty banged up due to the very soft brass..

i then found an almost exact duplicate in the odyssey DF440 model which was stainless steel and had a soft insert..

i decided to retire the bullseye then..

PS...the DF440 was discontinued early but i was able to get a spare thru ebay..

[jimnycricket65]

this hwebsite and community is top notch.

[finchi5]

 

I refinish bullseyes over here in the UK and they really aren't difficult to do. I have quite a bot of kit in my workshop but they can be done with various grits of sandpaper/emery cloth to a nice satin finish. Most of mine are polished (don't bash me traditionalists) as the people I do them for prefer them this way.

[SodaCow]

i polished my old john reuter jr bullseye with brasso and it's almost a mirror finish ()too bad there are so many dings on it). before the brasso, it was a very dull brown. FYI, the original factory finish was a slight polished look, but not anything as shiny as what the brasso did, but I'd rather have my bullseye a shiny gold than a dull brown.

Also, don't use sand paper or anything super abrasive (brasso has a very small amount of abrasive) because even though it might turn out polished, you are decreasing the weight of the putter and you are sanding out the stampings which is a big no no for me.

[CallawayKid86]

I am in the middle of my wide flange restoration. Has anyone who's done these before noticed how unflat the face can be before starting? I am using a long flat file and am really only getting the edges of the face. I took a flat steel level and can see clean between the face and level in the middle of the face. Putter started at 340 grams so I really don't mind losing some total weight. Just want to make sure this bad boy is totally flat. May even take it to a machine shop and have them mill it flat.

[jbucher]

[attachment=2572261:IMG_2215-copy.jpg][attachment=2572263:IMG_2219-copy.jpg][attachment=2572265:IMG_2220-copy.jpg]Here are few shots of 6 of my bullseyes. The lighting sucked for the one of the faces. I will retake at some point.
The wide flange putters come with a very rough finish on the back upper of the flange, I personally can't stand it. So I carefully smooth it down with a die grinder and a scotch bright pad. I smooth out the face with 4 different grits of diamond files and WD-40. Before final finish I glass bead the head@ about 40 - 50 PSI. Then final finish the face.
Jimmy B

[LittleLeftToRight]

I would recommend tapping out any dings with a hammer before you start sanding. You may be able to fix quite a lot of the damage. I picked up a BeCu Kirk Currie last year that had a couple dings in the top line. A bit of time with a small brass hammer and a sandbag and I worked the dings almost all the way back flat. If you go straight into sanding you will lose the metal that is standing up. Might as well try to put it back where it was originally first! It should be a piece of cake with a Bullseye since you don't have to deal with any milling or the like.

Hope that helps.

[CallawayKid86]

[quote name='jbucher' timestamp='1421387580' post='10755781']
[attachment=2572261:IMG_2215-copy.jpg][attachment=2572263:IMG_2219-copy.jpg][attachment=2572265:IMG_2220-copy.jpg]Here are few shots of 6 of my bullseyes. The lighting sucked for the one of the faces. I will retake at some point.
The wide flange putters come with a very rough finish on the back upper of the flange, I personally can't stand it. So I carefully smooth it down with a die grinder and a scotch bright pad. I smooth out the face with 4 different grits of diamond files and WD-40. Before final finish I glass bead the head@ about 40 - 50 PSI. Then final finish the face.
Jimmy B
[/quote]

These look incredible. I am smoothing out the flange part too. I was wondering if that was pitting or just how it came. I was able to smooth the face out first with a hammer before I started to file it flat. That is when I noticed the face was slightly curved to start. I will get it back to flat tonight and hopefully get some pictures up of the progress.

[Forged4ever]

[quote name='jbucher' timestamp='1421387580' post='10755781']
[attachment=2572261:IMG_2215-copy.jpg][attachment=2572263:IMG_2219-copy.jpg][attachment=2572265:IMG_2220-copy.jpg]Here are few shots of 6 of my bullseyes. The lighting sucked for the one of the faces. I will retake at some point.
The wide flange putters come with a very rough finish on the back upper of the flange, I personally can't stand it. So I carefully smooth it down with a die grinder and a scotch bright pad. I smooth out the face with 4 different grits of diamond files and WD-40. Before final finish I glass bead the head@ about 40 - 50 PSI. Then final finish the face.
Jimmy B
[/quote]Beautiful collection JB!!

Happy New Year

Fairways & Greens My Friend,
Richard

[jbucher]

Thank you Richard.
I do find satisfaction in working on them and making them into what and how I would like them to look. The slotted flange may have around 2 hours getting it to the state pictured. Really wish I had a place at home to work on them.
My Mother lent me her bullseye putter way back when I was 12 for a 9 hole consolation round. No one in the family knew what happened to her clubs, so I went on my quest on the Bay to find one and they keep multiplying. I have gamed 4 of the six last summer and fall.
Jimmy B

[DLBullseye]

Love these old Bullseye stories, I have over a dozen myself. My favorite is the 5A Original that can be played left or right handed. Also have two nice early LaFemme flange models as well as two Mizuno copies.

[mws82]

Wish I could find one in good shape.

[glensmithis]

Wish I could find one in good shape.

 

Are you looking for the flange or the blade? I might be able to help you out.

[mws82]

Depending on year and model pry blade.

[augustgolf]

Depending on year and model pry blade.

 

Pm me if you'd like a pic or 2 or bullseyes I'm moving out of my collection