Renovating old and rusty Wedges back to life

[Bigjim1022]

This thread is great! Just curious, if I wanted an oil can finish what would I use? Something like this?

http://www.brownells.com/gunsmith-tools-supplies/metal-prep-coloring/blackening-browning/plum-brown-prod24772.aspx?avs|Manufacturer_1=BIRCHWOOD%20CASEY

Another thought, how do I apply the silicone oil? Do I just rub a little into the wedge after the finish is applied?

[Howard_Jones]

..the last thing first
- Silicone oil is just oil based on silicone, so its very water resistant, and therefor a good choice, plus its not eating up the black oxide who actually is black rust. Most protective oil like WD40 or similar have rust removing agents, and thats not a good thing here. Thats kind of like oil them and put them in coke at the same time.

The product you link to, is to get a "Vintage" rusty red look like on old weapons instead of black, but its not "oil can".

I dont know how they make "oil can", but on this web page you will most likely find it
http://www.finishing.com/letters/#2f

[k_smitty74]

Wow! Very cool! Looks like I just might have found a project for next weekend!

[knock it close]

Looks like you did a great job I usually put my Vokey oil cans in a glass of coke and it seems to do the job for getting rid of the rust

[JakeDeZoort]

I'm attempting to do the same thing you did(Howard) but my wedge is in rougher shape, I was wondering if you had any suggestions to get it in good enough shape to perma blue it. Thanks, jake
[attachment=1650715:image.jpg]

[Howard_Jones]

That wedge is not that bad,(what about face ?)
- just go back to page 1, and follow the info you find there, its all you need renovate it, and it will turn out nice. There is no other needs for this head than for all the others, and it seem like everyone who gave it a try and followed this post have done it with good outcome so just jump into it, no worries !

[JakeDeZoort]

[quote name='Howard Jones' timestamp='1366775888' post='6905629']
That wedge is not that bad,(what about face ?)
- just go back to page 1, and follow the info you find there, its all you need renovate it, and it will turn out nice. There is no other needs for this head than for all the others, and it seem like everyone who gave it a try and followed this post have done it with good outcome so just jump into it, no worries !
[/quote]
Awesome thank you. I was a little worried because after soaking it in vinegar for a few hours that's how it came out so I thought maybe its too far away from repair, but I'm glad to hear that, thanks again

[smeech8000]

Sorry to resurrect the thread, but I just had to post this since this thread was my introduction to the WRX and has since got me hooked on DIY restorations of wedges and putters.

 

Here's a DIY I just did this weekend of an OLD 200 Series Raw BV I found in my garage... apparently sitting in a corner where water collected over multiple northern Ohio winters. I had given up on this thing years ago before I discovered this thread/site.

 

So, despite the fact that the grooves are far from optimal, I really like the head profile and the sole grind suits my action so I thought I'd get it back in gamer shape.

 

Here's the before's in all their oxidized glory:

 

I coked these for 72 hours, although it wouldn't have really mattered as there was still a ton of corrosive buildup. As I said before, coke will eliminate surface spots but won't take down buildup. After going to town with a firm wire brush (not the dinky brass brush you might find on a golf bag), a bastxxx file on the face, and progressively sanding with 60 -> 150 grit sandpaper, here's what we have:

 

As you can see, there was significant pitting on the toe of the club (this portion of the club was sitting in water for a long amount of time). I was reluctant to file the face down too much for fear of significant weight loss; I didn't want to have to worry about significant swingweight variation as I don't really have the means to measure/remedy that in my garage. So I'm happy with how it looks at this point. I also ran a regroover tool on the face to get the corrosive buildup out of the grooves.

 

After a dip in the Caswell's 370 SS blackener, a couple applications of Birchwood Casey Super Blue, fresh paintfill, and an oil wipe, here's the finish:

 

I have since hit some balls with it in the yard, and I can discern no major issues with weight loss; we'll see how the grooves play when I get to the course this afternoon.

[JWBAMA23]

So a couple of questions regarding paint fill. I just finished my first and it's just an old wedge sitting in my garage. [attachment=2066037:image.jpg] so I soaked it in coke all nite and after a little scrubbing it looked like this.[attachment=2066039:image.jpg]. So this is where my problems came. First I had a very difficult time fully removing the original paint fill. I'm about 3% handy so maybe just more patience is needed. Second I had a really hard time sanding and filing to make look new again. Is it not recommended to use a sanding drill bit instead of doing by hand? Also when I first did my paint fill it looked fine but after applying gun blue it showed more imperfections in the fill. Is it ok with the gun blue to apply some acetone and try to straighten up or should I start over? [attachment=2066043:image.jpg]

[JWBAMA23]

The paint on the logo looks horrible.

[TJCDAS]

[quote name='JWBAMA23' timestamp='1392215289' post='8651397']
The paint on the logo looks horrible.
[/quote]

Give him a break once it is dry he will give it a light sanding.

[JWBAMA23]

That was me that said it looks horrible, same poster.

[Howard_Jones]

Try to fill them up with paint, let it dry, grind surface down.
Its that simple, so the only mistake you did was to little paint fill to start with, OR you started to grind down before it was fully dried up
Its a good thing to store them in a cold place after they are dry, but before grinding. It makes the paint a bit harder and then you eliminate the risk of paint coming loose from the dept of the letters like it could when paint is still a bit soft.

[JWBAMA23]

Can I paint over the gun blue or should I start over?

[Howard_Jones]

Gun blue is just "black rust", and if its not any oil on it, paint will stick like on bare metal.
What COULD happen is that after some time, there might be a brown edge of rust around the letters coming from rust under the paint

[Marsonj]

After 'coking' the wedges it's down to raw steel, once polished is there anything you can use to keep the polished look but protect them?

[Zeberdee269]

Raw steel will always rust, but the higher the polish you can get on the surface using a combination of 300+ wet and dry paper and polishing with something like autosol, the less rapidly it will take hold. As far as maintaining the face and keeping rust from forming inside the grooves using something like barkeepers friend will keep the rust at bay. Also as Howard has mentioned a quick wipe of either silicon oil or wd40 after they have been cleaned will also hold back the onset of new rust forming.

[jthaney10]

Sorry to bring this thread back to life but I've looked everywhere and can't seem to find an answer. Maybe it was in this thread and I read past it.

 

I'm looking for a tried and true method to remove small dings/nics from the bottom of a club. Dings I'm talking about are from normal play, nothing large. You can't really feel the nics, but is noticeable especially after cleaning the rust off.

 

By the way I used CLR to clean the wedge and it works alot faster than a coke bath.

[neilc]

Dont remove the dings but try and tap them back in place with a hammer.

 

 

[Howard_Jones]

Sorry to bring this thread back to life but I've looked everywhere and can't seem to find an answer. Maybe it was in this thread and I read past it.

 

I'm looking for a tried and true method to remove small dings/nics from the bottom of a club. Dings I'm talking about are from normal play, nothing large. You can't really feel the nics, but is noticeable especially after cleaning the rust off.

 

By the way I used CLR to clean the wedge and it works alot faster than a coke bath.

 

Add a photo of a club head, like Nelic say a hammer is the tool to use on real battle wounds, but if its more like "bag chatter" we cant really fix it, but "hide it" by satinizing the surface using Scotshbrite or similar.

[snoilr1]

Thanks for the turorial. I put a nice ding in my wedge from hitting a rock last week. I'm not worried about looks, but it was sharp. It was only a matter of time until I cut myself on it.

 

5 minutes of tapping and a quick hit with a file, and I'm no longer in danger of slicing my hand open while removing or replacing the club.

[Sergiogarwiia]

Thank you for this great post. It really got me into this stuff. First I practiced on some old wedges.

 

I now have the confidence to start on the set I play. Wilson Deep Red II tour. One down, nine to go.

Again, thank you.

[hitnhide]

What is the best tool to regroove wedges. I can see there exist a lot, but would rather not buy the first and the best and then find out, that it is not working great.

[skajaquada77]

Fantastic work!

[coghillcutter]

Trying to revive an old thread before I post something new. I bought a used set. One of the wedges has a rock mark on the leading edge that has caused a little bulging of the lowest groove near that area. Is that something I can hammer flat or it that a bad idea considering it is on the face and could actually make the wedge less playable? Any help would be great.

[Howard_Jones]

Trying to revive an old thread before I post something new. I bought a used set. One of the wedges has a rock mark on the leading edge that has caused a little bulging of the lowest groove near that area. Is that something I can hammer flat or it that a bad idea considering it is on the face and could actually make the wedge less playable? Any help would be great.

 

post a photo of it, it has to be really bad before improvement is impossible, most damages can be fixed with a hammer only

[coghillcutter]

Trying to revive an old thread before I post something new. I bought a used set. One of the wedges has a rock mark on the leading edge that has caused a little bulging of the lowest groove near that area. Is that something I can hammer flat or it that a bad idea considering it is on the face and could actually make the wedge less playable? Any help would be great.

 

post a photo of it, it has to be really bad before improvement is impossible, most damages can be fixed with a hammer only

 

 

I'm at work but I'll post a pic tonight. After floating around other forums I think its def possible to repair. Thanks Howard.

[augustgolf]

Trying to revive an old thread before I post something new. I bought a used set. One of the wedges has a rock mark on the leading edge that has caused a little bulging of the lowest groove near that area. Is that something I can hammer flat or it that a bad idea considering it is on the face and could actually make the wedge less playable? Any help would be great.

 

post a photo of it, it has to be really bad before improvement is impossible, most damages can be fixed with a hammer only

 

 

I'm at work but I'll post a pic tonight. After floating around other forums I think its def possible to repair. Thanks Howard.

 

Interested in seeing how this will work out for you. It isn't hard, and I think that you'll find yourself proud of what you can accomplish

[coghillcutter]

Trying to revive an old thread before I post something new. I bought a used set. One of the wedges has a rock mark on the leading edge that has caused a little bulging of the lowest groove near that area. Is that something I can hammer flat or it that a bad idea considering it is on the face and could actually make the wedge less playable? Any help would be great.

 

post a photo of it, it has to be really bad before improvement is impossible, most damages can be fixed with a hammer only

 

 

 

Tried to show the bulging on the face as best I could

[augustgolf]

That can be hammered pretty much back to normal.....good learning project!