Removing Rust

I got a set of irons (1957 MacGregor M85 Colokrom) for a bargain. These were in pretty bad condition. This iron was the worst. Lots of rust stains where the chrome was gone. I decided to try and remove the rust spots using a liquid remover.They came out better than expected. If I like these irons enough I might consider having them rechromed by the ironfactory at some time.

I really like how those colokrom copper inserts turned out. The pitching wedge (not pictured here) has a small circle of wear marks around the sweetspot. These have been played by an accomplished player. Feels good to give these irons a second life.

My first DIY custom built persimmon driver

Some time ago I bought a set of MacGregor persimmon (1,4 and 5) woods on eBay with the intention of rebuilding them.

By 'rebuilding' I mean:

• Replacing the shaft and putting on a new grip.
• Changing the lie angle.
• Changing the way the club sits at address (open, neutral or closed).
• Changing both dead weight and swing weight of the club.
• Refinishing the club so that it looks like it's never been hit.

I won’t describe the entire process in this post. Should you be interested in the steps involved, then please contact John Erickson. He has put together a very good document containing detailed step-by-step instructions. You can get it by sending him a small donation in return for his efforts in putting the document together.

For a first attempt I actually think I did a pretty good job. I did make some mistakes along the way (e.g. I accidently incinerated some wood next to the sole plate, and there also was an incident with the lead weights inside the cavity…) but I learned a great deal along the way.

Here is a photo impression of the rebuild: