How to refinish chrome clubs

[Cbfodalo]

I do not like the look of old knocked up and scratched chrome.  I do not like the look of brand new shiny chrome either. What I like is a brushed or satin nickel or dull chrome finish.  So I am buying and cleaning up sets of clubs and reselling. 

I bought a small bench top 1"  belt sander, and a 6" bench grinder with buffing wheel and a wire wheel. 

I have 220, 400, 600, 800 and 1000 grit sanding belts.

So far all I have done is replace shafts and grips, clean and polish heads.  Now I want to try using belt sander to see how they come out.  Going to experiment with a few of the dozens of spare clubs I have laying around.  Belt sander camervwith 80 grit belt which totally ate up an old iron.  I was able to salvage it but I need to be must more careful.   I am going to start with 600 or 800 grit.  Then work up or down based on what happens. 

 

[jaskanski]

Wouldn't it be a lot easier to use the correct electrolysis process to strip chrome and replace with the desired finish (dull or matt chrome can be applied)?

All you are doing is abrasively removing a layer of metal. The hard way.

[Chip Strokes]

the sander is gonna work great for removing any imperfections or bag chatter. you’ll remove enough material to get down to a nice smooth finish, but you’ll be left with raw metal that’ll leave you subject to rusting and staining 

like @jaskanskisaid, if you want to actually re-finish the clubs then you need to reapply a finish. what you’re proposing to do is technically un-finishing

[Cbfodalo]

I did a set of callaway diablo edge r irons that where chrome.  All I did was use 220 grit wet sandpaper and hand rub the shine off chrome, they where not dinged up, actually brand new, so the came out great with a smooth brushed nickel look and feel.  I also did same to setnof callaway rogue, but again clubs where like news.  Some of the mizunos I am buying are well played.  I do jot intend on removing chrome, just sanding it down a bit to take off shine and maybe hide some of the scratches and smaller dings.  

I could use chemicals to strip chrome only down to nickel, that's also an option.  

[Cbfodalo]

So this was interesting to me

I picked up a 2gallon pail with a lid and a gallon of muriatic acid 

I have a bunch of old clubs laying around soni though I would experiment with dulling the chrome.

1st club i submerged In acid was an older warrior lob wedge club head.  Acid did not touch club head at all soni guess its stainless steel. 

2nd text was an older ram youth 7i.  Now the acid really went to town, it took a few seconds but then it started bubljng away after about a minute it was entirely black qith a layer of what looked like soot it washed off.

 

So I then just stuck three ram clubs I. There shafts and all and left them juata little too long.  Chrome was gone, whatever chatting was on groove area took longest to come off but by the time that came off the entire club head was destroyed, it was catered and dimple. So I think those rams where cast qith some really cheap steel, and chromed without Nicole, I though acid was supposed to remove chrome but leave nickel.  I don't mind running those clubs if I learn something from process. 

For sure, next time I am just going to keep taking club head out of solution every 30seconds or so to make sure its not getting  destroyed. 

In fact not sure this acid bath is even worth it when I can just sand them smoth.  

One other thing.

The older mizino irons have an extremely durable chrome finish.  Its very hard to sand to a dull  satin.

[Cbfodalo]

So today I finally got the set if mp-59's.  The chrome is super hard, but is all scratched up with several dings.  

So I decided to try the mutiatic acid bath then sander.  I just used 3i, so if I destroyed it I could always pick up another  to complete set.

Steps so far

1.Removed head from Shaft. Clean it. Remove old epoxy etc.

2.  Place it on bent steel rod and submerge it into muriatic acid bath.  Pulled it out after about 30 seconds and  rinsed in clean water bucket. Wiped it off and decided it could take a minute or so. Putbit back in for another minute a s checked again. Back in acid again for about 5 minutes.  Clearly this chrome is thick and strong.  It worked, and I could still see some chrome inside dings.  Washed and dried it. 

3. Belt sander. 1" x30 x 1000 grit, got no where with dings. So I tried 800, then 600 and finally decided that 400 grit would be 1st sand. 

Then 600 then 1000.

4. Buffing wheel with black compound. 

Wow.  This club looks so good I am doing them all.  Its got a beautiful satin nickel finish.  I really do not love chrome look anyway, so this is really pleasing to me.  Its not satin chrome like my jpx919's but rather a nickel color less silver a little darker and very smooth. I do not think I sanded through nickel, but I do not know how to tell if I did. 

I will finish them all and apply some polish, paint fill and then put them back together. Then on ebay they go. I hope someone appreciates how long this takes..... here is a quick before and after pic 

3i still need some more buffing, but I am loving it. 

 

[GaDawg]

Looks like a waste of time and money. I would send the clubs I wanted to keep out to a professional company. Donate the other clubs!

[Cbfodalo]

On 2/14/2021 at 11:22 AM, GaDawg said:

Looks like a waste of time and money. I would send the clubs I wanted to keep out to a professional company. Donate the other clubs!

To each his own. My time my money, but really no money but cost of  a gallon of acid and some sanding supplies. 

Its like therapy to me to tinker in my garage.  

The first set of clubs I worked on where my callaway rogue cf18 irons.  They where in New condition so all I did is wet sad them to dull down chrome to a nice satin finish. 

Some of these old forged mizunos I am working on are seriously banged up.  I cannot get all dings out without removing to much steel. So I strip them in mutiatic acid to get chrome off then sand the layer of nickel to get  nice smooth satin nickel finish.  Then I paint fill and polish, and polish and polish some more. 

Next set I do I am gonna try a different finish. I have a set of mp-60 irons that are really dinged up,  probable gonna have to sand them allot to get a smooth finish.  

Not sure what finish I want, defintely not shiny, but blued or gunmetal, not sure.