Bore-Through Wood Reshafting

[Darkfrog]

Hey TST club building hobbyists (or professionals):

Anyone ever worked on a fairway wood / driver with a bore-through shaft? Got any tips/suggestions that might be helpful?

Backstory: Haven't had much time in the last couple years for club building/tinkering, but I recently listened to The Fried Egg podcast talking about favorite clubs from the 80s, 90s and (20)00s. This inspired me to reshaft my old Callaway 3-wood, which has a bore-through shaft. I've ordered the new shaft and components that I think I need from Golfworks, and even watched a youtube video on the process, but I've never done this. Hoping to get it right the first time.

Thanks 😀

[iacas]

@Adam C could help you, but he hasn't been around much since he disagreed with the idea that a $35,000 system with 0.2mm accuracy could more accurately measure dynamic lie angles than a Sharpie line.

😉

[ChetlovesMer]

9 hours ago, Darkfrog said:

Hey TST club building hobbyists (or professionals):

Anyone ever worked on a fairway wood / driver with a bore-through shaft? Got any tips/suggestions that might be helpful?

Backstory: Haven't had much time in the last couple years for club building/tinkering, but I recently listened to The Fried Egg podcast talking about favorite clubs from the 80s, 90s and (20)00s. This inspired me to reshaft my old Callaway 3-wood, which has a bore-through shaft. I've ordered the new shaft and components that I think I need from Golfworks, and even watched a youtube video on the process, but I've never done this. Hoping to get it right the first time.

Thanks 😀

Hey @Darkfrog I've actually done a few of these in my day. Really not that difficult. You will need to be patient because there are extra steps. You also need to think about a couple of things before you begin. Firstly, you want to make sure you are putting in a shaft with a fairly long tip-section. ... Not such a big problem with a Callaway 3-wood, but a Titleist Driver = definitely takes a long tip section. Secondly, you want to consider which color of glue you use. Yeah, I know, but the glue color will show up. It won't affect performance, but if you want it to look a certain way it will matter. 

Don't know if you've ever watched McGolf Custom Clubs, but he's got a couple of good videos on it. This guy knows what he's doing. 

 

 

[Darkfrog]

14 hours ago, iacas said:

@Adam C could help you, but he hasn't been around much since he disagreed with the idea that a $35,000 system with 0.2mm accuracy could more accurately measure dynamic lie angles than a Sharpie line.

😉

I was hoping @Adam C might chime in but seems like he's not around on the site anymore.

5 hours ago, ChetlovesMer said:

Hey @Darkfrog I've actually done a few of these in my day. Really not that difficult. You will need to be patient because there are extra steps. You also need to think about a couple of things before you begin. Firstly, you want to make sure you are putting in a shaft with a fairly long tip-section. ... Not such a big problem with a Callaway 3-wood, but a Titleist Driver = definitely takes a long tip section. Secondly, you want to consider which color of glue you use. Yeah, I know, but the glue color will show up. It won't affect performance, but if you want it to look a certain way it will matter. 

Don't know if you've ever watched McGolf Custom Clubs, but he's got a couple of good videos on it. This guy knows what he's doing. 

 

 

Thanks Chet - Good tip about the tip.

Epoxy color I'm not too concerned about, I think it was black before, and the epoxy I have is also blackish grey. It's a 20+ year old club and the head is pretty beat up, so I'm not gonna freak out if it doesn't look as clean as a McGolf job. If I can hit it off the mat in my yard and not have the head detach, I'll be satisfied.

McGolf was the first result that popped up in my YouTube search - definitely seems to know his stuff. I subscribed to his channel because there is a lot of good club building content there and someday I'd like to make more clubs. I think I understand the process after watching several of his videos, assuming the pieces I ordered from Golfworks are the right ones for the Callaway head. I think my biggest challenge is that McGolf has an A-1-A top of the line club building workshop, while I basically have a hacksaw for cutting and a Dremel for grinding/polishing.

[ChetlovesMer]

2 hours ago, Darkfrog said:

I was hoping @Adam C might chime in but seems like he's not around on the site anymore.

Thanks Chet - Good tip about the tip.

Epoxy color I'm not too concerned about, I think it was black before, and the epoxy I have is also blackish grey. It's a 20+ year old club and the head is pretty beat up, so I'm not gonna freak out if it doesn't look as clean as a McGolf job. If I can hit it off the mat in my yard and not have the head detach, I'll be satisfied.

McGolf was the first result that popped up in my YouTube search - definitely seems to know his stuff. I subscribed to his channel because there is a lot of good club building content there and someday I'd like to make more clubs. I think I understand the process after watching several of his videos, assuming the pieces I ordered from Golfworks are the right ones for the Callaway head. I think my biggest challenge is that McGolf has an A-1-A top of the line club building workshop, while I basically have a hacksaw for cutting and a Dremel for grinding/polishing.

I can tell you a vise with a rubber boot that prevents damaging the shaft will make the job a lot easier. 

Also, when hacksawing the shaft be sure to hacksaw at least a score line all the way around. That way you'll be cutting from the outside to the inside. If you cut a graphite shaft straight through you'll end up with some weird fibers sticking out of the last side you cut through where the saw comes out of the material. 

[The Flush]

McGolf is local to me and is who my son and I have been fitted by.  You could probably call Jim and ask some questions.  I know that he has a weekly live stream on YouTube (Mondays?) where he will answer any questions you have, so you could give that a try.  Maybe he has some suggestions for how to do things with more common tools.

[Adam C]

My ears were burning. Been busy busy recently but since I've done over 100 bore thru clubs thought this was a good time to check back in.

Callaway is pretty straight forward in general. Did not see what model you are dealing with. Important because some of the later ones had a collared adapter style ferrule that you needed to use. If it's just a standard O ring model, then no problem there.

You can either pre cut the shaft tip at the appropriate angle before assembly or cut it after epoxy is dry. Either works. Also need some graphite shaft pins to seal the vent hole in the shaft. As for cutting the shaft, I usually recommend a hacksaw if you are doing the cutting after epoxy and then sanding it flush.

I always got the shaft evened off with the club sole and then went back to shaft pin the vent hole. Once that is dry, hacksaw and sand again to get the stub of the pin flat and even. Final step, brush with acetone just like turning a ferrule.

Be aware, the shaft is going to play a bit stiffer then it would with a traditional hosel club.

Now if you'll excuse me I need to go measure some lie angles with my $1.95 Sharpie!!

[Darkfrog]

5 hours ago, Adam C said:

Callaway is pretty straight forward in general. Did not see what model you are dealing with. Important because some of the later ones had a collared adapter style ferrule that you needed to use. If it's just a standard O ring model, then no problem there.

It's an ERC model fairway wood which I think needs the collar/adapter thing you mention. I got a little sleeve/ferrule plastic piece that slides into the hole from Golfworks that I think is the right piece.

Do you have any bore-through reshafts on your YouTube channel?

8 hours ago, ChetlovesMer said:

I can tell you a vise with a rubber boot that prevents damaging the shaft will make the job a lot easier. 

I have a vice and rubber clamp that I use for installing Pure grips, so I've got that going for me at least.

8 hours ago, ChetlovesMer said:

Also, when hacksawing the shaft be sure to hacksaw at least a score line all the way around. That way you'll be cutting from the outside to the inside. If you cut a graphite shaft straight through you'll end up with some weird fibers sticking out of the last side you cut through where the saw comes out of the material. 

Another good tip. I've tried using an angle grinder with a cutoff wheel to trim shafts but it is just way too hard to control and cut accurately. I've seen hacksaw blades that are a thin rod with sandpaper type grit. I wonder if that would work for cutting a graphite shaft.

[Adam C]

8 hours ago, Darkfrog said:

It's an ERC model fairway wood which I think needs the collar/adapter thing you mention. I got a little sleeve/ferrule plastic piece that slides into the hole from Golfworks that I think is the right piece.

Do you have any bore-through reshafts on your YouTube channel?

I have not done any bore through videos on my channel. Assume there won't be much of an audience but I might need to add it to the list of up comers.

Other tip since you have to use the adapter, dry fit everything together and get the shaft lined up at the correct depth, then wrap 4 or 5 layers of masking tape on the shaft right above (touching) the top of the adapter. This will keep you from over inserting the shaft or having the shaft slip further down during epoxying.