Project Information
My two favorite hobbies, woodworking and golf, have collided. Over the last couple of years, I have attempted to replicate some long nose era golf clubs from the pre-1880 era. I have tried to use traditional methods as best as I could figure it out.
The black stained club on the left is an original putter of the 1870 era which was what I used as a basis for the replicas. All three replicas in the first pic are putters and all beech.
Clubhead: Beech preferred. Apple, pear or thorn wood were also suitable. The beech I used I harvested myself ironically from the golf course I play most often. I have also used pear wood which mills very nicely, but is more brittle. Frame saws, rasps, spokeshaves, scrapers were used for shaping the head.
Shaft: Straight grained hickory, which supplanted ash as the shaft material after the first quarter of the 18th century. Shaft shaped traditionally with handplanes and around 1880, a trapping plane.
Ram's horn for the sole's leading edge (wear strip), 1/8" thick.
7 ply waxed linen thread for the whipping.
Sheepskin leather grip with wool underlisting.
Lead (I opted to use a bismuth and tin alloy from a company called Rotometals for safety concerns) used for the weight in the rear of the clubhead.
Hide glue
Liquid Asphaltum to seal and stain the hickory shaft.
Heads finished with BLO and modern wood stain or Aquafortis (nitric acid with steel particles - dangerous).
For the 1 or 2 that are interested, I have about a half dozen posts on my blog
Below is an xray of the "lead" (actually bismuth tin alloy) which gets poured into the rear of the clubhead. The intersecting holes help to retain the lead.
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The shaft traditionally was riven stock tapered and roughly rounded by a handplane.
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Working with hickory and hand tools is tough work, so here is a video of me making shafts with this trapping plane from Ashem Crafts
Mortise for protective ramshorn sole plate:
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The angled scarf joint that connects the shaft and the clubhead was known as a scare joint. It is glued and wrapped with whipping thread:
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The black stained club on the left is an original putter of the 1870 era which was what I used as a basis for the replicas. All three replicas in the first pic are putters and all beech.
Clubhead: Beech preferred. Apple, pear or thorn wood were also suitable. The beech I used I harvested myself ironically from the golf course I play most often. I have also used pear wood which mills very nicely, but is more brittle. Frame saws, rasps, spokeshaves, scrapers were used for shaping the head.
Shaft: Straight grained hickory, which supplanted ash as the shaft material after the first quarter of the 18th century. Shaft shaped traditionally with handplanes and around 1880, a trapping plane.
Ram's horn for the sole's leading edge (wear strip), 1/8" thick.
7 ply waxed linen thread for the whipping.
Sheepskin leather grip with wool underlisting.
Lead (I opted to use a bismuth and tin alloy from a company called Rotometals for safety concerns) used for the weight in the rear of the clubhead.
Hide glue
Liquid Asphaltum to seal and stain the hickory shaft.
Heads finished with BLO and modern wood stain or Aquafortis (nitric acid with steel particles - dangerous).
For the 1 or 2 that are interested, I have about a half dozen posts on my blog
Below is an xray of the "lead" (actually bismuth tin alloy) which gets poured into the rear of the clubhead. The intersecting holes help to retain the lead.
The shaft traditionally was riven stock tapered and roughly rounded by a handplane.
Working with hickory and hand tools is tough work, so here is a video of me making shafts with this trapping plane from Ashem Crafts
Mortise for protective ramshorn sole plate:
The angled scarf joint that connects the shaft and the clubhead was known as a scare joint. It is glued and wrapped with whipping thread:
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