Want to make more money on those trade-ins? Well, you can if you learn a simple craft of polishing metal woods. With the right equipment and materials, metal woods can be polished to look almost new again enhancing their value significantly.
Here are the proper steps for polishing-out scratches and bringing the paint finish to a high-luster like when the club was new. The buffing machine, buff wheels and compound used in these step-by-step photos are available from MitchellŽ Golf.
Step 1
Clean club head with a general purpose cleaner, such as 409, or Fantastic to remove any dirt or other foreign material prior to polishing. Any foreign material on the club head could further scratch it when the polishing steps are performed.
This is the equivalent of washing a car before waxing it.
Step 2
Use “0000” steel wool and lightly rough up the painted/urethane areas of the club head that needs polishing.
Step 3
Wipe the club head clean with a soft cloth dampened in isopropyl rubbing alcohol to remove the residual oils left from the steel wool. Do not use mineral spirits or acetone.
Step 4
Apply polishing compound to an unstitched buff wheel. To do this, turn on the buffing motor and firmly press the polishing compound bar into the buff wheel for a few seconds. The compound will “melt” onto the buff wheel.
Step 5
Press the painted/urethane areas of the club head lightly and quickly against the buff. Care must be taken to make sure the club head is in constant motion when contacting the buff. This will prevent the compound from burning through the paint finish.
Repeat Steps 2 – 5 until the desired finish if achieved. Deeper scratches will require additional buffing and may be impossible to completely remove.
Step 6
When finished with the motorized buff wheel, hand buff the head to a high shine using a clean cotton or terry cloth towel.
Note: The ferrule can also be buffed to a high shine with the above steps.
Safety: It is recommended to wear safety glasses while polishing club heads using buffing motor and buff wheels. Protective gloves are not necessary unless you are polishing or grinding irons and generate heat.
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