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scratch repair

SuperStroke
AK jr.

AK jr.

d2 college player
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I was hitting my driver today in my back yard and the first shot i hit, i saw sparks fly at impact. i then examined the bottom of my driver to see what the damage was. turns out that i hit a rock, wow unlucky day. but, its not a very deep scratch. its in the shape of a square no more than an inch wide. the actual scratch is on the metal part of the bottom of the driver, and its not on any logos or engraving. i was just wondering if there is a special paint/filler that i could use to touch it up, or possibly send it in to titleist and have them fix it for me. any ideas are welcome
 
Can you paste a photo?

Aficionados of club restoration like DDBowdoin or razaar may have some good ideas if they can see a picture.
 
AK
Reminds me of when I got my first titanium headed driver (a cally big bertha). It was late in the day and I had to try it out. First ball I hit sparks flew, thought I had hit a rock but couldn't recall hitting anything but the ball. Checked out the bottom of the club..no marks. Hit the second ball - same thing. Found out later titanium is one of the few negatively charged metals...the sparks were static electricity caused be the club brushing over the grou nd which is positively charged.
If the scratch to your club is purely cosmetic I would just accept it and forget about it. Mine has scratches on the sole from hitting off the deck as does my other fairway metals.
 
i will post a picture when i get home from school
 
well, the positive thing is that it more than likely a cosmetic scar. It shouldn't affect the performance of the club if the cut is shallow. as for the aethetics, its a sad day for that club. I asked a few of my friends and they aren't aware of a product strong enough to fill the void and stay in contact.

you could MAYBE try a caulking or a silicone solution to fill the void, sand it out... but more than likely it will fall out of place after a round
 
A good metal polish, and some elbow grease will get it out. It's gonna take some work, and take some time.

It sounds a little deeper than a simple surface scratch, so pick up a clay polishing compound bar from a local auto body supply, or machinists supply shop (McMaster-Carr, or Eastwood will have it online) Rub some on, and polish away with a soft washcloth or similar. Re-apply the compound, and keep polishing until the scratch is pretty well gone.

Follow up with some Brass-O or similar chrome polish, and buff away until it's got the same mirror finish.
 
gummi, do you think that compound will stay? I could see the compound becoming loose with constant contact with the ground
 
The compound I'm suggesting isn't a filler. It's a mild abrasive, for polishing metals, to polish out the scratch, rather than fill it. It works really well on Al and Stainless, I've not tried it on Ti, but have no reason to believe it wouldn't work.

Ti is hard to scratch deeply, it's such a durable metal. I know a guy with a Ti belly plate on his rock buggy, and it's not gouged at all, even with a 3500 lb car on top of it. (The magenta one in this pic)
DSC02791.JPG
 
DSCF2702-1.jpg


as you can see, its not huge. but i hate it when my clubs have very noticable imperfections. i am probably going to do what gummi said and give that a try
 
That should work. Be prepared, it is hard work and time consuming.
 
its starting to get dark around here kind of early so i will have a lot of extra time especially if it is raining. oh and gummi, can you get me a link to exactly what kind of clay compound i need. im not good with all the auto stuff so all the options are confusing me. thanks
 
AK
Guess you don't own a dremel. This little tool and accessories has plenty of uses particularly with metal and woodwork. Drop the hint to Santa.
 
Here's a kit, with different compounds, progressively finer abrasives in them:

http://www.eastwoodco.com/shopping/...DUCT&iMainCat=433&iSubCat=435&iProductID=1078

Look in your local phone book, for Auto Body Supplies, and go talk to those guys. You may also look for Metal Polishing Services, and talk to them for some advice.

Using a Dremel like razaar suggested is fantastic, however, you do need to pay very close attention, or you'll make a big mess and ruin your driver. This goes for using any power tool. Dremel makes a cotton buffing wheel for their tools (I've got a couple that I use often, but I grew up using tools)
 
ok thanks for the help
 
i think of scratches as my clubs getting character and a story
 
i think of a rock scratch on my driver as a bad story haha
 
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