Shambles

Very good report. I'm impressed. Shambles

The Medicus I liked, regardless that the only one I had was on a 5 Iron. That thing taught me how a shaft is swung. It's a bit more than a Driving Range toy because if you conquer it and more, importantly, think about it, it shows you how there are many unnecessary movements and motions we make in a swing. The thing actually works better as the hinge becomes so much easier to move. It showed me the importance of smooth. As a rule, I dislike training aids but I shall make a special exception for the Medicus. Shambles

I tend to agree but only because, regardless of how strong we feel, the reality is that we are not as strong as our feelings are. We more often strike too hard or too soft and all because we are not as strong as we think we are. Rather difficult to explain. Best I can offer is that we know how to hit it and how hard and in what way but the body is still in catch up and still needs the practice regardless of how the mind rules. There are simply too many teeny tiny details like how to pick up the ball and in what way, how much back spin to give and so on to forever. Practice solves many of these problems and a lower loft more often buys you the solution at lesser cost. Shambles

There is nothing to make a 58* more acceptable than a 60*. The difference in loft is too small to matter other than at the limits where one is struck at the max and the other is struck more comfortably. In the short game, they both perform well and it comes down to which swing is more comfortable to you. Obviously, my preference rests on the 58* and it does so because I prefer the easier swing for distant marks as against the 60*. Time has also made me more comfortable in the short game with the 58*. It simply works better for me. Shambles

I totally agree about the 58* vs. the 60*. As a matter of fact, I use a 58* albeit with a bit of heel relief to make opening it to m60* a bit easier. The thing has worked so well for me that I totally forgot the heel relief and rediscovered it recently when I bought the same club and found I needed to do things differently to do the same. 58* is plenty. Shambles

I like the looks of that kind of ... gnurling, i guess you can call it. I've never before seen anyone do that to metal. Shambles

Best all weather grips I've ever used were the simple rubber type with deep wide grooves. Fit them a bit on the soft side and the edges of the grooves have a way of taking a bite into your hands, something like an off road tire. Worked very well for me in a monsoon I got cought in sometime back. Gloves, the Fit 39. Some kind of artificial material that works tremendously well be it wet or dry and does not stretch very much during a drenching but keeps on gripping even stretched. Returns to pretty much original size after blow drying strapped to a fan. Shambles

What's wrong with just laying a spare club along the ground ? Shambles

Hi Robbie, There was a time only a few years ago that I encountered a Driver that had been badly assembled. Bits of excess epoxy had fallen into the body and repeated impact from the Driver's use broke those bits off so that it rattled about inside. A very minor noise but distracting and an irritant. I watched a club maker try to fix the noise by working the bits to a gather near the hosel and heat them so that they blended together and reformed as a larger piece in what we guessed was a quiet corner of the club head with hopefully a bit more walls and corners for the epoxy to stick to. Same failure regardless of where we gathered the epoxy. I tried mixing a bit on the side of a hammer, let dry and melted it so I could see it harden again. Banging the hammer on a piece of wood, a table actually, caused the epoxy to come loose and fall off. I'm not dedicated enough to go any farther looking for instances of failure. It might work in some instances but I'm satisfied it is far from foolproof and applying the safer solution is not a lot of added trouble. Besides, I'm suspecting a cracked shaft tip as the source of the clicking and you're not going to see or feel it until you pull the shaft and stress it a bit to find out if and what's moving. I alsodoubt the air bubble. There just isn't enough space as epoxy is stronger when it's applied as an adhesive not as a filler. If it was applied as a filler in quantities large enough to make an air bubble that could click, that would be a pretty bad assembly. Shambles

People used to make their own by boiling bones, wood and other stuff in the melting pot. Way back people used glue, also called animal glue, to catch birds, other wild life for dinner and, of course, rats to reduce the pest population. Used to be a common skill making glue to different strengths but these days we just buy it in a tube or bottle. I read a book on it once but the ease of buying to spec made the subject less interesting. If all you need is a filler material that stays soft to absorb vibration and possibly add a bit of weight you might want to take a look at the different types of glue available. Shambles

Simple heating is a bad idea. The heated epoxy will not cool to original strength. Best would be to pull out the shaft and examine the parts for defects. If all proves good, you can safely re assemble and feel safe and confident in use. Your cost should be a new ferrule, a bit of sand paper and a touch of fresh epoxy if you do your own. Your win is confidence in the equipment you use. Shambles

Naptha is probably what would work, or some sort of scentless spirits. Kerosene isn't all that bad except for the smell. It really is a bit resistent to burning even if it's used to fuel small lamps. It takes a moment against the flame before it lights up. Nothing like Alcohol or Gasoline. Anyway, back to topic, soft and tacky seems mostly dependent upon the material the grip is made of. You can also soften the grips a little by scrunching it at application, or harden it by stretching, with the tradeoff being the length of the grip. Can't do much but I find it enough to feel the difference. :) Shambles

I use a component grip that's made of some kind of rubber. I clean it with a good wipe of kerosene or gasoline and it comes out softer and way tacky, though you need to air it overnight to be rid of the smell. Right now I'm looking for a source of sprits that don't have the smell, but I've been looking for a long time now and am still unlucky. The wipe does not work with the expensive multi compound grips, for me anyway. However I'm satisfied with the component grips I've sourced so no loss for me. Shambles

Rust does not bother me but would probably bother any visitors who were invited to dinner and saw them. It's really common in many kitchens of our poorer households and I spent a year in a beach house with only that one knife that never had a chance to develop more than a browning. I also visited with a friend who, in his own beach house, had a set of European knives that were probably sharp enough to shave with. That was some years ago but they were what we call satin finish except it was natural to the metal and such hard metal my friend told me he never needed to sharpen them, though we never made sushi which needs extreme sharp. Great cooks cherish a really sharp knife that is not worn out by excessive sharpening. The knives my friend had were, not sure, from Germany or some other European country, and cost an arm and a leg. Total beauties made like a French knife. When I think about it, that guy probably mis spoke or I mis heard about his carbon content. It just sounds improbable. The mini forge that guy used was fabulous but probably ate a hefty amount of electricity.The electric hammer was also impressive. I'd say that guy's knives cost a lot to make and it would be a shame to spend that much for such little use because it would be consumed by excessive sharpening. For that result, you might as well buy something from the super market. Those are throw away knives that you never develop affection for. The Katana is more complicated than just the forging and the folding. Shambles

One percent carbon strikes me as a rather soft steel. More carbon would make for a harder steel and therefore a knife that does not need sharpening as often. Shambles