Ross Baker Golf

With the hickory championships on in Adelaide at the moment, perhaps it’s a good time to drag out some ‘Rufus Stewart’s’ by Himmerman and Kirk! Stewart was pro at Kooyonga for many years! The Mashie Niblick has the name on the face, alas the Niblick doesn’t! Another interesting point (seldom seen) is the ‘Rufus Stewart’ shaft stamp! Aussies weren’t known for their shaft stamps, but this is a particularly good one!(excuse the photography!) The Niblick is actually the same Niblick shown in Ralph Livingstone’s book on Tom Stewart. (No relation)

Wedges with a hint of Valentines Day, introducing Mr & Mrs Flipper! And you can see these and a few hundred others 😂 at ..ATT Golf 497 North Rd Ormond!

Here are some pics of the 3 Long Nose Putters I’ve just completed. They each get about 20 coats of Shellac, rubbing down between coats with extra fine steel wool. To finish them, I give them a final rub down with steel wool, and then polish with natural bees wax. Each putter is stamped with the type of timber used, date made and weight, making all putters individual!

I’ve been spending too much time working on the Long Nose Putters and not enough time updating the progress!

All the lead back weights have been cut back and finished. The rams horn slips have also been been finished.

I’ve sanded, pitched, and started to shellac 2 of the putters. I’ve also done the whipping on those as well.

I’m doing final sanding on the 3rd putter. The next step with it, will be to rub it with pitch and start to shellac. Rubbing pitch onto the heads does a number of things, it brings the grain out and helps to preserve and waterproof the timber, but it also shows up any ‘scratches’ or ‘marks’ on the heads which may have been missed when sanding.

The putter head is very light until the ‘lead’ is added to the back of the club!

The Early long nose Clubmakers said a ‘good putter’ should be ‘well boned’ and ‘leaded!’ (B***d = referring to the Horn Slip) (leaded = referring to the amount of lead!)

Firstly a recess is cut in the back of the head. The recess is approximately 1” deep ‘about half the width’ of the head. ‘Threaded’ holes are drilled in the bottom of the recess to hold the lead in the head. A ‘dam’ of clay is built around the edge of the recess to retain the molten lead when it is poured.
Immediately the lead is poured, it is cooled using a ‘wet rag’ so the lead doesn’t burn the wooden head! The excess lead is then cut back with special pincers, the lead is then ‘tapped / seated’ in place with a hammer, then finished off with a chisel.

RIP Chi Chi, you brought ‘more personality’ to the game than everyone else combined!❤️🏌️‍♂️🏌️‍♂️

We are deeply saddened by the passing of World Golf Hall of Famer Chi Chi Rodriguez at age 88.

Fitting the ‘Rams Horn Slip’ to the Leading edge of woods.

Prior to the use of ‘metal sole plates’ all ‘wooden clubs’ had a ‘Slip’ made of Rams Horn fitted to the leading edge of the wood, to protect it from strikes to ground. The ‘oldest clubs’ in the world (still existing) are the Troon Clubs, said to be from the late 1600’s, these clubs have ‘rams horn slips’ in the leading edges!

A recess to take the horn, is cut into the leading edge with chisels. A piece of rams horn is then shaped to fit the recess and glued in place. 3 holes are drilled in the rams horn and through into the club head. Wooden dowells are made from a piece of broken hickory shaft, splitting and shaping them to the required diameter and taper. The dowells are then coated with glue and driven through the rams horn and into the head, securely fixing the rams horn slip.

The shafts are now attached to heads using a ‘splice or scare’ joint. Interestingly this joint was used by ‘Bowers’ (bow makers) to join to halves of a long bow, and not leaving out the ‘ship wright’ who used the same joint to mend a ‘broken mast!’ The heads can now be worked to a ‘semi finished’ shape. From there I’ll cut the ‘lead recess’ in the back of the heads to take the lead weight.

Shaft making day! The actual method I use to ‘take down’ a wood shaft has been used by ‘club makers’ and other woodworkers for hundreds of years! ‘Fledgers’ making arrows, to ‘Ship wrights’ making masts for ships, all employed the same principle. Taking a billet of wood ‘square’ in cross section, Plane the 4 corners to make 8, then plane the 8 corners to make 16. A ship wright working ‘larger diameter’ timber would then plane 16 corners to get 32! My timber starts at 1” square and finishes about 3/4” diam at the butt tapering to 1/2” at the tip! This method of planing a wood shaft ‘by hand’ had ceased by 1900 with shafts being ‘mass produced’ on lathes, but I like to keep the ‘traditional skills’ alive! I did 3 shafts today and attached the heads using the traditional ‘splice or scare’ joint. (Pics to follow) The pile of shavings was from 2 shafts!

From ‘Big’ Tree Limbs, ‘Little’ Putter Heads come!

I’ve been very ‘slack’ with my ‘Long Nose Putter’ making, as a result of all the work at Our Golf Shop = ATT Golf!

So back into it! The heads are cut out with a ‘handsaw’.

I only got 1 head out of the limb pictured, as the other head I cut, had a major defect!😢 So I added 2 other ‘head blanks’ I’d cut out a couple of years ago.

Hopefully ‘shaft making’ day tomorrow!

Oh, and it takes about 22 hours to make a putter!

IDENTIFICATION OF IRONS.. A WORK IN PROGRESS.

I have had the ‘Target’ putter (as I call it) for many years, I didn’t know who forged it, it was just the ‘Target Putter!’

As time went by I got the ‘Mashie Niblick’ (below) (and I apologise for the pic being a different size, I’ll have to get better at that! In reality the ‘stamps’ are the same size!) I had also started on my journey of ‘studying and comparing’ stampings on irons!

Somewhere along the line I noticed the Mashie Niblick was also marked with the ‘Target’ stamp, great the Putter and the Mashie Niblick match! But who then forged them? Back to my ‘other comparisons’ the Mashie and Niblick are in ‘script’ and are in fact ‘identical’ to other stampings found on Himmerman and Kirk irons! The other dead giveaway is the Mashie Niblick stamped twice! I now have a ‘Maker/ Forger!’ Himmerman and Kirk Mordialloc.

Another interesting point is the ‘Specially Selected’ stamp seen on these 3 irons, it is rarely seen on other H & K irons and is a ‘larger font’ than usually used! I also touched on this ‘Specially Selected’ stamp a month or so ago when I posted the pic of the Left Hand Mashie (seen below) Note it has the St Andrew’s X stamp! (Completely tying all 3 irons to Himmerman and Kirk) Why do all 3 have ‘Specially Selected’ but only 2 have the ‘Target’, and only one has ‘St Andrews X? I’m sorry you’ll have to ask Mr Himmerman or Mr Kirk!😊👌

The ongoing ‘quest’ to try and gather and learn information on Himmerman and Kirk ‘iron forgers’ Cleek makers, of Mordialloc Melbourne. Some more of their forged Hickory irons and a Himmerman ‘Krak Shot’ steel shaft putter! The left hand Mashie we ‘easily recognise’ as Himmerman and Kirk by the ‘St Andrews X’ mark, however the ‘Specially Selected’ stamp is ‘unusual’ and helped me to ‘identify’ another iron that had that stamp but no others. Also ‘quite rare’ is the ‘Special’ with Mashie on the face! The ‘obscure’ name on the Mashie Niblick ‘Golf Practice P.L’ is interesting, it doesn’t have a H & K or St Andrews X stamp, but is easily recognised by the ‘Large X’ and Mashie Niblick in ‘script’! The ‘fancy’ borders to the face lines is also one of their traits! The ‘Carlisle’ Niblick has ‘Niblick’ in ‘script’ and stamped ‘twice’ is a giveaway! We know Himmerman forged ‘Krak Shot’ irons but the ‘fancy’ border to the ‘face lines’ of this steel shaft putter are another trait!