ShopTalk: BeCu

[tflan]

Hi;   No doubt many of you have worked on BeCu irons. It seems as though I've had a glut of them over the past month. The most recent set was from a guy who "couldn't feel the head" when swinging. These are Ping Eye 2 BeCu, black dot. I checked the SW. It was C-5! I suggested tip weights or lead tape. The guy didn't want either. So I suggested making the clubs a little longer, 1/2", which would pick up at least 3 points. I also suggested lighter weight grips, 35 - 40 gram rather than the 53 gram Golf Pride Tour Velvets he was using. He opted for lengthening the shafts. I did it. Got the SW to D-7. It still wasn't enough. So he decided upon tip weights.   If you've ever heated a BeCu head you know that it takes a long time to melt the epoxy . . . especially the stuff Ping uses. I heated the first head with a propane torch 'til that sucker turned black. Then it occurred to me that Cu is a hell of a heat conductor. I needed something to dissipate the heat. I tried using a soaking wet towel wrapped around the head. No good. A "heat sink" was the possible answer. So I used an 8" steel spring clamp connected to the head just below the hosel. Using the clamp cut the heat time by more than half.   I then decided to test the method by heating one head without the heat sink, and another with the heat sink installed. The "unsunk" head took nearly a full minute of direct propane heat before the epoxy "popped." The head with the heat sink popped within 20 seconds . . . and with less heat "stains."   I added tip weights to get D-1, shimmed and epoxied the heads back onto the shafts, and cleaned up the heat marks with "Simoniz Liquid Chrome Polish" (which works better than "Blue Away, Bartender's Friend," Comet, and most anything else I've tried.)   The heat sink method won't work on metal woods but on irons its a real time saver. Give it a try next time you're pulling an iron head.   TFlan