1 of none, Miura Limited Black 1957 Baby Blades

[rebby]

Ever since Miura released the Limited Forged Black Blade based on the Tournament Blade I've been waiting for them to follow suit with the 1957 series "Baby Blade". Well, last fall I grew tired of waiting and decided that it was time to build my very own, 1 of none, set of Black 1957's.

 

First things first, I needed to find somebody skilled enough with black oxide to entrust my beloved 1957's to. As it turns out, we have such an artisan right here on GolfWRX, horty1388! I'd purchased a set of black ox Titleist 681's from Ryan earlier in the year and, at that time, began to share my vision for a similar set of 1957's. After a number of emails back and forth we decided on a plan and it was time to take the plunge. I pulled my C-Tapers, boxed up the heads, stuck a USPS Priority Mail label on the package, and dropped off the irons at my local Post Office. Even though I already had a set of irons that Ryan had worked on, there was still a little anxiety in shipping off my 1957's. My primary concern was that they wouldn't turn out as I was hoping and that, in the end, I would end up ruining a great set of irons. Still, I had a great deal of confidence in Ryan so I knew that I'd just have trust the process.

 

Prior to pulling the shafts, here is how my 1957's started out;

 

 

After my 1957's spent about a week with Ryan, he emailed me a few "progress" photos. Yes, believe it or not, THIS is progress in a black oxide project. Although a little alarming at first, it was really cool to see them without any type of finish. You can really appreciate the spin welding of the necks when you see them like this.

 

 

 

Next came clean up and polishing. They really really started to take on a whole new look after this process.

 

 

We went with a high polish across the entire surface. This will result in a very lustrous black finish, similar to what you would get with a high quality gun bluing.

 

 

 

 

The score lines where then sandblasted to give the club face a nice, non-reflective, matte finish.

 

 

So here is what we had after all of Ryan's hard work (stripping chrome, hand polishing, and sandblasting). They're starting to look like a high quality set of irons again!

 

 

 

It was now time to send them off for the black oxide process! Better do it quick before they start to rust again...

 

After a few days, Ryan send me this picture. They're ready to come home!

 

 

I couldn't wait for them to finally arrive and when they did I tore open the box and quickly got to work. After the black oxide process you really have to spend some time getting the hosels cleaned up and prepped for epoxy. So I got out my brushes, rags, and acetone and went to work getting them prepped. Once that work was finished, I got them weighed and compared them to the previous weights so that I could swing weight them and reinstall the shafts. All in all, I didn't lose much weight.

 

My build specs are listed below (I apologize for the formatting, this was the best that I could do). The weight listed on the left is the factory head weight (with chrome), the weight listed on the right is the black oxide weight. Overall, I lost about 5g across the board. Because I prefer a heavy grip, I needed 8-10g tip weights to maintain D2 (weights listed on the far right). It could have been worse. I've done projects like this in the past where I needed 10+g just to get back to D0!

 

Club  Loft  Bounce Lie   Length   Swingweight  Weight Weight Shaft
2	  19*   -1*   59*   39.5"	  D2		 237.9g 232.8g KBS C-Taper S+ (10g tip-weight)
3	  22*   1*	59*   39"		D2		 244.6g 240.0g KBS C-Taper S+ (10g tip-weight)
4	  25*   4*	60*   38.5"	  D2		 251.2g 246.2g KBS C-Taper S+ ( 8g tip-weight)
5	  28*   6*	61*   38"		D2		 258.5g 252.4g KBS C-Taper S+ ( 8g tip-weight)
6	  32*   6*	62*   37.5"	  D2		 265.1g 260.1g KBS C-Taper S+ ( 8g-tip-weight)
7	  36*   6*	62.5* 37"		D2		 271.6g 265.4g KBS C-Taper S+ (10g-tip-weight)
8	  40*   7*	63*   36.5"	  D2		 279.3g 273.6g KBS C-Taper S+ ( 8g-tip-weight)
9	  44*   9*	63.5* 36"		D2		 286.8g 281.5g KBS C-Taper S+ (10g-tip-weight)
P	  48*   8*	64*   35.5"	  D3		 298.5g 292.0g KBS C-Taper S+ ( 8g-tip-weight)
Grips - Lamkin Tour Black Full Cord, Logo Down, .580, 1 tape wrap

 

Once I got the irons built, I needed to decide on paint fill. Initially, I was just going to leave them without but it proved difficult to identify one club from another in the bag so the numbers had to have something. I ended up going with a Chrome Silver from Tamiya (X-11) for the numbers. By the time I got that finished up, it was deer hunting season so I packed up my clubs, grabbed my rifle and didn't give my irons much of a second thought.

 

After deer season I really stared to put some thought into my long term paint fill options. I decided to keep the Chrome Silver and add Tamiya's Gold Leaf (X-12), fittingly, to the leaves in the 1957 stamp. I really wanted to do some type of Red/White/Blue color scheme to match my Super Rat but the Red/Blue just didn't show up very well on the black so I kept the Silver/Gold. I think that they turned out pretty good!

 

 

 

If you look really really close, you can just make out the telltale sign of the spin welded hosel. Personally, I think that's a good thing. It's very much a part of what makes a Miura a Miura.

 

 

The score lines turned out great as well!

 

 

Durability is about what you'd expect with black oxide. Here is a typical representation after a few outings at the range. Not too bad (ignore the silver on the toe, that was additional paint that I need to go back and strip, my bad. Working with that silver/gold paint is a bit of a PITA).

 

 

Overall, I'm very happy with the results of this project. I think that the irons turned out great. In fact, they turned out even better than I had expected. Working with Ryan was great as well. He kept me informed throughout the entire process and sent me pictures along the way. That is not the kind of service that you get from the big name refinishers (which I've used in the past as well). Turn around was also quick and the price was more than reasonable (enough so that I sent him MORE than he'd initially asked for, I felt like I was stealing from him otherwise).

 

The remaining questions would all be around performance and how the black oxide 1957's compare to the factory chrome finish. I just happen to have a second set of 1957's that still adorn their factory finish so a side by side is a pretty easy comparison. For the most part, the black oxide set still has the distinctive Miura feel. In a "blind taste test" I'm not sure if you could really differentiate between the two sets. Since you can't really do the test blind however, I'm going to give the nod to the black irons when it comes to the softer feel. I've read that a raw iron will have a softer feel than a chrome one and, I suppose, that it's possible that sediment is true. A Miura has a such a great feel from the factory though that it's really hard to say for sure. Other than the possible slightly softer feel of the black irons, these still perform just as they did prior to the new finish which, is to say, phenomenal. There is nothing better than the feel and performance of a Miura 1957. One thing is for sure, you can improve on the look of a factory 1957 though. All that it takes is some time, talent, and some black oxide.

 

A very special thank you to horty1388 for all of his assistance with this project. Without Ryan's help, these irons would still look exactly like everybody else's 1957's. Thanks Ryan!!!

[manxytag]

I prefer them before but a good effort

[studatnu]

[quote name='GaryCorlett' timestamp='1402258848' post='9454685']
I prefer them before but a good effort
[/quote]

^^^ This

[jmcdonald]

Wow....those are so nice. Good job man!

[EJ Mac]

Very nice. I am a sucker for black ox irons. I may have to have a set done in the future.

[Pure745]

Wow, they look too nice to hit! Baby blade 2 iron? Yikes!

[Mob]

Very impressive job. Ryan certainly deserves the accolades you give him.

[rebby]

[quote name='GaryCorlett' timestamp='1402258848' post='9454685']
I prefer them before but a good effort
[/quote]

Not a problem. I have a chrome set of 1957's as well (see my WITB for the full details). The factory finish is spectacular, no question about it. The factory finish will out perform the black oxide as far as durability is concerned as well but there is something about the look of a black blade that just can't be beat. The black makes an already small blade appear even smaller at address too. I LOVE that.

[quote name='Pure745' timestamp='1402264991' post='9455105']
Wow, they look too nice to hit! Baby blade 2 iron? Yikes!
[/quote]

One of my favorite clubs of all time. If I'm swinging well enough to be consistent with that club, I'm pretty much on throughout the entire bag!

[lumberman2462]

I would have started the process of cardiac arrest when he sent me the pics showing "progress" with raw finish.

Good job on the finished product.

[rbhan12]

Those look fantastic.

[WJLIII]

Congratulations on a beautiful set of clubs. What always amazes me is how much thought and work goes into such a process and how you can visualize and verbalize the result you are looking to attain. Nice work on your part and Ryan's, best of luck.

[TCZ]

sweeeeet

[rebby]

[quote name='lumberman2462' timestamp='1402266917' post='9455263']
I would have started the process of cardiac arrest when he sent me the pics showing "progress" with raw finish.

Good job on the finished product.
[/quote]

I have to admit that I did have a, "what have I done?" moment but I was expecting to get a raw photo at some point and knew that they would only get better from this point on.

[quote name='WJLIII' timestamp='1402268036' post='9455365']
Congratulations on a beautiful set of clubs. What always amazes me is how much thought and work goes into such a process and how you can visualize and verbalize the result you are looking to attain. Nice work on your part and Ryan's, best of luck.
[/quote]

It was a pretty long process from start to finish. Probably a month's worth of emails between Ryan and myself to nail down exactly what we were going to do, a few weeks of actual work (on Ryan's part), then a rebuild that took a few days for me to complete (due to the required cleanup/prep and the fact that I have a full time job). After that, it took me about 9 months to finish the paint fill and get photos, pathetic! LOL

[kekoa]

I think everyone needs at least one black set. Keep us posted as to how the finish wears. I met ryan and he definitely knows what hes doing. Any idea if he has pvd capabilities?

Awesome job and tks for sharing.

[Medic]

Those are beautiful. Almost too nice to use!

I am a fan of black oxide; the appearance will definitely scar up a bit. But those sorts of signs of use are like battle scars and actually enhance the appearance in my book.

[kylemd]

Those are awesome!

[kevinlin71]

One of the kind, nicely done.

[rebby]

[quote name='kekoa' timestamp='1402270721' post='9455575']
I think everyone needs at least one black set. Keep us posted as to how the finish wears. I met ryan and he definitely knows what hes doing. Any idea if he has pvd capabilities?

Awesome job and tks for sharing.
[/quote]

I have no idea if Ryan can do PVD, I'd have to ask him. Ryan, you there? Can you answer this?

[quote name='Medic' timestamp='1402271797' post='9455681']
Those are beautiful. Almost too nice to use!

I am a fan of black oxide; the appearance will definitely scar up a bit. But those sorts of signs of use are like battle scars and actually enhance the appearance in my book.
[/quote]

Agreed. I love the look of the black oxide especially after they have a season or two on them. I'll have to keep a bookmark to this thread so that I can update it after this golf season with a few "wear" pics.

[horty1388]

[quote name='kekoa' timestamp='1402270721' post='9455575']
I think everyone needs at least one black set. Keep us posted as to how the finish wears. I met ryan and he definitely knows what hes doing. Any idea if he has pvd capabilities?

Awesome job and tks for sharing.
[/quote]

Hey kekoa

I've tried to find a source for pvd to do some of my personal putters and irons but nothing has come to fruition unfortunately

[nandy]

Hey @rebby , any photos of these as they've aged (now five years later)?

[halliedog]

> @nandersen said:

> Hey @rebby , any photos of these as they've aged (now five years later)?

 

I see you are relatively new here, but it's WRX. That set was probably sold/traded by early 2015.

[halliedog]

Also, not to nit-pick on a 5 year old thread, but wouldn't they be 1 of 1 (since they do exist), instead of 1 of None (as if they were only a fantasy)?

[nandy]

> @halliedog said:

> > @nandersen said:

> > Hey @rebby , any photos of these as they've aged (now five years later)?

>

> I see you are relatively new here, but it's WRX. That set was probably sold/traded by early 2015.

 

I was actually linked here from the JDM BB thread, and I happen to know that @rebby still had those blades as of recently, hence the question, they've just been refinished a few times since. Thanks for being condescending though. The Miura BBs don't move in and out quite as fast as some other sets - just in.

[jshuff]

Those look great but I would’ve been tempted to leave them raw.

[rebby]

> @nandersen said:

> > @halliedog said:

> > > @nandersen said:

> > > Hey @rebby , any photos of these as they've aged (now five years later)?

> >

> > I see you are relatively new here, but it's WRX. That set was probably sold/traded by early 2015.

>

> I was actually linked here from the JDM BB thread, and I happen to know that @rebby still had those blades as of recently, hence the question, they've just been refinished a few times since. Thanks for being condescending though. The Miura BBs don't move in and out quite as fast as some other sets - just in.

 

Looks like your post was a few months back but I just stumbled upon it now. I should have taken some pics before I sent them off for refinishing last winter, the faces looked pretty raw in the middle and the soles were bare but the rest of the club still had some decent black to them. Despite what @halliedog stated earlier being pretty accurate for WRX, he's dead wrong about these. I've tried to move on a couple of times but I keep coming back. I'm on my 3rd black ox refinish (IIRC) since the one referred to in this thread and, yes, they are STILL in my bag. I have multiple sets of the 1957s and I've been trying to keep these off the range when I go to hit a plethora of balls, they're getting pretty worn and I'm honestly not sure if I can squeeze another refinish out of them or not. Assuming that I can score one of the new release sets (I love how clean they are), that's alright with me, I'll move on a brand new set of 1957s! B)

[rebby]

> @jshuff said:

> Those look great but I would’ve been tempted to leave them raw.

 

They essentially become raw again on their own over time, just need to hit balls. ;)

[mogc60]

What an awesome post!! Thank you. Very cool to see all the steps. I think they look incredible and the score lines are flat sexy. Very well done....congrats

[lonscicles]

Wow, love the process and photos. Those look great