Blackening Stainless Steel Clubs

[EvanScottKing]

Thought I'd share the first few stages of an "experiment" I tried last night with the forum on blackening stainless steel club heads.

 

Edel makes most of their clubs out of 304 stainless steel, which while resistant to rust or other corrosion doesn't offer much in the way of different finishes. I currently game and love my 4 iron through lob wedge set-up, but have always been a fan of the dark finishes offered on wedges from other brands, so I looked for a way to achieve that same finish.

 

Electrochemical Products, Inc. offers a wide variety of products for different treatments of numerous metals and alloys depending on use for the part in question ranging from machine parts to architectural applications. I wound up ordering a trial set of their Insta-Blak SS-370 GEL https://www.epi.com/...lak-ss-370-gel/ for testing out on my gap, sand and lob wedges.

 

 

 

Instructions from EPI were easy to follow and emphasis was placed on careful application, clean-up and disposal of the chemicals for the obvious health and environmental safety concerns. Before using the blackening gel, the club heads had to be cleaned thoroughly to remove any oil or other contaminates that would interfere with the application of the new finish. After they'd been rinsed and dried I used cotton swab pads (while wearing protective gloves) to apply the gel. EPI recommends applying a generous even coat and rubbing that onto the desired surface for up to 10 minutes to achieve a blackened finish to the metal. I went through this with all three wedges before moving onto the next step and here is what they looked like:

 

 

 

After the gel had a few minutes to set, the excess gel got rinsed off and a finishing, corrosion inhibitor was applied again by use of cotton swabs. After another rinse and dry here is what the clubs look like:

 

 

 

 

 

I'm excited about how well the finish came out, but have yet to see how durable it is under golf conditions - especially through sand. I expect to have a bit of fading on the strike point and on the sole, but if the finish holds-up to a bit of abuse I may do it to the irons as well. Here is what the gap wedge looks like now next to my pitching wedge which is still the raw stainless:

 

 

 

Will check-back and comment with durability after I get the chance to play them this weekend. Worst case scenario is I do touch-ups on the finish as needed. Entire process for all three was relatively quick at around 50 minutes with the wait times included.

[dbdors]

They came out nice.

[Tzoid]

They look great.... I wonder if I could do my Scratch edges and would I have to remove the chrome finish 1st?

[EvanScottKing]

They look great.... I wonder if I could do my Scratch edges and would I have to remove the chrome finish 1st?

 

Thanks! And I doubt the same product would work over the chrome, but with the number of products that EPI has available there might be something that you could do without totally stripping the chrome first. They were responsive to my emails, so I might try them through that or give them a call if you're seriously considering it.

[EvanScottKing]

Update on durability and some more work on the rest of the set:

 

I've been happy with the durability of the finish. It doesn't totally blow me away, but its also not chipping off in chunks as I've seen some other blackening or oxide finishes do. The application isn't meant for items that go sliding across or through sand & dirt on a regular basis, so the areas on clubs that take the most abuse have faded and taken on a patina. I'm personally a huge fan of this over just a flat, matte black paint as it transitions into move of a torched-black or deep oil can type finish.

 

I finally elected to give my irons the same treatment and love how they came out. Below are some pictures at different stages of the process:

 

Scrubbed and brushed, then cleansed with denatured alcohol to remove any residual oil or grease.

 

 

 

Blackening compound applied. Need to be washed then hit with corrosion inhibitor.

 

 

Irons and wedges finishing with corrosion inhibitor applied.

 

 

Finalized product after another rinse - ready for the course.

 

 

Sorry about a few of the photos being dark - was doing this Saturday night while watching the fight.