3. Regluing a Spliced Neck on a Wood (9 Images)

By: Ken Leedham, GHSC Member

The splice joining the head to the shaft on an early wood will generally need re-gluing, if the glue when you get the club is ‘antique’. 

This isn’t a full illustration of that process, but it basically shows the way I do it. Bob Kuntz, in his book on club maintenance, recommends taping over the join after applying glue, then tightening small hose-clamps over the tape – I haven’t tried it that way.

The 9 thumbnail images below read left-to-right across each line, and then down to the next line. Mouse over an individual thumbnail image to see the title. Click on an individual thumbnail image to see a larger image.

Image #1: Preparation – I remove all whipping, and clean the parts, lightly sanding the faces to be glued to remove all old glue. Before mixing epoxy, I prepare a place on the bench where the club can be laid without strain on the joint, with some paper towel to catch any drips of epoxy. I try clamps on the joint before gluing to make sure I am ready to clamp the joint and lay the club on the bench.

Image #2: Mix/Apply Epoxy – Then I mix epoxy (1.5″ of each part should be enough for a splice), apply it thoroughly to both faces of the splice, and join them together. I wipe off excess epoxy, and do my best to line up the two parts of the splice exactly, then clamp them in place. You can generally best tell if the alignment is correct by examining the two ends of the splice. Once successfully clamped in alignment, I leave the club overnight for the epoxy to cure. See also Image #18: Shaft Epoxy from 1. Resetting Heads of Hickory Irons, Part 1 here.

Image #3: Whipping – See the separate gallery for details on whipping the join. Here is the club from the previous illustrations after whipping.

Image #4: Another Example – Here is another wood, with a shorter splice, positioned further up the shaft, glued and clamped using the same method.

Image #5: After Re-whipping – And here is that second wood after re-whipping.

Image #6: Before Re-whipping – I will finish this gallery with some images of another wood again, after gluing and initial curing, but before re-whipping. This wood is marked ‘Slazenger and Sons N.Y.’ so it has crossed the Atlantic at least twice, as I bought it from a gentleman in the UK. This Slazenger is the club shown being whipped in the separate gallery on whipping spliced joins.

Image #7: Face Side View – Here is the splice on the Slazenger seen from the face side.

Image #8: Back View – And here is the splice on the Slazenger seen from the back. You can see how looking at the end of the splice can be used for alignment. (That is a small pen-knife under the head, put there to hold the club up.)

Image #9: Down View – And here is the Slazenger looking down the shaft to the head.