Last month I sent in a few Nike Tiger Woods forged sand wedges for a spa treatment. Spas for golf equipment? Absolutely! Slap it up, flip it, rub it down, oil can style. Since it is right in the middle of winter time here in Ohio, and I cannot play any golf, I decided that I could be without my trusty sticks for a few short weeks. Just like many of you, I love certain golf clubs and how they play, but don’t like the OEM finish that they originally came with. I never even knew that there are many options should you find yourself in this dilemma. If you spend any time here on this website, I am am sure you are faced with these same decisions as well. It’s actually quite simple, send it of to BOS? BOS you say? Yes, an acronym for Black Oxide Service in sunny California. Just to refresh your memories, here is a picture of my Tiger Woods’ sand wedges just prior to sending them in to Black Oxide Service for a complete chrome stripping and customized oil can refinish.

I am sure many golfers are pretty hesitant to send off their prized and expensive golf clubs across the country, and wonder if they will return as nice or in even better condition. Rest assured, just like Tiger Woods will soon be back to destroy his (lack of) competition, your putter or forged club will come back much, much better than it was when the mailman picked it up! Seriously, I was very impressed with BOS’s level of service and attention to detail. I drew some pictures of my wedges delineating exactly what I wanted done and they did it exactly to perfection. Just in case you were wondering, removing the chrome does subtract from the overall club swingweight a little bit. These wedges were swingweight checked at D-6 prior to shipping and once reassembled, came in at a hair under D-5. Not a lot, but a little.

Check the sweet patina on this BOS oil can finish. This is how Nike should have finished these wedges to begin with! I decided to not bead blast the back side like Nike did on the chrome OEM finish.

Bead blasted face with nice orange, green and purple oil can hues alongside for the ride. Impressive to say the very least. I almost don’t want to game these!

My Nike TW lob wedge now looks like I envisioned it to be. Sorry Tiger, no Sunday Victory Red on this bad boy.

My advice to you should you be contemplating an iron, putter or wedge refinish, drop BOS a line and you will see that they will do a first class job (they will even send you a sweet slide show showing many of the clubs that they have refinished) with whatever you decide to send them. I thought I would ask Monica Slivnik a few questions about the BOS golf refinishing (and finishing) operation to see where the company has been and how involved they are in the golf side of the house. Read on…

How long have customers been able to send in golf clubs for custom finishes?

Since 2002, when we no longer had an exclusivity contract with Titleist.

Approximately how many golf pieces do you see in a month?

It varies, between 200 to 300 per month. This does not include OEM and custom club maker’s orders.

Approximately how many pieces do you finish for OEM and custom clubmakers per month? You dont have to name names if you need to keep that private. Obviously if you are refinishing Cameron’s putters you may need to keep that private for contractual reasons…I know you do the C&L putters, because I know one of the owners, Lee, and I have purchased 3 of their oil can putters!

150 to 250 for OEM and Custom, Club makers.  You have C & L’s and I can name a couple more that have not required us to keep their names under wraps such as Taylor made and Byron Golf, the others have to remain private due to the contractual agreements.

Please elaborate about EPA regulations concerning chemicals and or the chemical processes involved in these finishes. Can you tell me, in simple form, how chrome is applied and how it is stripped? Are there special restrictions on chrome now in 2009, I seem to see a lot less of it across all applications…not just golf…

Some of the chemicals are proprietary and I can’t disclose the detailed steps or chemicals as it would give away our formulas & trade secrets.  I can tell you that all the finishes we do in house are monitored very closely by all agencies and we are a “zero discharge” facility which is environmentally friendly.  The Chrome, Nickel, Anodizing and Copper Finishes are outsourced because those finishes are highly caustic and as you mentioned the restrictions & permits etc are becoming so expensive to operate that it is putting a lot of companies out of business.  Per our vendor regarding the chrome process he states “Here in California Hex-Chrome Finish is regulated by the Air Pollution control Agency and Tri-Chrome on the other hand is more environmentally friendly & has fewer regulations.  The process to strip chrome requires Hydrochloric acid and if there is Nickel underneath the chrome needs to be stripped with an electrical current.  The metal is then prepped either by polishing or sandblasting or a combination of both. The club is then ready for the application for the Nickel plating which gives the metal it’s for brightness & then chrome plating is applied for the color.”

How large a chunk of your total business is golf related?

Approx 40%, the remainder is still Industrial, Aerospace and Commercial.

How many and what types of finshes can be applied to carbon steel?

Black Oxide, Satin Black, 2x Black, III Black, Matte Black, Matte Patina, Patina Oil Can Finish, 2x Patina, III Patina, Matte Chocolate, Chocolate Patina, 2x Chocolate, Satin Chocolate, III Chocolate, Nickel Finish, 2x Nickel, Satin Nickel, III Nickel, Copper, Satin Copper Finish, III Copper, Blue Torch Finish, Misted Blue Torch, Chrome, Satin Chrome.

Obviously Stainless Steel has a few less finish options, what types of finishes can be applied to stainless steel items?

Satin Black, Matte black, Torched Finish, Misted Torch, Bead blasted Finish, High Buff Polish Finish, Nickel Finish, 2x Nickel, III Nickel, Copper Finish, Satin Copper, III Copper, Chrome, Satin Chrome.

Are your custom services from word of mouth or through internet web forums (which is how I learned about your work)?

Both.  It started out as strictly word of mouth and that is our primary focus but I am aware of numerous clients informing me that they found us through forums, eBay or referrals.

Do you see yourself as a direct competitor for custom refinishing of putters with the Cameron Custom Shop? Obviously, if you do their finishes and cannot answer this I understand.

Yes and No.  It all depends on what our customer wants. What sets us apart from the Cameron Studio is that we will customize the customer’s putter, iron or wedge any way they want it done.  Sometimes it as simple as just completing paintfills.  We feel that our customers should have the options to apply whatever finish and paintfill that suits their personality and preference.  They shouldn’t be forced to go with only the “original” finish they should be able to customize there item however they see fit I know that since we’ve been providing this service I have seen the studio start to offer some of the special services that we offer.   

However, the Cameron Custom Shop remains picky on certain color paintfills on certain putters and they will refuse to paint the color you requested or they will use a different color than you asked for. Be sure and save yourself some shipping money and find out in advance. Of course, if you are looking to COA your putter, you are at Scotty’s mercy there…

Who does the paintfill for you? Do they like all the cool stuff they get to do to other peoples’ club heads?  

We do all our paint fills in house and yes our guys like doing it especially when they get the honor of picking out colors and asked to just be creative and have carte blanch on a clients order.  They have a good eye for what colors look best on finishes and like to come up with color schemes etc.  Usually prior to being asked to just pick colors and do something “nice”, I like to find out what our customer’s tastes are whether they are conservative or a little on the wild side as well as I’ll ask what their favorite colors may be so that I can match up their personality with my suggestions on finishes and color choices.  This also helps me determine and explain to our technicians what the customer’s likes and dislikes are and then our guys can work their magic.   It’s fun for both us and it leaves a little mystery for the customer as the anticipation of what we’re going to come up with is exciting for them.

Do you offer repainting of fairway woods and drivers?  

No we do not.

Tell me about your putter racks….they look pretty cool…

We designed the original putter rack for Scotty and we have the prototype displayed in our lobby.  Because of customer’s commenting on the rack and asking if we’d consider making and designing one for them we decided to improve upon the original and came up with a 5, 8 and 10 rack putter system. Our website, www.caddy-royale.com goes into detail about the material used etc. We are now currently designing a headcover rack which will also be available in 20, 40 and 60 denominations.  

How did you (BOS) get into refinishing golf clubs? Who recognized the need for this?

We recognized the need for this service and felt we shouldn’t just offer it to the pro tour players as the average golfer should also be given the opportunity to customize his/her putter, wedge or iron as well. Many times a customer has expressed they don’t want to part with the gamer and they just simply want “The Spa Treatment” and either get it back to original or change it up a bit so that it looks like a new putter with a unique finish.

How long have you been in business and is it a family business?

This is a Family owned business and Founded by my Father, Leo Slivnik, now deceased.  My Dad left his kids a legacy that we value deeply. Because we helped build both companies from the ground up there were many sacrifices made along the way which makes us truly appreciate and value what we have today.  My business philosophy in running these companies is the same business philosophy that my Father instilled in me.  #1 being Customer Service, #2 is Quality and #3 being Customer Service.  The reason why Customer Service is in there twice is because companies that are service oriented I believe should value their Customers above all else and “Bend over Backwards” to make sure they’re happy.

The reason why my Dad started the Black Oxide company was that our quality control had to keep rejecting parts that just were not done to our satisfaction or to our customer’s satisfaction.  Frustrated with the lack of concern that our vendor had he had finally had his fill and decided to research and start up his own plating service that would work hand in hand with our Machine Shop. Back then we did not offer golf club refinishing; we were in the business and still are in the business of manufacturing aerospace, industrial and commercial parts.  These parts as well as golf putters require black oxide finishes.    My Dad was a perfectionist and Quality was something he didn’t skimp on.  We’ve been in business since 1979 and his good name and experience as well as his eagerness to tackle projects that most people found too challenging was something he thrived on. As an example what got us started in putters was my Dad in the late 80’s was approached by Ely Callaway to black oxide his Billy Baroo’s and his Bobby Jones Commemorative putters.  He too was having a problem with quality issues with his then current vendor.  From there we were approached by Ray Cook Golf for manufacturing of their entire aluminum putter line as they had just relocated from Texas to California and nobody wanted to tackle the project.  That was our first meeting with Scotty Cameron when he worked for Ray Cook as a putter designer.  The rest is as they say “history” That is why we were sought out by many golf companies to develop finishes and work on special projects for them.  Because we have the Machine Shop at this location it’s a “one stop shop”.  Pretty much everything gets done here at our facility.  You may find it interesting to know that we used to host tours for the putter studio that was located next door to us.  They would bring in tourists visiting the putter studio from the Far East and they’d get to see the in house process starting with the manufacturing of a golf putter and see it through all the stages it went through before it became the finished product.  We still offer tours upon request to our out of town clients as well as our walk-ins.  Our clients have the opportunity to speak to our Golf Pro either by phone or in person.  We really enjoy what we do and really take pride in our service.  

Are you guys golfers?  

We pretend to be, lol.  Yes.

And so do I! Black Oxide Service is a first class operation, and if you are contemplating a refinish because your OEM finish isnt’ cutting it any longer (or never was to begin with), look up BOS, ask Monica for a quote and you’ll be glad that you did! Thanks Monica, you guys are great! A special thanks to the Eastgate Golf Galaxy in Cincinnati for professional disassembly and reassembly at a lightning pace, you guys rock.