Jack White made some of the very best woods of the hickory era like this one. One of the best ways to protect a precious driver, once you've found "The One", is to install an insert.

Inspect the head.
You want to be sure that the head is a good candidate for an insert.
This one has plenty of room between the face and the first row of sole plate screws, a great opportunity.

Insert position.
Carefully position the insert that you have shaped or selected.
Scribe fine lines on the face. This will be your pattern for the cut-out.

Guidelines.
I use a hack saw to cut lines inside the scribed area.
These lines go down into the wood giving you a gauge for even depth as you file away the wood for the cut-out.

Begin to file.

I have just finished with my initial work to file down the wood in the cut-out area.
NOTICE, that I do not go all the way out to the scribe lines. I file to the next hack saw line and all the area in between. I will cut the final lines after reaching the final depth.

Secondary gauge lines.

Each time I file down the wood in the cut-out, I cut another row of gauge lines. Deeper and deeper until the required depth is achieved.

Deeper.

Another row and another file job.
I use a sharp, high quality flat bastard file to remove the material.

Check the insert depth.

Here you can see I am half way there.

The cut-out is formed.

Deeper

Deeper.

Stay away from the scribed lines as you gain full depth.

Deep enough.

This shows that I have reached the depth required to leave just a little bit above the face surface.

Cut to the scribed lines.

Using a hobby saw, I now cut down and out to remove the end piece.
This leaves me with a straight, closely matching surface for my insert.

Chisel to clean up.

I use a chisel to scrape the just cut end areas to create a sharp corner and to blend into the bottom.
The insert must have a good, cleanly shaped cut-out to fit into.

Final fit for the insert material.

I work diligently to tweek the cut-out into clean, square, and tight fitting edges.
The insert must fit nicely. No rocking if pushed down in the corners.

Insert preparation.

On the advice of an old craftsman, I rough up the back side and edges of the insert before epoxy is used.

Trim down the insert.

Whereas the insert was larger than the cut-out, I now sand down the excess material so I will not have to work to hard to remove material after it is epoxied in place.

Test the fit.

I leave a little extra on top so I can blend it down to the face after epoxy.

Ready to go.

Here is the insert ready to go in.
I now prepare the CYTEC easypoxy K-22, by Conap products. I get this from Golfworks and have had good luck with this product.

Clamp in place.

After carefully applying epoxy to the cut-out and insert it is clamped into place on the work bench.
I try to clean off all the epoxy that has squeezed out. This makes finishing easier.

Start to shape.

Using a sanding block and 150 grit paper, I begin to remove insert material.

Match the existing face.

I work first to bring the insert material down to the the existing face line. I switch to 220 grit paper as I get close to face.
I am thinking ahead to how I want the face to look.

Blend to face.

Once I reach the face, I begin to shape a little bulge an roll into it and shoot for about 10 to 12 degrees of loft for a driver.

Finish shape.

I have blended the insert to the face and I have removed excess on the bottom allowing me to replace the sole plate. I try to blend the bottom of the insert to the sole plate edge. I have also very carefully blended the top of the insert to the top curve of the club. When the club already has a finish on it I try not to disturb it any more than necessary.

The face.

I've touched up any blemishes to the finish with stain and used extra fine steel wool to blend any imperfections.
Now I begin to cut lines in the face.

Cross hatch.

This club had a cross hatch design on the face so I try to duplicate it. Here again I use the hobby saw to cut the lines.

Steel wool finish.

I use steel wool to smooth out the finish of the insert and prep the entire club for fresh finish of shellac.

Cut off the excess peg length.

I use exterior wood clue to install the four 3/16" wooden dowel pegs. After the glue has dried I cut off the excess length.

Ready to shape the face insert.

Using the process decribed above I now sand the insert and pegs flush to the face and shape the angle, bulge and roll that I want.

Finished product:

Here is the finished product. Just as above, I have shaped to the desired finished shape and this time I cut an angled cross-hatched line pattern on the face. The combination makes for a nice looking club, I think! I did this work for Ken Holtz.