A New Member With Some Wood Reel Questions

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Monkeypaws
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A New Member With Some Wood Reel Questions

Post by Monkeypaws »

Good Afternoon All,
I am new to the forum and I am glad I finally joined. I am a guy that really likes antiques. I collect everything from guns to outboard motors. I live with my wife in Cheney Washington. I just recently started collecting antique reels and bamboo fly rods. I like to take the old unused and dilapidated reels and poles and restore them back into working condition. My wife’s fly rod is an old Union Hardware and her reel is a Meisselbach Feather weight. There is just something about the old gear that I find intriguing.
Here is where I am at now. I recently bought a D. Slater model 274 from the UK and turned right around and bought a lot sale of old reels. The reels have not arrived yet but I am trying to find out as much info as I can about the old wood reels. I know one of the reels is an old Soviet reel and another is an old Condex. I would really appreciate your help to teach me more about these wood reels. I won the auction on the UK Ebay site and paid $38.00 for the lot plus $31.00 shipping. Judging by some of my research, I think I got a good deal. Thank you for your input. Kenny



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Midway Tommy D
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Re: A New Member With Some Wood Reel Questions

Post by Midway Tommy D »

Welcome, Kenny!

Looks like you've gotten yourself a good start. There are a few people that frequent here who are very knowledgeable regarding wood reels such as Peetz, Alvey, etc. Our own John Elder, as a hobby, builds very beautiful wooden replicas, from scratch, of some of the better known metal saltwater type reels. I'm sure someone will be along shortly with some input on your group of reels.
Love those Open Face Spinning Reels! (Especially ABU & ABU/Zebco)

Tom DeLong, NE
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Paul M
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Re: A New Member With Some Wood Reel Questions

Post by Paul M »

Kenny:
Welcome! I see a good variety of British wooden reels. I believe the large wooden reel with holes is a Scarborough style reel. The other British wooden reels are called Nottingham reels. The one with the catch to remove the spool is typical of a Slater reel although if it’s not marked then it could be by others. Slater didn’t invent the catch, he just used it. Personally I like the starback brace style of reels. If you look closely you will probably find that the alignment of the edges is just a little bit off, indicating hand crafted brass. In general, the simple straight brace is an older style but who knows for sure? While I clean certain types of reels I leave the wooden ones alone but some of us have done some spectacular restorations with them. There are several collector books that cover some of these wooden reels. If you Google images for “Nottingham reel” you will find a slew of references.
Paul Manuel

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Monkeypaws
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Joined: Sun Apr 29, 2018 1:21 pm

Re: A New Member With Some Wood Reel Questions

Post by Monkeypaws »

Thank you for all of the information. Restoring the old reel will be a lot of fun and I look forward to it. I have restored firearms from the 17th and 18th century and antique wood restoration is time consuming but well worth it.
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