Lewis Kovalovsky Garage Sale

[Jay White]

How about coming to my house and clean my garage and basement out.Looks like you do a pretty good job. LOL I'm sure she was excited as you to get it cleaned up. Great job!

[Deepfins791]

Thanks, everyone.

Ron G, you gave me a great idea. Maybe I will put a collection of tools/jigs for a specific reel together as part of my display for the ORCA Convention. I believe I have a complete set of everything to make a 9/0, including Arthur's detailed drawings.

Stef D, that is a great story about the scraping. As a guy who barely has enough mechanical talent to sharpen a pencil, I am seriously in awe of the talents of the average machinist (not to imply you're average!). A good machinist friend of mine described scraping as "a form of high precision hand machining stirred with a generous helping of Zen".

Mike N, I am a big fan of your photography. I also lack in having any artisitic talent whatsoever, and every time I try and nicely stage a piece of tackle, it just ends up looking like a cluttered mess. Larry Lauve, the co-author of the book, "A Conversation with Oscar Kovalovsky" is also somebody who has a knack for taking beautiful photographs of tackle. I think my all-time favorite tackle picture was the one Chris Murray took of the prototype API Sea Run fly reel Oscar made. It's a beautiful photo, and appeared in a lot of API's marketing literature.


Mike C, the book is coming along. The garage clean-out set me back about 4 months, but also unearthed a lot of new information I want to include in the book. And my interviews with Elizabeth added a lot to the history of the family. You could make a movie just about her life growing up in Czechoslovakia, especially her experiences during and after WWII. There are a few other holes in the history I am trying to fill. I was hoping to have it published in time for the ORCA Convention, but now it will probably be early winter.

Cheers,
John

[john elder]

Those that make the orca convention in San Diego Sept 6-8 will get to see a lot of John’s Lew artifacts first hand! Looking forward to your display, John!

[m3040c]

I suspect that Babbitt Bearings used in engines used the Model T and Model A Fords have not been used in general production since the pre war years. They are lead and basically shaped into their own spec by the technician. I would think the skill to do this is for the most part gone, but I do believe that there are industries that would still use them. The modern bearing is much more resilient than an old lead Babbitt bearing. I actually have one of those old bearing tools in my tool box, they come in handy for any kind of odd shaped need of gasket removal or shaping. Great stuff here!

[m3040c]

Mike C, the book is coming along. The garage clean-out set me back about 4 months, but also unearthed a lot of new information I want to include in the book. And my interviews with Elizabeth added a lot to the history of the family. You could make a movie just about her life growing up in Czechoslovakia, especially her experiences during and after WWII. There are a few other holes in the history I am trying to fill. I was hoping to have it published in time for the ORCA Convention, but now it will probably be early winter.

I am looking forward to it, but I deeply understand the time it takes to put a book together. I am also very aware of the feelings that come after a book is done and released, When you go through it and say to yourself, "Why did I not put this info into my work before it was published or the frustrations that the amount of new discoveries cause after the work is done".

So, please take your time. Making the work as you want and need it to be is the most important aspect for you personally. I suspect your Kovalovsky Book is going to becomes a "Standard" (in the same vein as Ted Bingham's, vom Hofe book).

[Deepfins791]

Good advice, Mike! Having the "critics" refer to it as the standard would be the highest compliment. So, yes, I will take my time.

[KIWI]

Yes You hit a home run there Brother. Cool,Cool,Cool. Great History on all of it. Glad it was you that followed up. D

[Stef Duma]

Take your time you will eventually realise when the time is right. I started on my Nottingham book 30 years ago, 25 years ago I decided to start another on Isle of Wight tackle makers. Ten years ago I realised I had too much for one volume and realised that if I kept on researching nothing would ever get printed. I have managed to get both books printed, the Nottingham by ending after the first 75 years and the Dreadnought by just doing the reels.
I am nearly finished the follow up to the Nottingham, its twice the size and more than 300 reels, some which will be discarded but I am close. Having said said that I have in the last week seen 3 more reels that have to be included. Good luck and print when you feel its the right time.
A friend of mine, when I said I'm not sure said, you can always do a revised copy.
A good friend of mine John Drewett had a special edition of his mammoth book done with a blank page inserted between each page so that he could add items as they came out of the woodwork.