JVH B Ocean Rescue

[john elder]

I lucked out on this dirty little pig on the 'Bay...you never know, with poor pics and dirt whether you'll get a door stop,parts reel, or gem from some of these...this one turned out to be the latter! In spite of the lack of care, the reel had no cracks, screws were good, and amazingly, there was a full load of bearings in the race around the spindle...something you don't see all that often!

Some assorted tidbits I learned...or relearned...about B Ocean reels included
-a reminder of how thick the JVH faceplate is relative to Edward's...certainly made to take additional whacks on the deck without busting it.
-the Free spool mechanism has a short "throw" to come in and out of gear...makes for very tight and efficient free spool apparatus (that's a good thing, MHO)
-the anti-reverse pawl is attached to the inside of the faceplate in such a way that it's dead simple get it in and out of the way when removing and replacing the gears (sorry...had nice picks of all the internals and some idiot...er...me...forgot and formatted the camera before downloading them!)
-Straight gears...I don't know what year they started using spiral gears...or if they ever did on these reels! I'll have to start paying more attention!
-the bearing cap on the faceplate side is, at least on this 6/0 reel, smaller (5/8 in diameter) than the one on the rear plate, which is a more traditional size (7/8 in. diameter). In talking to Bob Douglas, he has seen quite a bit of variability in these caps with B Ocean reels...something to watch for!
-This is just a very well-made, quality reel!






and after vinegar, mineral spirits, followed by lots of Simichrome treatment of metal and rubber sideplates:

[Jacob : salmonfisher03]

Very nice work John.
Beautiful reel.

Best
Jacob

[Len Sawisch]

Too much free time . . .

[robert ellis]

Very nice work, just amazes me how you are able to clean them up like this! great find also, seems like lately there has been a lot of good buys on the bay? I hope it lasts long enough for me to find a couple good ones?

[Kelly L]

Outstanding work John, it is NOW beautiful once again.

[Wayne B.]

John:

Beautiful reel...nice job!

Couple questions to help me, and hopefully others, in our restorations:

Mineral spirits? When are they needed in the process?

Simichrome on the metal and the rubber? How about on bakelite endplates?

What are "lots of Simichrome treatments". What is a treatment?

Did you ever use a buffing wheel or just elbow grease?

Sorry for all the questions. I think they are a compliment!

[john elder]

Wayne, i do the mineral spirits soak after vinegar, then water rinse, to loosen up grease and to chase all the water out of the reel parts.

-yes, simichrome on hard rubber sideplates will remove oxidation and bring them back dark. Depending on the severity of the problem, i will use it in combo with 0000 steel wool or in some cases, 4000 wet/dry, followed by simichrome on paper towel and then terry cloth buffing. That's what i meant by lots of treatments...quit when your expectations are met...or when you decide they will never be met...

I don't think it will do harm to bakelite plates, but i'd avoid the abrasives...don't want to put in a bunch of marks you'll have to work to get out and brown oxidation is not at issue.

- personally, i don't use a buffer...do it all by hand...but rick h. Has done with great success. I don't care for the noise, mess, and risk of sending a part flying off into oblivion..

[reelsmith.]

Nice job !

You obviously have a lot more patience than I do.

That's one of the reasons I like tiny reels ...no patience when it come to cleaning.

Dean.

[john elder]

thanks, Folks...I wanted to point out that I'm pretty sure that handle is off a later model reel...it's clearly VH and threads correctly onto this reel, but don't think Julius used a grasp like this one on his early B Oceans.

I really get a kick out of reno-ing these old reels!...and even better if you can get them for little money and see a big gain in value! Yes, Dean, it takes a bit of patience and I have as little as anyone...I don't mind if it's a Golden West fly reel instead of a 9/0 Zwarg, myself!

BTW, the methods I outlined above also work well on other things. I was at one of those "restoration" shops last weekend where they have a back yard where everything is left to the elements. I have seen so many things get ruined because they were left to rust in lots like that...I suppose the idiots think there's some gain in value by letting the items rust and look older than they are. At any rate, I couldn't leave three hand planes that I found for 2 bucks apiece...here's one of them that I rescued, using the methods outlined above for the reel cleanups...and a bit of glue and spar varnish on the wood parts: