Leonard Bimetal

[Ron Mc]

as received




sprayed it with Boeshield last night, and this morning with nylon-jaw tubing pliers and hollow-ground driver, it came right apart.

more later

[john elder]

Nice score, Ron...should clean up great! you going to take it all the way back to factory or stop somewhere in the middle?

[Ron Mc]

oh no, not mine - I was hired to clean it.

I can't exactly interpret your nomenclature, but I will remove all visible signs of dealloying, to the best of my ability, and since I expect it to be fished by the owner, it will be ready to grown a pretty patina.

[EclecticGuy]

Ron, I'd really love to know how the side plates are held in the frame and how the bushings are fixed in place. Photos of this would be great too.

You may know, I now own the collection of P&P reel parts previously owned by Hoagy Charmichael. I have 100s of screws, springs, pillars, feet, frames, mud side plates and even the Leonard stamped plates for the bimetal reels. Let me know ifyu need anything.

Cheers,
Michael

[Ron Mc]

it must be a press-fit of the nickel silver into the copper rings.

Here are the cleaned parts. I had to remove the spring to bend and temper it - the owner wanted RHW and someone had seriously bent it to a LHW bias. I took about 60 little bends up and down with coarse-radius spring-bending pliers until the two ends were aligned, and it came out great.

Also straightened the foot as much as I could, using c-clamps, a wooden dowel, and spanish cedar blocks.
Tough little booger to photograph now...

[EclecticGuy]

Looks great Ron and thanks for the info. That's what I suspected based on the parts I have and seeing one other bi-metal.

cheers,
Michael

[Ron Mc]

Michael, something else you can see.
The nickel silver disc is shouldered into the copper ring.
The shoulder opens inward in the backplate


The shoulder opens outward on the face plate, so the working thrust is always pressing the nickel silver disc into the shoulder (of course I'm sure it's a tight fit).

The spring, btw, is brazed to a the mounting block, which makes it easy to remove, though I did have to loosen the pawl screw to give me some free play on the pawl (seemed staked at the end, so I didn't push it).

[EclecticGuy]

Thanks again Ron, this is very helpful.

I have in hand another Bi-metal that looks to be the same size as this one. It is beat though. It looks like it was in the bottom of a river for 100 years. Here are some photos:





The nickel silver side plates are so a deep rust red and corroded. The back plate is actually corroded through and consequently broken.

I have all of the parts needed to restore this reel but have decided against it for many reasons. It would be a heroic effort for one. I think the "raw" parts from the Philbrook & Payne collection I own is too valuable as-is to sacrifice one of the 2 side plates in the collection. Then there is the ethical question "how far do you go to restore a reel?" I bet this little real has an interesting story that we'll never know.

cheers,
Michael

[Ron Mc]

I don't believe there are ever ethical questions involved, unless one tries to pass off a re-fabricated reel as original condition.

For years as a moderator on Clark's board, I fought the war with the naysayers who wanted to crucify then draw and quarter Chris Henshall for the work he does on reels, especially on old Hardys.
He was Hardy's reel repairman for many years, and he took old stock leftover parts and built them into functional reels - it was all done with Hardy's blessing.

[Reelholder]

First thanks for posting the chronological photos...nice job and helpful. I'd simply collect it as is or modify to your heart's content. A fellow collector had a machinist bang out a 7 inch version. If anybody complained I never heard it. Reels are wide open now.
Reels are wide open now. It's rare to see an honest rare reel for sale online outside of Orca's knowledgeable contributors. I also remember a rare Meek & Milam that went thru the San Francisco earthquake/fire...it was charred but highly collectible to all. Don't sweat the small stuff.