Wicked Cool Reel Made By Annonymous Mad Scientist ....

[reelsmith.]

Thanks to the ball bearings, this mutt spins smooth. Note the maker left the bearing race open so that dust and dirt could infiltrate and perhaps improve performance? What was he thinking? The reel looks like a multiplier, but it is not. It is made of aluminum and brass. The plates, handle and knob are aluminum, all else appears brass.

The reel looks as if it was made of stuff lying around the tool bench and I doubt there was any sort of plan ...I think the guy just started making a reel and kept at it until it was done. Note the large patch that has been filled on the head plate. Ooopppsss! I have not opened the reel as I did not want to disturb the nuts on the pillar ends, which have been filed smooth. The diameter of the reel is 2-1/8" and the overall width is 2-1/4".

It is a true Frankenreel and I'll trade it for something for my paraphernalia collection. I'd rather trade it because how the heck do you put a price on something like this?

Dean.

[Steve]

...how the heck do you put a price on something like this?

It ain't easy.




And look, Ma, numbered pillars!

[reelsmith.]

I think yours is by a different warped mind than mine.

Dean.

[Richard Lodge]

But Steve's mad scientist numbered the pillars with hash marks, just like the timber framers of old. See those I, II, III, IIII (uh... shouldn't that be IV?) at each pillar? pretty cool. She/he knew what he/she was doing, even if no one else does.

[Steve]

Dean, the reel (heh, heh) reason you haven't taken that reel apart is that you don't have any pentagonal socket wrenches. You can borrow mine.

...shouldn't that be IV?

Richard, he/she/it was probably a clockmaker.

[reelsmith.]

My favorite part of Steve's reel are the two notches that had to be made in the head plate when it would not fit due to the foot screws. Nice save !



Dean.

[Steve]

Dean, I enjoyed those, too. However, the genius who made the reel compensated for his blooper by making the headplate rotatable. You can mount the crank at 2:00 o'clockish or 8:00 o'clockish, as seen in these before-and-after pics: