Black Shakespeare 1743 Freespool Tournament

[joe klaus]

I have an unusual Shakespeare 1743 Tournament Model 26 that has a black coating. It is not paint as I unfortunately found out when I did a gentle clean on the tail plate. Sickened me. I recall thinking this was in the nature of an Ambassadeur coat. It's not Don Champion thinks this came from factory with coating. I offer it to you guys for your thoughts.

[Ron Mc]

two possibilities - Japanned enamel, or early type I anodizing.
Shakespeare was definitely anodizing in the 30s, the example being 1900 Steelhead & Trout fly reel, Model HF.
Thin type I anodizing is literally only a few atoms thick, and tends to look bronze or even purple in thin spots.
Here's a type I anodized Martin showing the bronze appearance.


Shakespeare also anodized in red for South Bend (SB 1185, also 1935)


Japanned enamel is a slurry of black iron oxide in a carrier, furnace-baked, and while it makes a spinel bond with the aluminum base metal, is easily scratched.

[joe klaus]

Thanks Ron for you input. Apreciated. There was not much of a bond here. I've probably owned this reel for 10 years, but I know myself well enough to know that I was VERY gentle. I'm sure I used a mixture of 3 in 1 oil with a small amount of Maas and then used my finger without a cloth. It must have come off very easily. I've never seen a Shakespeare Tournament with this coating and of course it's dating to around 1926

[Ron Mc]

you have a very nice reel there.

[Ron Mc]

I guess a 3rd possibility is bronzing with an arsenic salt in sulfuric acid.
This was used a lot in the 20s and even postwar in the UK, also by Heddon and Pflueger
The early gun-metal Medalists had this finish. It was usually rubbed with lampblack as a finishing step, but the lampblack rarely remains.
The aluminum is chemically polished by the process, and has a silky feel.


Here's a nice example with most of its lampblack, though you can see how the lampblack easily scratches

[joe klaus]

I tend to agree more with your 3rd posibility. You can imagine my feelings when I saw the finish come off ) It's taken me all these years to even throw this out for discussion. I vaguely recall that there wasn't much wrong on the tailplate but the front plate was so clean that I thought it would be so nice for both to be clean. Bad decision.

[wrong99]

Viewing the inside of each plate, it sure looks to be factory done, before the reel was assembled. Could be an early anodizing experiment. The purple color is interesting, as it reminds me of what happens to many of the black anodized aluminum Heddon P-41 "Pal" reels, whether from over-cleaning, overexposure to sunlight, both or some other cause.
Mark

[joe klaus]

Thanks Mark. The purple tint is somewhat strange. But part of that is just the camera. I haven't actually looked at this reel for quite some time. But it has been in storage inside of a case without exposure to direct sunlight. I think the purplish stuff must have been related to the black coating

[Ron Mc]

if it's purple, I'd say for sure it's type I anodizing.

[oc1]

The normal ones without the black coating have a really poor finish on the side plates. They are sort of pitted. The pitting does not appear to be from corrosion but maybe it was from casting. The side plate material is harder and not as bad about corroding as the spool flanges.
-steve

[sdlehr]

I vaguely recall that there wasn't much wrong on the tailplate

Joe, are you saying that the wear pattern on the tailplate, especially not around the protruding screws and caps was not present the last time you looked at the reel? That's pretty significant for a reel that's been sitting boxed up in the dark for awhile.... Was the reel lying with that side facing a coarse surface, and was there something close by that produced a vibration that may have been responsible for "sanding" this tailplate? I think it's telling that there is no wear immediately adjacent to the screws where there would be no direct contact with an adjacent surface. That's a lot of wear for just sitting around doing nothing.... just trying to think out of the box.

[Nick in NY]

I've seen your finish on an early 2 speed Fin-Nor prototype I owned years ago.Unfortunately l let it go like so many others.......regardless Nice Reel!

[joe klaus]

I've seen your finish on an early 2 speed Fin-Nor prototype I owned years ago.Unfortunately l let it go like so many others.......regardless Nice Reel!

Thanks Nick. You still got your Holzmanns?

[joe klaus]

Sid--

I caused the loss of coating when I tried to do a gentle clean. That was likely more than 10 years ago. I don't have a specific memory about what was wrong with it. Just vaguely remember that it wasn't bad and that is what caused me so much grief in that cleaning wasn't really necessary. I made a foolish mistake. And after I caused that problem, I put the reel away. Just recently got it out to play with and look at.

[sdlehr]

Thanks for the explanation and clarification, Joe. Apparently that could've happened to any one of us. Makes one wonder if they all did that and how well they would've held up to the rigors of actual use.

Sid

[Alan Baracco]

Folks,

I don't know any of the technical stuff, but many of the early Langley Streamlites are a purple color with thin anodizing, especially the Model 310B and 310KB. They were done in the mid-1940s.

Alan

[blf]

saw u were from Houston. I was born in river oaks.

about the reel. if u bought it in Houston area, here is what probably happened. it was in a persons place that has access to those why ?? there were at least 10 national class plug casters in that area. that reels is a 1743. the gearing system is definitely 1740 series. I never heard of any that were not 1740's in 50 yrs of casing. 1st edition meaning the free spool activation was on the small lever. all subsequent models .free spooling was done by pulling OUT the handle. then spinning them to make sure it was in f/s.
the spool is a custom spool. notice the flanges are not factory. they are very lite aluminum. arbor is also very high. that was a 3/8oz cating reel the normal line used was ashway red/white #2lb w a stonger trace on the front of 6# as a shock cord. if aquired in the Houston area its pretty much from an old plug caster. beautiful work btw.
many used nylon sewing thread. I didnt because I couldn't hold with it.
100yd spool of "a" would fit that spool perfectly. btw shakspeare never made a black 1. painted locally. no value on paint job. the model # is confusing. I do not know of any of us left who would know this model.

was a tournament caster from the age of 12 till 5 yrs ago. 73 yrs old now. attended 45 national tournaments. 6 world championships, on the u.s. team 5 man team.

ask but please email me with a phone number. i will call on my outbound watts. no good at mail or loooong posts

jjw
b.l. Farley
cast out of Lubbock Texas.
several [people here know me

cheers