Unable to figure out how to restore the severely damaged rim on this antique wooden Nottingham reel back plate, it made sense to try and make a prosthesis. The original back plate was left untouched and only used to take measurements. This unmarked Nottingham reel is attributed to
William Brailsford. This early maker is discussed in
Men of Trent – The Story of the Nottigham Winch, By Stefan Duma. Being a reel made by an important maker it was worth the effort to try and save it. The reel belongs to my friend Bruno Leclerre in Quebec, an ORCA member who started collecting Nottingham reels a few years ago and narrowed his interest to the enigmatic maker William Brailsford. Bruno saw some of my Facebook posts about wood turning bowls, pepper mills etc and he wondered if I could possibly make him a replacement back plate. I responded "I'm just a beginner but how hard can it be?
It came out well IMHO but it was a bit more challenging than I anticipated
Original Back plate missing about 60% of rim and disintegrating around the through-holes:
Video of me turning some of the prosthetic back plate:
https://youtu.be/2igv7OBpMHs
Prosthetic Backplate (without clicker switch installed)
Exterior
Interior (Note: brass finishing nails used instead of screws as per original. I have marked the right half with "R", my name and Year. )
Finished assembly in brief Youtube video clip (faceplate was left untouched, excludes grasps and clicker switch) :
https://youtu.be/hcjstcvthzo
