Conroy & Bissett Rejuvenation ...

[reelsmith.]

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Before and after pictures ...




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You folks may have seen this one, which was advertised here, on Joe's and Facebook. I had an inkling of what it was, which has since been confirmed as Conroy & Bissett. The reel is very, very faintly marked with enough lettering to see it was sold by A&I. Thanks to Ray Hencken's marvelous collection of C&B and CB&M reels we were able to identify mine.

It was in really rough shape and still has issues. Most of the plate screws were incorrect, the pillars all had line grooves, the rims were dinged up and the click didn't work. Oh ...and lots of cracks in the plates ...a few tight ones on the front and a major heave on the back.

I've been able to find suitable screws, but do need one more. The countersunk holes on the rear are in rough shape. I have an idea for tending to that, but am not overly hopeful. The click gear is heavily worn, but should be fine if I can flip it over, which I have not been able to do yet. Not sure, but it may be soldered to the spool ??

So, there you have. Well worth the effort as I'd never seen this one before and am yet to find anyone who had.

Dean.

Before pictures courtesy of Michael and Tyler Matthew Clugston.

[RonG]

Good job Dean. You gave new life to this classic reel. What are your thoughts on the "hard rubber" material. I hadn't seen this before.

[kyreels]

Very nice job, especially on the extreme crack. Please provide the details on that.

[spadej1]

That is such a nice reel Dean that I don’t even care about the cracks! Nice job and nice pickup!

[Bill Muth]

Amazing restoration and an awesome looking reel Dean!

[reelsmith.]

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Hey guys.

Ron, in my opinion the plates are indeed hard rubber, not mud. I applied the two Jim Hardman tests ...a hot pin did not melt it and when rubbed briskly it creates the same odor as known hard rubber reels.

Matt, the crack was a challenge. I mixed up some two-part epoxy and was able to get it into the cracks by (here comes the scary part) prying them open a bit. Once I got the epoxy in there I clamped the plate tightly and let it sit for a few hours. When done it looked pretty good, but there was still a slight rise on one side of the crack, so I sanded it flat. Its far from perfect, but looks much better. I may try to improve it further.

James, thank you.

Bill, thank you. While the plates were challenging, removing the bends in the rims was really tough and needs a bit more work.

Dean.

[Nick in NY]

...I’ve seen many OLD FLOOR TILE that are almost a match....pre 40’s asbestos tile as still seen from time to time that look like an exact replacement but a marked/stamped plate is not. Nice reel... seen it available about 20* years ago in Daytona, stayed away because I didn’t know how to approach the issues.

[john elder]

Nice job, Dean! Hope you can continue to improve it!
If given a sample, I can probably help you with the missing screw.

John

[David Lehmann]

Nice job Dean! And, nice Malleson reel. After leaving CB&M, Malleson was making the highest quality trade rods and reels. He supplied C&B and A&I (before JVH became A&I's contractor of choice for their better house brand stuff).

[klonder]

When HR cracks or breaks, it generally does so "cleanly" leaving two mirror images of the falt line. Plus, it likes crazy glue and will merge beautifully. Still hard to remove the line though.
IMHO of course.
How you sand Dean?

[reelsmith.]

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Thanks guys !

Klonder - The breaks were not clean. They may have been at one time, but no longer. I sanded with 600 grit to start, then 1,000 and then wet sanded with 2,000.

John - The reel might be headed your way in a bit, unless I can separate the click gear from the spool.

Dean.