Tony Dillender's miniature reels

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meekfan
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Tony Dillender's miniature reels

Post by meekfan »

I'm a newbie here and have learned a lot by reading your posts and from Betty and Don. To be honest I'm not a reel collector but love early tooling, fine machining and technology of all kinds. The late Tony Dillender was a good friend and I spent many pleasant hours working with him on my various model steam and stirling engine projects in his shop here in Lexington. I also remember the boxes of fishing reels that would arrive in the mail for him to work on. When I first met Tony he had recently retired from the University of Kentucky where he worked as an instrument maker/machinist for the College of Medicine. We were both in a Lexington metal workers' club that has since disbanded. In spite of inquiries I never knew what happened to Tony's tools and collection after he passed. You can imagine my surprise when I saw this set of his miniature reels at a nearby antique show recently. I had to have them in memory of my friend and remember seeing a set like this in his basement which he took to shows.

From Tony I first heard about Meek & Milam and the Kentucky-made fishing reels and recently had the privilege of a personal tour of the wonderful Crafting & Casting exhibit/collection in nearby Frankfort.

Now I'm looking for one of the Kentucky-made Hadden miniature reels if anyone has one to spare. Another on my wish list is a Meek & Milam no. 2 after having worked on one belonging to another friend of mine.
Brent
meekfan
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Re: Tony Dillender's miniature reels

Post by meekfan »

Sorry I'm having trouble posting the photo. Trying again.
meekfan
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Re: Tony Dillender's miniature reels

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Mike N
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Re: Tony Dillender's miniature reels

Post by Mike N »

Very nice, Brent. Below are a few Dillender reels and a link to a similar discussion with some of Nick Hadden’s reels.

viewtopic.php?p=107215&hilit=Dillender#p107215




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john elder
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Re: Tony Dillender's miniature reels

Post by john elder »

Such a fun bunch of little machines! I sent this link to ORCAn Dave Gaustad… he has a fabulous collection of miniature reels, including a Billinghurst reel he talked Tony into making. Dave’s a bit “camera shy”, so I’m posting pics of that reel plus a story board Tony made for him, showing all the parts he put together for the Billinghust. I have to get him logged in here since he has a lot to say on the subject!





Having repaired several full-size Billinghurst reels, i can attest to how difficult it is to solder one of those rings without melting 4 others! I can’t imagine trying it with a miniature reel like this. I believe Tony ended up building an oven where he could use low temp solder and get them all soldered at the same time.
ORCA member since 1999
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Specializing in saltwater reels...and fly reels...and oh, yeah, kentucky style reels.....and those tiny little RP reels.....oh, heck...i collect fishing reels!...and fly rods....and lures
Doug Carpenter
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Re: Tony Dillender's miniature reels

Post by Doug Carpenter »

You are correct John. After several unsuccessful attempts to solder the ribs individually, he made an oven to solder all of the ribs at once. He made five of those reels.

Tony loved to come up with ways to fix things. One year at the Kings Island show, Tony was having troubles with the mag card for the door to his motel room. He took the door lock mechanism apart to fix it.

Tony invented a tilt top surgical table for horse veterinarians. You tilted the table on its side, walked the horse up next to the table, strapped him in, knocked him out, and tilted the table back to a "normal" position for whatever surgery was to be performed.

Tony made some instruments for the space program with astronaut Story Musgrave - an instrument to measure atmospheric pressure and a chair for a monkey to name two.

Tony made the first artificial elbow for the University of Kentucky Medical Center from sterling silver.

Tony was an MP in the marines. He was not a large person and said a billy club made a huge difference. I have a hard time picturing that because he was always so kind to everyone.

Born in 1931, Tony graduated from Lafayette High School in 1950. Shop class there got him started in his mechanical career. He went to a trade school and spent his entire career at the University of Kentucky.

As a child, he delivered groceries all over town with his bicycle for a local store. He was a tremendous story teller. I loved to hear him talk about the various projects he worked on.

People from all over the country would mail him reels to be repaired, usually Kentucky reels. He would make new gears, screws, feet, handles whatever the reel needed to the original specifications. He experimented with numerous types of materials for the handle grasps - pool cue balls, bowling balls, various woods. He said that water buffalo horn was the best.

He particularly enjoyed working with clear plastic. He made two #3 Kentucky reels from clear plastic with metal highlights. The aluminum fly reels were the reels he made in quantity, but he made a few others in smaller quantities as well.

I lived just a couple miles away and spent many hours with Tony and his wife Martha; they are both missed.











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RonG
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Re: Tony Dillender's miniature reels

Post by RonG »

Hey Doug,

That's a very nice tribute to Tony.
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john elder
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Re: Tony Dillender's miniature reels

Post by john elder »

Yes, thanks much, Doug!

Here are more pics of reels that Tony made for him as well as many others that Dave made, along with miniature lures Dave made… lots of talent!





Some of Dave’s miniature lures :

ORCA member since 1999
Honorary Life Member

Specializing in saltwater reels...and fly reels...and oh, yeah, kentucky style reels.....and those tiny little RP reels.....oh, heck...i collect fishing reels!...and fly rods....and lures
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Jason
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Re: Tony Dillender's miniature reels

Post by Jason »

A few years ago, I bought some miniature reels from a lady who I think was Tony's daughter or daughter-in-law. If I remember correctly, she sold quite a few reels but none of the ones he made.
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