EclecticGuy

As I’ve mentioned in past blogs, I was asked to contribute to a fishing exhibit being created for the Martin Van Buren National Historic Site.A group of 5 of us – The Van Buren Boys – are creating a period rod, reel, horse hair line, creel, flies and baits. Our ringleader, Dr. Todd, is documenting the work and Van Buren’s fishing history in a book that will be offered at the museum.

My contribution is the reel and a horse hair line. I’ve already blogged about how I rediscovered line making, so I won’t cover that again. The reel I recreated is based on a reel I borrowed that is attributed to the period and location – mid 1800s, New York. I had permission to carefully peek inside the reel so I could more accurately reproduce it.

My goal was not just to make a “looks like the original” but to actually reproduce the techniques and use the same tools the original reelsmith used. Although there is no way to know for sure, there are always tell tale signs that are left as evidence. For instance, metal spinning leaves a distinctive pattern of concentric impressions on the curved surface. This was the technique used to make the spool plates. It is an old technique and an art form. At first I thought the front plate cover was spun too, but close scrutiny under high magnification showed that it was actually hollowed on the lathe.

It was through careful scrutiny and studying 19th century tools and techniques that I was able to piece together how this reel was made. The only deviation that I know I made was the reel foot and bracket. the original are obviously cast and are most likely bronze based on their slightly reddish coloration. I don’t currently have the means to cast brass and bronze (it is on my list of things to do!) so I used solid brass stock and formed it by cold and hot forging. Not quite the same but a reasonable alternative. Next time I’ll cast these parts!

Here is the construction process as I approached it. First, here are some photos of the model reel:

This reel is a multiplier – meaning that for each crank of the handle, the spool rotates more than one revolution (2 1/2 in this case) – and has a stop latch to lock the spool from rotating). It is about 2″ in diameter and has an original, unmolested long reel foot. The screws are all hand cut and the grip is most likely ivory.

To fabricate this reel, I started with the front plate and cover. This was turned from a 2″ diameter section of brass rod.

The cone in the center was also turned and slightly hollowed on the inside with a graver. The decorative bands were cut with a graver on the lathe. The plate has a small rebate around its edge for the cover to fit on. The cover will be fastened with 3 screws.

Next up is the reel foot and bracket assembly. The foot was formed from .064″ brass that was pounded in to shape in a concave wooden mold. The bracket is just a bar of brass that was hot forged to make it flow a little to simulate the cast part on the original. The concave cradle for the foot was cut with a half round file. The bracket is riveted to the foot with two 1/8″ brass rods.

The back plate was fabricated similarly to the front plate. Here are the front and back plate assembled to the reel foot bracket.
I hand made the screws from drill rod. The originals appeared to be #3 and maybe 50TPI. I only had 4-40 taps and dies so I used those. But I took care to make the screw heads the proper shape and size. Here is a bottom view of the assembly with the front cover in place.

The pillars were turned from 1/8″ D brass rod. The end that attaches to the back plate is turned down to 1/16″ to fit holes in the back plate and will be peened in place. The front end is also reduced in size (3/32″) for mating holes in the front plate.
The spool was a complex part to fabricate. The spool plates were formed using lathe spinning. This is how the originals were made. It was an easy technique to master. The spindle is my design since I could not take the reference reel apart to see how it was put together. But, it makes sense based on close scrutiny and similarity to other reels that I have completely disassembled.

The spool plates are silver soldered to the spindle. Here is the completed spool assembly.

An 8 tooth pinion attaches to the 1/8″ shaft on the right side of the spindle.  Here is the frame and spool dry assembled.

With this work complete, it was time to turn to the mechanicals – the stop latch and multiplier mechanisms. The stop latch consists of a small lever and a brass spring fitted with a steel pin. The lever lifts the spring and pin out of a hole that passes through the plate and spool. The ball head on the lever was tricky. The original lever end is egg shaped and appeared to be shaped by hand, not turned on a lathe. I used files to fabricate mine. The end opposite the handle has a 45 degree bevel to act as a wedge to lift the spring. You can see it in this photograph.

The handle is attached to the main gear (20 tooth). The gear pivots on an idler post fabricated from steel. I attached this from the back with an oval head 2-56 screw. I don’t know how the original was done but this made sense.

The main gear was re-shafted and turned to final shape. The end was cut to a square with a file to mate with the handle crank.

The handle assembly was straight forward. The crank shape was copied from the original. The brass is thicker at the hub end than the handle end. I tapered it with cold forging and files. The hub end has a square hole to receive the main gear shaft. The grip is “vegetable ivory” – Tagua Nut. I started the fatiguing process of it.

Here’s a top view of the mechanical assembly.

The last thing to do was peen the pillar ends to form a nice rivet head. Once this is done, the reel can not be disassembled. Here are some photos of the new reel next to the original reel.

That completes the assembly of the reel. The last task is to lightly distress and patina it to look used. I am going for the “10 year” look of a used and cared-for reel. Photos to follow.

And here is the reel attached to the reproduction Porter’s General rod created by Drbaits.