Ocean City Reels

[foakes]

Wondering about possible solutions to this issue?

Have quite a few Ocean City, Bay City, etc. Reels.  Been just tossing them in a box for years -- but now have between 50-60.

They are good old solid reels -- but they have the worst crank knobs ever (hollow plastic).  They dissolve, crack, or just turn into dust over the years.

Who has some ideas about what might work for a replacement knob?  And how would one go about replacing the knobs?

Thank you Penn -- for the great old solid crank knobs that hold up forever!

Best,

Fred

[alantani]

i would find someone with a woodworking lathe that is familiar with tropical hardwoods.  you could really create something spectacular!!!!!!

[foakes]

Thanks, Alan!

Good idea...

How would you attach the knob to the handle?

Would you use the same knob shaft, or use some sort of a screw/nut/tap or rivet combination?

Thanks in advance for your help.

Best,

Fred

[alantani]

the original avet design would probably be the best.  it would put the least amount of stress on the wood itself.  if you try to press in a spindle like you would with delron, the wood is going to split. 

[foakes]

Thanks, Alan --

I'll check it out.

Best,

Fred

[theswimmer]

Fred,
I have some wood pieces from Brazil , mahogany and stuff I can't ID.

You ready for the snow tonite?
Best,
JT

[foakes]

Hi JT --

Yes, we are ready. 

Firewood all split, seasoned, and stacked in our woodshed -- concrete floor, insulated, nice and dry.

We demoed out our traditional granite fireplace when we did the remodel a few years ago.  Bought a little free standing Country Striker 160 wood stove.  It burns at 500 for 6 hours on only 3-4 chunks of wood.

Generator is automatic and propane powered -- in case of an outage.  And it runs the kitchen, living room, well, bedroom, TV area, all computers, Internet, inside upstairs workshop, the workshop out in the barn, the reel room in the barn, our forced air furnace, freezer, etc.  All wiring underground to outbuildings.

Sue is making some homemade minestrone soup, to go along with some sourdough -- so we are set for a wet tonight and tomorrow. 

Possibly will get more rain than snow at our elevation, though.  We'll see...hope for more than they forecast.

Off this weekend, so think I will finish up 3 or 4 reels for clients -- maybe do a tutorial on a Quick restoration for the site -- sort through about 1500 or 2000 reels.  Finally going to organize them into three groups -- good and ready to fish -- potential to fix up complete -- and parts reels.

On the wood, there are many types of neat super-hardwood species that are good choices for handle knobs.  Ironwood, monkey wood, manzanita, buckeye, walnut, oak, and many other exotics from SA, Asia, or Africa.  I have a few sources to buy scraps at bulk prices -- and can just practice turning them until I get a good design.  Then install them on the cranks with the Avet hardware Alan suggested.  Got all of the tools -- just a project after I get all of these reels sorted.  When I turn these on the lathe, after sanding down to 600 or so -- I have just applied old fashioned rotten stone mixed with peanut oil -- and turned it at slow speed while polishing with a chamois cloth -- works pretty well.

Best,

Fred

[theswimmer]

I have the Gen Set but it sounds like you are set way better than Miss Mari and myself.
We have the wood covered etc.
The pieces of wood for handles are just cutoff from the import stuff at work.
You would not belive the wood for the crates we get from South America.
In other words, Free....

[foakes]

Sounds good, JT --

I'll take you up on a few pieces of that wood.

Thanks,

Fred

[bluefish69]

I have 2 of the OC Reels that I will play with this Winter

Mike

[tristan]

I have an OC reel with a broken handle knob.   I was considering using Blender3D to design a replacement, and print it on a 3D printer...  It would be slow and relatively expensive.

This process could also be used to create a master for creating a mold, and doing something like 2-part polycarbonite pours.   Don't know if there's enough interest to pursue that line of thought, though.

I was thinking in terms of basically removing the old, broken plastic knob with a dremel tool, leaving the post intact, and then fitting the new handle with a bit of 2-part epoxy.   In one of Alan's tutorials, he drilled out a Penn knob post, and replaced it with an aftermarket part; I suppose this would be possible as well if we could source the posts and sleeves.

Ultimately, if you have access to a lathe and some nice wood, you could make some really interesting handles in little time.

ETA:  just took another look at the broken knob, and it appears the plastic bears against the rod directly, and the rod has a head inside the knob, so sliding on a new knob is a non-starter, at least on this particular knob.     Considering how many variations there are in OC reels, perhaps there are different knob attachments?