The end is nigh for an Australian icon.

[Soren Bredberg]

Alvey reel maker about to go out of business. They have been making quality fishing reels since 1920. It casts as spinning reel and retrieves as an overhead. The history will follow at a later stage.

Soren

[Gfish]

S.B., any reel model recomendations if were gonna collect/fish one?
Gfish

[Soren Bredberg]

The early wooden ones would be the ones to collect 1920-1930s. Bakelite the ones for fishing. No Alvey reels were made in the 2nd W.W. as the factory was making war related items.
Soren

[gstours]

Yes as times change some of us wont keep going.   Nothing last forever.   The long distance casting record was set using an Alvey reel of what my recollection is.   Butt i could be wrong.   This company made good quality products and a lot of large deep sea type reels for trolling as well as mooching reels.     
  I still have a mooching reel of theirs with a 6 inch spool, clicker with an antireverse dog n a freespool lever that I use for Coho trolling.   I am trying to wear it out!

[Donnyboat]

Alveys are good reels, with few parts, not hard to make springs for them, the rose wood models, kept in good order, are my pick, a six" reel can hold a lot of line, I caught a 17Kg barracuda, that took some line, the one to one ratio winding is a bit slow, but easy, cheers Don.

[Soren Bredberg]

The first Alvey reel ( wood ) was made by Charles Alvey in 1920 using a foot operated treadle lathe. The spool and back were made from silky oak in either 3" or four 4" spool size and the metal support frame was fashioned from cast gunmetal. The reels were a big success so the demand increased and so did the manufacturing. In 1925 he formed a partnership with his son Ken and they purchased a ' state of the art ' kerosene powered capstan lathe.
This allowed them to evolve the design of the side cast reel with the range to include 5" to 7" spools and a 7" game fish reel made from aluminium alloy called birmabrite.
In 1936 bakelite was used to mould the the 3" and 4" spools and by 1937 the range of sizes and models had increased so the first catalogue was printed. Nothing new happened until 1946 which I will write about later. 

[Soren Bredberg]

And the story continues. 1945 the factory started to produce fishing reels again. Spools were turned from local camphor laurel and backs made from rolled brass due to shortage of specific timbers and metal. 1946 the first cedar were turned for the six and 7" side cast reels and this timber soon replaced all other timbers used in all sizes. 1970 Alvey brought out the first phenolic resin and fiberglass spools. 1974 and the factory was badly affected by the Brisbane flood resulting in no more wooden spools. All future reels was manufactured from a material mix of polyester and fiberglass. In 1978 the factory relocated and manufacturing continued to evolve and reel designs have advanced. Bottom line is if you manufacture quality products which last forever you won't last.

Soren