1951 French Fraser 51 spinning reel / complete sripdown and restore/ Completed!

[Woodbilly]

Another French beauty up for stripdown and refresh!!

If you know me,I love my vintage French spin reels!

I've aquired a second beautiful French Fraser Mer Saumon spin reel.

I sold my last cobalt blue one, that I stripped and restored, and even though it was a larger reel than I would use, it was a very unique and cool reel, that I kind of had seller's remorse, after she left out for a new life to another collector.

So, when I ran across this old girl...SOLD!! Lol

This one is a 1951 model

She's a black Fraser 51 with extra spool, manual, exploded parts diagram, and box with very nice original label.

She looks to have had little use.

Black finish is still shiny with very minor paint loss and all brightwork has all nickel plating intact and shows very nicely, even before a simple wipedown.

Instead of the earlier wooden barrel knob, this later reel has the
Bakelite triangle torpedo knob.

I also discovered something I did not notice on my earlier strip.

The drag click assembly can be unthreaded from spool and placed on spare spool.

I stripped the clicker and spring on the first cobalt reel, without noticing the entire attaching plate was threaded and could be removed as one.

I just thought it was pressed onto spool and didn't even try and remove it. Now I know ... lol

She's slow with old grease, grime, and the crank handle knob is stiff, so this girl is getting a full strip, cleaning, and reassembly.

Since I've got the entire package with this Fraser, I am going to hang on to her.

I do fish for catfish and hybrid bass sometimes, so I can definitely give her a go there.

Anyways, stay tuned for the makeover of this vintage French black beauty!

[Woodbilly]

Finished up restoration on the Fraser 51

Everything went great and the reel now functions splendid!!

I've never had to pre clean a reel before stripdown, but there's a first time for everything....

The body shell was completely full to capacity with nasty #### red grease.
 I guess, back in the day, the thought was maximum grease on anything metal.
Ugh!No!

All parts cleaned thoroughly and brightwork polished.

I also used my letter punches to initial the brass check carrier.

Reel came out really nice and now functions as it should.

A really beautiful and unique French reel!
I love the French reels more than any others, just for the overengineering involved.

Peace!!

[Woodbilly]

Final pictures

[Gfish]

Very nice! Thanks for sharing.
Looking at those you've done so far, makes me wonder if the Mitchell designers wanted to come-up with something lighter in weight and cheaper to build than these well crafted tanks. Can't figure out why the  ball bearings are not in a cage and race, though.
Definitely interested in experiencing one of 'em, but man, the prices...

[Woodbilly]

The bearings are in races, but loose set into them and sealed into place when all is tightened into place with the butt end bearings being held into a threaded sleeve race by a second threaded ring.

Set head bearings first onto worm gear and sleeve body over that.
Worm gear body sleeve has a built in race, you can see in pics.

Entire assembly is buttoned up after end bearings are set into race on threaded sleeve bushing.

Rotate sleeve bushing upward, to seal bearings into worm gear end and lock everything in place with smaller threaded ring.


Pretty crazy design.

I think this was just a large built reel for large fish, without weight in mind, hence, Mer Saumon, namesake.

That said, she's not really too hefty or gigantic.