Reel Repair by Alan Tani

Me too. I realy would rather see my friends that have never caught a cow do so but will not turn down the oppertunity to add another one to the ones I have caught.

I put this over in the Quick thread as well, forgive me.

The Quick 220 is more numerous than the 221s, which id really like to have. Can someone point me in a good direction? I can change parts with some direction but im not opposed to financing this conversion either.

Let me know what you think.
Thanks, mike

Id really like to have a 221s but find the 220's more numerous. Can someone point me in a good direction. Im capable of swapping parts with some direction But, im not opposed to financing an up-grade.

Anyone have an opinion about this?
Thanks mike

I was wondering if the drag washer thickness is critical - especially the under gear one? I replaced all the washers with carbontex on my ABU 7500C. I cut them myself from a 0.5 mm sheet. I have since found out that the under-gear washer is supposed to be 1 mm. Will it affect the meshing with the pinion gear or other aspects? The reel seems to work alright though - but wear might be a factor.

Quote from: Gfish on May 16, 2024, 07:44:41 PMMan looks like they put some serious thinking into my favorite from your great write-up; the Tomcat 25. "How to make a super cheap piece of crap for a target market, that still works". Reminds me of what my Parents would bought me when I was a kid.

Gotta say, if it wasn't for the totally useless bail arm (good for a few sessions maybe) and easy break plastic handle lock (Black Prince; which they did vastly improve on later), many Tomcats might still be usable today?
For me, intrepid reel collecting is more about nostalgia, but as I have already said, there were a few good reels from the company.

In the 70's we had some reels over here made by 'Point' Japan, that were sold in Woolworths stores under the 'Winfield' brand (I think the USA had those outlets also?), called the Coarse Fisher, Spin Fisher and Beach Fisher.
The Coarse Fisher was more of a competitor to the Intrepid Black Prince / Tomcat. Of course most of us kids wanted the cool black Intrepid, not realising the Coarse Fisher was a superior reel with a worm drive and bail roller. Fixed that now though.

Hello all:

The other day I was fortunate enough to find a fairly clean, all post black Senator 6/0 model 114 reel at the Brimfield Flea markets here in Mass.  There was almost no external corrosion and the mech worked, though somewhat stiffly.  I thought it was an older model with external access to service the drag washers but had never before seen one in real life.  I picked it up for a good price.

When I disassembled it I confirmed the drag was designed for external service. To my surprise the drag was a stack of three thick (maybe 1/4") leather washers separated by brass.  The leather was very dried out but not cracked.  I looked up the parts schematic for the reel at Mystic parts.com and found an inset suggesting this was the drag washer stack used in the 1940s, providing a drag washer schematic that matched what I found and providing hints for updating to the HT-100 stack.  The metal internals were all in good shape but stained with degraded oil and grease.  They're now soaking in light oil/cleanser, and at least some have visible parts numbers. 

I will share some photos when the parts are cleaned up and ready to reassemble, but I do have a couple questions: 

1)  Does the thick washer drag stack indicate as much age as the schematic suggests?  Are there other design features I could look for to help confirm its vintage? It is clear it was only ever lightly used and spent decades in storage but if the reel is on the order of 70 years old it is in phenomenal shape.  It has the same handle #24-114 design with plastic torpedo as does my 1980s vintage 114H reel and a one piece spool with little grime and no part number I can see yet.

While I plan to update to an HT-100 drag stack and put the reel in service, I will hold onto the old leather stack and reinstall it or at least include it if I ever sell the reel.  Is there anything I can do to recondition the leather washers and help prolong their life?  I was thinking of soaking them in lanolin or another plant-based oil. 

Many thanks,

Ken 

Man looks like they put some serious thinking into my favorite from your great write-up; the Tomcat 25. "How to make a super cheap piece of crap for a target market, that still works". Reminds me of what my Parents would bought me when I was a kid.

Quote from: jgp12000 on May 16, 2024, 06:23:21 PMIt wasn't as critical as painting a reel, but we used "honeymoon grease"(vaseline) to mask off nomenclature on black boxes.I have used it to mask the "Mitchell" white lettering,removing the excess with a lint free cloth/alcohol then after paint use the sharp end of plastic spudger to get the grease out of the etching.I use plastic spudgers for anything I don't want scratched or plastic putty knife.I know it can still scratch  paint but less likely.

I did actually wonder about using something similar myself, but I was worried about leaving any residue on the main surface, but you have given me a bit more food for thought on this, thank you. Time to go and experiment. 

This Pflueger Skilkast stripdown and rebuild was really helpful, thank you.

Quote from: Paul Roberts on May 16, 2024, 04:37:33 PMGreat write up. (Tom's too.) Interesting history, putting some color to it. Thanks for that. 

No problem at all Paul.

For years now, many of us old UK Intrepid users and collectors were completely unaware that they had also been exported to the USA and distributed by Old Pal, and then Horrocks Ibbottson, and so I was amazed to see my first Old Pal Bobcat on ebay around 2 years ago, I just had to have it, and the same seller had another one which I also secured, but I had to replace a couple of very corroded parts on it from the same era.

Then I got the Tomcat 25, but the Reelcat 30 still eludes me. It is by far the hardest one to find.
I have seen one recently, but it is in such shocking condition, that it just isn't worth it.

The Bobcat / New De Luxe, was my favourite reel as a teenager, and it never let me down (having a line pickup roller helped), but I eventually got the Mitchell 410 I craved, and the Intrepid was then passed on to a relative; wish I had kept it now.

Somehow I have managed to collect a few from 1966 (red parts) to 1979 (no side badge) when Gladding finally folded the company.
Mine was the blue box silver badge model with the black plastic folding handle lock (after so many years, the plastic locks tend to break).