170 Light Tackle Casting reel; Model 170

[sdlehr]

Col,
Considering that your spool appears to be in pretty good shape I'd consider the possibility of finding a donor reel or two for a new handle, cross bars and spool end caps.... and maybe a stand, but that'll be a tougher find. You could improve the value of this reel quite a bit with some better chrome - but be careful that all chromed parts appear to be similar in condition if you do this.

[milne]

Hi sdlehr,
               Actually, a second one will arrive in the next few day by lucky chance.
     So I will look at swapping things over. I was actually going to wait till it arrived and post about doing this.


Col

[broadway]

Col,
  We all have different methods, beliefs, ideas about restoring a reel, but there's no way I would re-chrome this or any historical reel restoration.
The 170 is one of the hardest production reels to find in my opinion.  I have seen about 5 or 6 for sale on Ebay (and I live on Ebay) in the past 10 years.  To give you an idea, I have seen as many Model F's in the 10 years and that wasn't a production reel.  The 170 was a reel that was just too close to other reels like the 165 (fellow knucklebuster) so it fell to the wayside after a very short run (forgot the dates-GET Mike's books).
Better condition would obviously be better but original is the best.  Shine it up or wipe it off and shelf it.  You have 2 of them!!!!
Best
Dom

[sdlehr]

Just to be clear, I wasn't suggesting you rechrome anything, I would not ever do that on a collectible reel.  I was suggesting you swap used parts.

[broadway]

Sid,
   I must've been seeing things... I thought I saw something about a thin layer of rechroming in your post but I guess my mind is playing tricks on me.
Yeah, no rechroming historical Penn reels or the boogie man will get you.  Sorry if I miss understood you.
As for parts with patina vs shiny parts.... as long as they're era correct I'm good with it but yes, it's nice to be able to match things up but not always possible. The most important thing is era correctness in my opinion,
Dom

[milne]

Hi Guy's,  I understand the not to re chrome part.
Yes, surprisingly I now have 2 170's !!  It arrived today and it unexpectedly is in far better condition than the first one I got.
The chrome bars etc are in much better condition, but the spool on the first one is far better condition than the new one.
I actually got the second one, purely because of the responses I got on how hard it was to find and only paid $60 which I thought wasnt to bad considering it's difficulty to find and thought I would offer it up to another
collector because of this, it was just by chance this one appeared and I did a deal with a couple of other reels and secured the new 170.
I was going to ask about the "ethics" of making  one with the better appearance out of parts from both, it looks like swapping the spool from the first will leave me with a pretty decent looking 170.  I actually put a post up on Orca about it, that's when I couldn't figure out how to post photo's here and someone messaged me back and was super interested in the second 170, I feel a bit bad I am going to swap out the spools, but, maybe he wont be interested in it with all the chrome loss.
Anyway, I hope I wasn't driving prices up by paying that much........
Here is a photo of the two, new one today on the right.

[1badf350]

That was me you were talking to on Orca. Let me know what you want to do

[milne]

Hey, How's things,
Yeah, the second one arrived, I was shocked at how better condition it was in.
As per above, I'm going to clean both reels, put the first "better spool" on the new one that arrived, then I'll send you a
Photo of the other one ( first one I got).
Just got 2-3 reels to strip and clean over the next coming days then I'll get on with it.
If the 170 isn't to your liking, that's no prob's at all, at least I can let you view it and you can choose.

Cheers
Col

[1badf350]

Sounds good

[broadway]

An old and crusty 170 is still a 170. Tough to find reel.
Dom

[sdlehr]

Dom, I did say this

You could improve the value of this reel quite a bit with some better chrome -

Which, making assumptions, could mean a few things. Maybe that's not so correct for a 170, as rare as they are.
We're good, bro'.

[broadway]

I realized what you meant after I read it a couple of times.  As you know, any time you can upgrade a reel with original parts in better shape or shine up the chrome that exists it's a good thing in my opinion.  However, that's as far as I go.
You are definitely correct in saying all corrosion must go. I subscribe to that mentality and strive to remove all corrosion off all my reels... now where do I get the time, lol. I'd say I have worked on around 70% of  the reels in my collection and will continue as it's very important to get rid of that stuff.
Have fun with those new reels, Col
Dom

[oc1]

Swapping parts is no different than swapping boxes.  Somehow it just doesn't seem right to me and will confuse succeeding generations.
-steve

[milne]

Steve,
        I hear where your coming from there !
  There's an argument for "original" as you are suggesting, hence why I was originally unsure if it was the done thing.
Maybe that's just me.  I'll get on to the 170's as soon as I finish with the soak on my Silverbeach, since I was only talking swapping out
the spool, I might just see how it cleans up and I'm inclined to leave them as they are.
There like chalk and cheese, the first one, no corrosion but pure wear, the second is the opposite, minor bits of corrosion, but
hardly any chrome loss or wear at all.
Cheers.

Col

[broadway]

Steve,
   I have to disagree with ya on this one, but I guess it's all up to the owner to decide.  I'm not sure how we would confuse future generations with era correct parts, regardless of the patina.
No different than swapping boxes??  If said box is era correct what's the problem with swapping boxes?
Swapping incorrect years of boxes is a NO-NO but why not era correct boxes matching up to the same era's reel. To me that's called a "rescue."
   To each his own I suppose, however you may not wanna  buy any reels from me when I sell them as a bunch have been "painstakingly" restores to era correct including screws and screw heads. If you don't know what to look for in terms of restoration than I would suggest cleaning it and shelving it.
Now, with two exact same 170's that are within two years of age and no adjustments with the exception of the pinned spool vs hole in the arbor I say improve that reel or enjoy what you have. For me, I'm restoring it all day, every day.
Best,
Dom