Home made in Key West 10/0

[54bullseye]

Gents and Ladies,
I was recently approached by an acquaintance and asked if I might be interested in purchasing a reel from his neighbor. He said that his neighbor had purchased it in Key West many years ago. As the neighbor is in his late 80's, his memory of the exact circumstances of the reel purchase wasn't clear, just that he bought it in Key West. Well to say that I was immediately interested is an understatement! I made an offer after inspecting the reel and the owner gladly accepted. I began the usual tear down and was amazed at what I found. A very "simple" design that was quite functional. The gears are hand cut. The main drive gear is made out of thick fiber of some sort. There are double dogs for the anti-reverse with a brass hand cut lower gear. You can see in the photos that this gear first appears to be incorrectly cut with a large space at one point. Upon closer inspection, the space was actually intentionally made to accommodate removal of the gear from the handle shaft! Time and salt have not been kind to the aluminum spool and the 2 set screws that hold the main shaft to the spool refused days of soaking in every kind of lubrications at my disposal. I cleaned her the best I could with the spool attached to the shaft and plate. The drag is strictly metal on metal with the addition of the ball bearing assembly. She spins smooth and true and the drag does actually work! The seat is a whole different story. As can be seen, it is designed to clamp down on a rod butt section! All in all, a great, fun piece. Wish I had more information on the maker.

Send it to me I will let you know what I think !!!!! LOL !!   John Taylor

[oc1]

I'm a little surprised thinking about it now that there were no mass produced spinning star free spool reels offered back in the day eliminating the entire eccentric lever free spool mechanism.

Simple is always better Bob.  The spinning star sounds a lot like a lever drag reel.  Like modern lever drags, the free spool might not be as free as it would be with a clutch.
-steve