The Traditional Fisherman's Forum

Walterswim wrote:A tip with these brownish ebonite reels is to keep them out of the sunlight - I had a few on display in a cabinet, and I was surprised at the fading - and I couldn't really get it back - I wouldn't personally overpolish the reel. You have I would say up to £75 worth there.

You are absolutely right about the ebonite reacting to prolonged exposure to sunlight! I have seen many ebonite reels where the outer flange is brown and the protected inner flange is the original black colour. Not much could be done really, as you had to use the reel, so it would have been exposed to sunlight. I think it actually adds character to the reel myself.

This is a old post and long forgotten but i refurbished a ebonite reel that was not looking to good, the ebonite was dried out and much lighter then the original color, what i did was cleaning the top layer ebonite with scotch brite use thin oil to bring back the color on the ebonite, let the oil pull in the ebonite for a few hours and clean the surface with soft kitchen paper, if you repeat it a few times see what happen.

Lovely job Evert, and a very useful tip too!