The Traditional Fisherman's Forum

Found some references to the reel.

From BB (Fisherman's Folly): From Walker (Drop Me a Line):

Very interesting but dural will not catch light, it contains copper not magnesium.

Duralumin

an alloy of aluminum that is 4 percent copper and contains small amounts of magnesium, manganese, iron, and silicon

Whilst there is magnesium in Dural it's not enough to catch fire, it's just a trace I believe.

If RW's tale is to be believed he must have got his hands on some pure magnesium and I can well imagine the fine swarf, probably coated in 'soluble' machining oil igniting.


Even if it isn't true it's a grand tale. It reminds me of the forging of Excalibur.

Go on Len....scrape a bit off that spool and try to set it on fire.....you know you want to!

Yeah, Nobby, you're correct - I WOULD love to know whether or not 'BB's' reel is magnesium or not, but, not at the risk of tarnishing Dick Walker's reputation in any way. No, for my part, the mystery will remain unsolved; and, isn't it better that way?

Excalibur! I like that! Perhaps from now on 'BB's' reel will be re-christened.

Besties,

Len.

If ever a reel deserved such an auspicious name then it must surely be this one.

There is an easy way to tell if it's made of Magnesium, and I don't mean by sticking it next to a lighted match. Quite the opposite! All you need to do is weigh it. Then half fill a 1 litre measuring jug to the 500ml mark, and then pop the reel in and re-measure the water's new meniscus line. Then you will have both the weight and volume of the reel and from that you can work out the density and look this up in a table of metal densities!!!

Archimedes works just as well for reels as it does for floats. Eureka!!!

This thread is a great read!

What a splendid idea...bravo Santiago

I should have paid more attention in Physics, clearly.

Or one could just use a match


And then throw it in a jug of water just to make sure

I should have paid more attention in Chemistry!

I well remember the lesson about Archimedes from school - never understood a word of it