The Traditional Fisherman's Forum

Gents I bought a reel at the weekend which seems sturdily built but has a bent brass reel foot. What is my best course of action to straighten it out? Should I heat the brass and try bending back? The foot is held to the backplate by three screws which I'm sure will come undone quite readily.

This is a common problem where reels have been dropped.
However, it can usually be straightened out and as you say, by removing it firstly from the reel.
Never try and just cold bend it back with a mallet, or even after heating, otherwise it will deform into a flattened "S" shape. You will need a metal bar of the same radius as the inside of the reel seat and a small piece of metal the same radius as the bottom.
Clamp up firmly against the bar, using the metal support underneath and heat the brass seat with a good blowtorch until it is a dull red then tap it back against the bar with a soft mallet, do not use a hard hammer directly against it.
After reshaping it, heat again and plunge into a either a salt solution or some thin oil emulsion to anneal it, otherwise it will remain brittle and might fracture without warning.

If you get stuck, send a PM.

Regards,

wm+

Many thanks wm+ I'll give that a go when I can find a bit of bar of the correct diameter

An update to this tale. I chickened out of trying to reshape the foot and sent it to WM+ who very kindly offered to try for me. I think WM+ should be rechristened WM+++++ Many,many thanks to him for undertaking the work for me; it is yet another example of why this forum is so marvelous

So here is the 'before'...



and here is the 'after'....



- he made such a lovely job of the foot that I felt duty bound to polish up the other brass bits

Well done Gents!

An excellent job as always by Leszek, it looks perfect.

Alex, not sure if your reel is stamped as sometimes they weren't but it was called the Allbern reel and they are well made.
Once you get the drag and spool release set up they run like an Aerial. It's just a bit awkward needing a screwdriver to adjust the drag but lets face it, drags are seldom used as most people back them right off and use their thumb anyway..

Another one saved to fight another day..

Wal.

Such a heartening read...well done guys.

Well done indeed Watermole

Wallys-Cast wrote: ↑Fri Apr 28, 2017 10:15 am An excellent job as always by Leszek, it looks perfect.

Alex, not sure if your reel is stamped as sometimes they weren't but it was called the Allbern reel and they are well made.
Once you get the drag and spool release set up they run like an Aerial. It's just a bit awkward needing a screwdriver to adjust the drag but lets face it, drags are seldom used as most people back them right off and use their thumb anyway..

Another one saved to fight another day..

Wal.

It is indeed stamped Allbern, and does feel like a well made reel. I haven't got it running all that well... but that might be because I had no idea there was an adjustable drag Do I assume that the adjustment is made via one or both of the large screws on the front?

Wagtail wrote: ↑Fri Apr 28, 2017 5:26 pm

Wallys-Cast wrote: ↑Fri Apr 28, 2017 10:15 am An excellent job as always by Leszek, it looks perfect.

Alex, not sure if your reel is stamped as sometimes they weren't but it was called the Allbern reel and they are well made.
Once you get the drag and spool release set up they run like an Aerial. It's just a bit awkward needing a screwdriver to adjust the drag but lets face it, drags are seldom used as most people back them right off and use their thumb anyway..

Another one saved to fight another day..

Wal.

It is indeed stamped Allbern, and does feel like a well made reel. I haven't got it running all that well... but that might be because I had no idea there was an adjustable drag Do I assume that the adjustment is made via one or both of the large screws on the front?

You do indeed assume correctly Alex, its a bit hit and miss but once you have a good play with it you will see how it works and how to lock the drag away from the spindle. The one that acts as the spool release is left loose so you can slide it outwards with your thumb nail.

Wal.