Coxon Aerial in action.

[Vole]

Is Tufnol the orange-brown, linen(I think)-reinforced stuff? I almost suggested it to Watermole+, because if you make a Coxon tribute out of it NOBODY can accused you of faking it!

[Watermole+]

I believe that Tufnol, a very strong thermosetting resin laminate, was originally produced as an electrical insulative material, but immediately discovered to have many other applications such as for silent helical gears. It is of several plied layers, has widely differing properties according to type and is either paper-or linen based. The many different varieties are quaintly known by animal or bird names and although commonly seen as red/brown, it can have other colours!
Yes, I did (briefly) consider Tufnol for the drum plates but it is an absorbant material so have chosen natural black 'Delrin' instead, as you will see in the not-too-distant future..
Delrin is not as tough as Tufnol, but more akin to the effect I would like to achieve.

[StalkingLuke]

If century-old Ebonite can cope with the tension of barbel-tightened nylon, spread over just eight pillars, why are makers not still using it? Nicer to the touch than metal, on a January day.

Or to put it another way - that reel was designed in the days of silk lines that don't stretch under tension and were [supposed to be] wound off and dried after each trip, so they shouldn't shrink when drying. Isn't a lot being asked of Lady Luck to risk it with mono, notorious for bursting the spools of the first generation of reels with which it was used?

I know if Fate ever took me to a charity shop wherein lay a Coxon, I'd use it, but I'd scour ebay for a spool of terylene ("Green Butterfly", for preference) and limit my ambitions to chub!
I admire your determination to use, rather than collect, Badger, but cowardly bits of me clench apprehensively when I look at those photos. (Tasty rod, too, by the way!)

An interesting point. I would like to do a test to see what the force applied to the pillars is when the rod is pull around to it test curve loading. I wouldn't think it would be that great....

Presumably this load could never exceed whichever is greater, the test curve of the rod or the breaking strain of the line.

[Vole]

My worry is that with an elastic line like nylon, the force trying to crush the spool is multiplied by the number of turns...my physics isn't up to giving me an insight as to why this might not be the case with inelastic lines - maybe a small amountof "give" by the pillars is sufficient to ease the load... but I do know that nylon burst a few multiplier and FSR spools when it first came out.

[Badger1]

4.5" 1896-1905 pre-tension regulator, being used last night around 2000hrs, photos not good due to dimming light.

[The Sweetcorn Kid]

I was going to say that you must be right fed up keep catching on that same snag....but then I saw that wonderful barbel!! Lovely reel and glorious fish!!

[Vole]

Gorgeous; and proof, indeed, of the pudding.

[Mark]

Very nice badger1. :thumb:

[GarryProcter]

Wonderful Badger1 - what more could one ask for at 2000 hours!

[Badger1]

Well it’s been a while since I posted anything on here but thought this thread needed updating a bit. A 4 1/2” Coxon Aerial with 50s Avocet taken for a airing yesterday. Down the river for an hour after work for some cane bending action.

2 Barbel in a hour and home at a decent time. Done.