Reel Specifications

[SeanM]

Whilst going through my rod restoring reccords I found these measurements and thought they might be of interest:

Reel .............................. Drum o/d ..... Winding Diameter .... Retrieve per rev.

Fred Crouch Aerial ............. 4.48" ............ 3.75" .................... 11.78"
Allcocks Aerial .................. as for FC Aerial
Mordex Merlin .................... 4.38" ........... 3.28". .................... 10.31"
Mordex Major .............. as for Merlin
Youngs Rapidex/Trudex ....... 4.0" .............. 2.9" ....................... 9.11"
Grice & Young Avon Crown ... 4.32"............. 3.5" ....................... 11.0"
G & Y Gypsy d'Or ............... as for Avon Crown
Speedia ............................4.0" ............. 2.62" ...................... 8.23"
Allcocks/Shakespeare
Record Breaker ................. 4.48 ............. 3.39" .................... 10.65"

Worth bearing in mind when looking at another centre pin.

[Vole]

[Vole]

...beautifully re-tabulated by Mark,for which many thanks!
A couple of notes/errata: In my haste, I omitted two asterisks from the Ultraflo, this was laden to the gunwales with line; and the "Swift/ Flick'em" is the same model as that in Nobby's avatar, the type with six "pusher" spokes in the back of the spool.
The 4 1/2" "Seldex" is a clone, the Edgar Sealey "Freewinde"
The Trudex was complete with its line guard.

I hope this helps someone considering which reel to buy, or how not to unbalance a rod!

To be subjective, for general light float work, the Trudex edges it over the Speedias: the machined arbour doesn't mark the line, and the arbour is a better compromise between rate of retrieve and ease of control in a side-wind.

For thuggery, the Seldexes and the Windex are the go-to jobs.

The most free-running is the Cortesi (fettled, cleaned and balanced), by a mile; on its down-side are the need to carry a screwdriver, and the nearness of the handles to the rim.

More later, as I get a chance to play with them.

[Nobby]

Interesting...I'd have sworn a Speedia was a lot lighter than a Rapidex.


What do you mean by a Swift Flick 'Em?

There were two sizes, 3 and 3/4" and 4" and they can't be too far from the weight of an Allcock's Flick 'Em with button check, surely?


Incidentally, Gary Mills proved to me that lever check reels based on that design pre-dates Swift by a massive 30 years, which rather refutes some of the contents of a recently published book about the makers.

[Vole]

I'll double check later - my weighing has been known to be fallible...
I don't know what to call "that" reel! It's 4", (I'll double-check that,too) and looks for all the world like the Flick'em perfection that isn't a Rapidex clone. I'd picked up the name "Swift" from your history of the one in your avatar... have I a firm grasp on the wrong end of the stick?

Dentist and chauffeur duty beckon, but there's a window in between, I'll get cracking at about noon.

[Nobby]

I thought I'd weigh a few too. The scales are pretty accurate, I feel...I used them for measuring hops when brewing, but who knows?


4" Allcock's Flick 'Em, with lever check.............228grams

4" Speedia narrow with wheel-in-the-hole drag.200grams

4" Rapidex, ( has line and a needle on)............208grams

4" Trudex ...................................................198grams


That threading needle on the Rapidex must weigh a couple of grams which puts them all pretty close, with the old Flick Em with it's silver steel spokes and brass centre to the spool , as well as the two brass levers for the check, the heaviest..as you might well expect.


I've sold the small Flick Em that is my avatar on, as it was too worn to use and repair proved exhorbitant.

The reel got a lot of interest from the cogniscenti as it was only made in '37 and '38, but the information about lever checks not happening until 1050 or so has proved eroneous. Garry Mills showed me a lever check reel, done with identical thin headed nuts and bolts and levers in brass that is clearly an early Thirties reel.

Let's face it ...the gubbins looks just like an Aerial Popular T10 and we know they were around in the Thirties.

Garry went on to say that Swift didn't appear on the scene until the Seventies, but I think that's not quite true as there are reputed to be records of them doing work for JW Youngs long before that. I think he might have meant that Swift took over production of some Young's reels after Shakey shut the shop and the top Young's people joined them. The firm then changed its name to JW Young I'm told.


This means that my avatar reel was simply a Thirties reel with no great mystery about it.....except that it was never listed by Youngs or Allcock, so I'm told, and must have been a one-off or a special order.



I've since replaced it with another 3 and 3/4" model...I'll weigh it when it arrives. The seller promised there is no play at all in the reel....sadly it's a button check.... not a lever :-(


My good wishes to to dentist's victim( Mrs Vole, I presume?)

[MGs]

Interesting that on a traditional website you guys are weighing in metric :hide:

Still working in imperial myself. All my school work was in old style so I never really bothered learning the new stuff

[Nobby]

I needed some seriously accurate scales to weigh out dried hops..it took me a month to find that Salter. I fear I'd still be loooking if I'd insisted on Imperial :D

[Vole]

Sadly,the dentist's victim was I; the chauffeuring will be ferrying Mrs Vole (accompanist and teacher) to music exams.
So, quickly, before the anaesthetic wears off :
Here is my mystery reel:




And with calipers to show it's a 4" (4 1/8, in fact):


So what do I call it, I wonder?

I did photograph the re-weighings of the other three, but they're all within a gram of yesterday's results, so probably not worth uploading!

P.S. How that last pic attached itself, I've no idea. Sorry, Mark!

[Davyr]

It's a rare "Antony Worrall Thomson Nick 'em Perfection", I think.