Has anyone ever restored an old fly reel? In my digging through some old boxes (as mentioned in my other post recently) I found a few old reels that seem like they'd definitely be usable with a little TLC and probably a lot of elbow grease.
Does anyone have suggestions for cleaning, refinishing, or restoring an old fly reel?
The reels I found were an old L.L. Bean 110 reel, a Pflueger Medalist, two Pflueger Progress 1774s, and two Ocean 35s. The Bean, Medalist, and one of the Progress all have good 'clickers', relatively smooth winding action, and the drag on the Medalist seems to work well despite it's age. If for no other reason, I'd like to clean them up to display, but I'd LOVE to use them if I am able to get them back to a more functional state.
I will do my best to post pictures later this evening.