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.
I currently own several Medalists that are 30 years old, and one Ocean 35, all still in use. I can’t speak to the others, but presume they are all entirely metal. As such, they should not be hard to clean and re-grease. The Ocean 35 probably cannot be changed from right to left retrieve, but the Pfluegers can if they are above model 1492 (ie 1494 or 1494 1/2). Cleaning can be done with turpentine, kerosene or even WD40. Re-grease with a modern lithium grease (white in small tube) that tends to stay where it is put and not wash away. The only fuss will be with the click and pawl on the Pfluegers, but the links above are excellent. Just get a used egg carton or similar to store the parts in order as they are removed, for easy return to their ‘home’.
For myself, I am not concerned about repainting or removing any fishing scars. As long as the reels are clean and work smoothly, I am happy.
The finish on the Ocean and the Medalist are both in pretty good condition, so I wasn’t really trying to ‘strip’ them and re-finish, really just completely clean and re-grease/oil. The L.L. Bean appears to have most of the finish off. If possible, I’d like to get off the rest of the spotty finish that is still on it and maybe put a new coat of finish on it after cleaning it really well. The thing about the Bean is that there are very few screws, so taking it completely apart will be difficult.
Has anyone had any experiences with the Quantum Red Hot reel products? I’ve read mixed reviews and would like to hear some more opinions.
“Has anyone had any experiences with the Quantum Red Hot reel products? I’ve read mixed reviews and would like to hear some more opinions.”
I have used the Quantum Hot Sauce reel grease and the Hot Sauce reel oil for several years and I have not had any problems with either one. I even use the reel oil on my full rotation vises and it seems to work very well there also.
What “problems” have you heard about either one? Just interested since I use these products.
One of the reviews said that once you put the stuff on, you’ll never get it off again no matter how hard you try. So if you get sand, salt, dirt, etc. mixed into the grease you’ll tear up your reel. Another one said that it doesn’t last very long and wasn’t that waterproof. The first one was the worst of the reviews I read. The second was similar to a few others I’ve read.
I generally take product reviews with a grain of salt since people can, and will, post anything they feel like. However, I do like to get people’s opinions on things and if I hear the same thing out of many different people, it makes it hard to ignore. That being said, I’ve read a lot more positive reviews about the stuff than I have negative ones.
+1 on the links listed by Kaboom1. I fish with the guy who wrote the first one and know his advice is excellent. He’s a metallurgist by profession, with a real passion for finding and restoring the old reels and fishing them with old rods.
I use hot stuff and have had no problems. The reels I fish today are 50 or more years old, Heddon 125’s and round line guard 1494’s. When I want to reely clean a reel to get the sand and gunk off I use brake cleaner from an auto parts store. It will was that stuff out and leave no residue.
Also be aware that some screws are not designed to be removed so examine them closely.
When I want to smooth nicks and such on an old reel I use my Dremal tool with the sanding buffs. They come in three different grits.