Reel Smithing - the Shop

GODFREY CLASSIC REELS

Making Reels by Hand

Making reels by hand involves many little steps of parts making and assembly. How long it takes is "as long as it takes". Over a period of years a reel design is perfected along with parts making procedures so that reels that at first took a month to make can be completed and tested in a couple days or so. New designs are a continuing pursuit as it is very intriguing to study the old designs and apply modern materials and techniques.

The design of a reel must take into account many important aspects. Bearings and bearing shafts must be large enough to work well for years in a harsh environment. Drag systems must be stable, but adjustable and run very smoothly to protect fine leader tippet. Lightness is an increasingly important issue especially with classic style reels so spools and many other parts really must be made of light weight aluminum rather than nickel silver. The most important aspect of any "Classic Style" reel is that it must be very funtional while embodying the style and detail work of the early hand made reels

Additional Information

A Short Reel History

Glossary of Terms

Nickel Silver Alloys
History and uses, Machining, and Sources of material.

Links of Special Interest

O.R.C.A.
The Old Reels Collectors Association

Steven Vernon
Antiquarian and writer

Checking parts
Parts are produced in batches to improve accuracy of each finished part. As the design of each part is perfected, drawings are updated and the all-important parts making and assembly procedures are improved and solidified. Because the parts are hand made, this is an ongoing process lasting years.

The Lathe
Today, reels can be made almost entirely with a manual lathe and drill press. Certain operations that require milling can also be done on the lathe such as cog wheel cutting. Dozens upon dozens of special tools and holders (called jigs) are made as a reel prototype gradually goes into production. This "tooling" is critical and and is refined over a period of years while better means of production are found.

Of all the tools available for making reels, certainly the lathe is the most important. It is also probably the oldest machine tool. Progress in reel making followed that of clock making as the primary impetus for precision tool design in the 18th and 19 Centuries. Little is known of early reel making shops or whether up-to-date machines were used. Reels were made by gunsmiths and other craftsmen in New England and by jewelers in Kentucky - see: History of Reels.

Small but Efficient

From left to right: Drill press, buffing machine with 15 inch cutoff wheel in the corner, bench and cabinets, and finally the lathe on the right. The parts for all trout, steelhead and salmon reels are made right here. Each reel part has its own tooling. The tools themselves are also made here - by hand.

Side plates, cross posts, and the reel foot are assembled with nickel silver screws to make reel frames. Gears for Custom Salmon reels are all made on the lathe and pressed together and soldered in the assembly area. The gears are then mounted on the lathe and recesses cut and center hole bored and reamed.

In a separate assembly area (not in picture) handle arms are assembled which are then taken back and mounted on the lathe where the handle hub is drilled and tapped, reverse-mounted and then trimmed and burnished. Finally the arm is buffed to a fine finish. Very little in the way of complex or computer aided tools are necessary, just a lot of time to make the parts and produce the many subassemblies that go into making each reel.

Ted Godfrey

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