Lining a reel box

Made some other form of traditional fishing tackle.
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Nobby
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Lining a reel box

Post by Nobby »

I recently won a nice Trudex on eBay and it arrived in a nice well-made little aluminium box. The box cleaned up well enough but it was lined with many sheets of toilet paper held in with sellotape. OK, it had done its job for 60 years but I thought I could make it a bit better.

After some discussion with my guru, Watermole+ I bought a roll of foam that is intended to go under a sleeping bag. eBay is littered with them and I ended up getting two for Fiver with free P&P. It cuts nicely with a large 12A scalpel and a steel ruler. I also bought a half metre sample of red silk from eBay. The Master recommended Copydex as a suitable glue for textiles but be careful buying it.....the sellers all say they are in the UK, but most are in fact in Israel!

I used this supplier and it arrived in 2 days:
http://stores.ebay.co.uk/expresssuppliers/

And this was the silk merchant:
http://stores.ebay.co.uk/fyviestarfabri ... 7894061018

I used double thickness foam for the lid and base, enabling me to create depressions in just the upper layer for the centrepin boss, the check lever and the two handles. To do this you 'pluck' away at the foam by stabbing it gently with a toothpick in the required place and this allows you to pinch out the foam in this place with your fingertips.


I then glued the two section together to create a double thickness. A dab of glue in the depressions made and a piece of silk twice the width and twice the height of the foam section was placed on the foam and pushed into the depressions. The Copydex oozes through, but don't worry, when dry you can flick it off with a fingernail.

When the glue has dried, about 15 minutes, you can glue the first seam. Turn the foam over and spread glue along one back edge, pull the silk over and press it down. Once again the glue oozes through so don't touch anything with your gluey finger that will be visible later.

Only when that first edge is dry can you properly do the second edge, the one opposite, or you will never tension the cloth correctly. Once the second is dry you can do a side seam and then when that is dry the final seam can be glued. So, it makes sense to do all the sections of foam at the same time, glueing just once seam on each section at a time.

It isn't brilliant....it's a long way from perfect, but it's better than bog paper!



Image Image


Funny about that box. Before working a full shift at Allcocks making reels a newly employed JW Young spent the early hours of the day making tin boxes for tackle. Within a few months he was put in charge of the whole reel-making department. A couple of years down the road and he opened his own factory. You'd think his skill and rapid progress might have upset some folk, but it appears his genius simply left everyone in awe and they simply thought he deserved it all. Tragically he didn't live long and died in an unexplained fall whilst on holiday on the Isle of Man. So here is one of his firms last ever reels made in a metal box....it feels right somehow.


Here is a breathtakingly thorough bit of research from member Stefan Duma to whom I am indebted for the story of JWY:

http://www.antiquetackleobserver.com/20 ... 1870-1921/
Last edited by Nobby on Thu Aug 03, 2017 10:54 am, edited 3 times in total.

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Crucian
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Re: Lining a reel box

Post by Crucian »

Very nice Nobby, and as you say, much better than bog paper...

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Vole
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Re: Lining a reel box

Post by Vole »

Lovely piece of work!
That foam is also great for making lightweight float-box partitions.
"Write drunk, edit sober" - Hemingway.
Hemingway didn't have to worry about accidentally hitting "submit" before he edited.

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