The Traditional Fisherman's Forum

I have a Strikerite reel which I was fortunate enough to win in the raffle at last year's Ravensfield Meeting - thank you Andy!

After a quick general clean and lube, it feels good to use, very little wobble and free spinning.
I would like to use it with one of my recent rod restorations, an unnamed 11' creation of whole cane and greenheart.

But one of the handles spins freely whereas the other is extremely stiff.
The handles look as though they are (what I would call ) riveted on, with no apparent means to slacken or dismantle them.

I have tried the usual WD40 and sewing machine oil treatments, to no avail.
Is there any way please, to make this reel into a good user, short of drilling out the old rivets and replacing them, which is beyond my
mechanical abilities?

There are two reasons for handles refusing to turn; if the handle spindle has been bent inside or burred over due possibly to being dropped, or secondly, through being gummed up inside.

This can happen more often than the former. Various contaminants from the waterside work their way inside when the handles are turned, combining with any oil in there and can form a sticky seal between spindle and handle, eventually seizing up altogether. Far from easing the situation, adding mineral based oils only worsen matters.

Assuming that the handle spindle has not been damaged, the answer is quite simple..just soak it by inverting the reel and dipping the handle in a cup of hot water with a few drops of washing up liquid added, turning the winder frequently to work the water inside. Keep doing this until no more dirty gum comes out, changing the water if necessary, then dry with kitchen paper..better still, blow out with air.

When dry, add just a little WD40 or GT 85-but never use mineral oil! This does not work well with handles made from composite material.

If the spindle is bent, it will unfortunately, need to be removed and replaced by a competent person..

Hope this is of some help..?

wm+

Thank you for your reply, Leszek, it is much appreciated.

I shall try the hot water + washing up liquid bath tomorrow.

I would certainly never have thought of that!

For some reason there are more problems with the winding handles on Strikerite reels than on other makes. The aluminium spindle may be corroded and sometimes a drop of mild acid will free them off, another trick is to try a hot soldering iron on the top of the spindle whilst trying to turn the plastic part but with some reels the handles just seem to be far too tight a fit on the spindle. I have wondered if it is the type of plastic they used and maybe it shrinks with age and has actually shrunken tight onto the spindle. If this is the case then the only real answer would be to remove them by drilling through them and then fitting new spindles.

Wal.

Thanks for your ideas, Wal.

Impatient as ever, I tried the warm water + washing-up liquid bath.
No black gunge came out, but the handle did spin more freely.
So I increased the temperature of the bath, and the handle seemed totally loose.
When it cooled down again, it seized up to be as stiff as before, possibly due to expansion and contraction of the plastic handle, as per your suggestion?

I do have a soldering iron, but holding it to the top of the spindle whilst turning the handle - that's multitasking, and would probably see me queuing up at A & E? As for drilling through the spindles, that is so far beyond my mechanical abilities that I would not even consider it.

To be honest, although I like the reel, and would enjoy putting it into use, I have to be realistic.
It is not the most beautifully engineered or valuable of my reels.

At what point does one say -
"It would be nice, but it's really not worth it?"

Loads of Strikerights out there with tight handles, seem,s to be down to being fitted to tight at manufacture. Apart from removing and refitting them the only way iv found is to keep turning the tight one to get some wear in it.