Kenny Kendall

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Chavender
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Kenny Kendall

Post by Chavender »

old Kenny kendall had a lot of reels made between the late 30's to the 70's ,many different models from vintage style aerials (much to allcocks distain) through too Stanton styled reels in the 70's ,Kenny being a champion angler was a great business man ,never made a original reel but took other peoples designs / style and made copys with subtle differences ,the original pin pirate (something the Chinese are great at now) .with there being several models with little identification (theres a common style of just looking enough like the originals ,but legally different) they all have the look of the originals .well made ,well the early ones was made by Arthur Crompton a skilled machinist .

old kenny the buisness mind ,always knew what people wanted rather than buy in from someone else just had his own versions made ,He reputedly got into trouble with alcocks by the end of the second world war ,as at the late 30's we was looking at going to war ,allcocks ,youngs ,hardys etc all turned to war work ,which left a gap in the market as the supply of reels slowed down too a trickle as wor work took priority over reelmaking

this gave rise too a lot of smaller company's /retailers starting to make reels of their own ,like W&R products who pre war made boat parts ,then when they moved to the new workshop early in the war ,they was asked if they could make a reels to sell trough local shops etc .likewise Kenny kendall had shops in leeds etc and was finding it difficult too find a steady supplies of reels.So decided to have them made for his shops

Now not being a engineer didn't have the Mechnical skills to design one from scratch ,but he did know a man who could make one from examples ,so took some allcocks aerial to his frien Arthur Crompton and after a little measureing etc the first reels was on their way ,people wanted aerials ,they didn't want to wait till allcocks (youngs) could make them .and the first Kenny kendall reels was born.

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pretty close too a 7950-T9 six spoked aerial with V check spring and unless you know your allcocks ,you would be hard pressed too tell the difference ,thanks too the great skills of Arthur Crompton .there are subtle differences ,like the riveted line lays the allcocks uses open rivet headed lays ,the KK reels have stud rivets ,the allcocks has the xylonite or iverine handles ,the Kk reel has horn handles like some other allcocks aerials had .the compensating drags adjuster is a little chunkier than the usual thin allcocks version .the main difference being most allcocks had a logo or other inscribed markers ,but Kenny never has any markings ,no patent numbers ,no makers marks .

this would set the pattern for future reels ,no identifying marks (harder too trace back too the perpetrators ,pirates like to cover their tracks .when Kenny felt like a new reel or people had asked for a certain type he'd see what was around like that and get a copy made up .always having the resemblance of the original but just slightly different often taking features from different models or makers and altered the sizes etc.just enough to avoid trouble because by the end of the war ,reel production started to ramp up ,allcocks took Kenny to task over the similarity of his early reels to their models ,so he just made a few changes to the reels to say they're of that style but not carbon copy's .

some people collect stamps ,I collect pictures of centrepins and the info that comes with them ,sometimes you get lucky and a bit of historical info comes with the descriptions of auctioned reels ,and slowly build a picture of how things worked ,joining the dots etc .but you can never be 100% as theres no official records kept and so there are some reels (none aerials) that may be a little speculation with weather or not they're Kk reels ,but i'll be including them beause one day the connection will be confirmed ,I've only recently done this with one of the suspected reels .so you never know when confirmation will come .its been years in the collecting but i'll be adding all I've got on Kk reels with a few suprises thrown in .
Last edited by Chavender on Wed Mar 20, 2019 3:53 pm, edited 2 times in total.
I try to be funny... but sometimes I merely look it! Steve

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Re: Kenny Kendall

Post by Chavender »

its rumoured too be a 7950-T3 style 12 spoke aerial version ,with a calliper style check ,the usual horn handles ,thin spindle stud riveted linelays etc ,and may have a bicerdyke style lineguard .but I've not found any pictures as yet ,but if do i'll add them
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Re: Kenny Kendall

Post by Chavender »

Kenny didn't just have aerials made ,there was quite a few different reels some early some later ,some special versions ,and although I've over the years have found some ,my list may not be complete .and some are suspect tenuously linked .without a catalogue or definitive list it might never be known for sure but these are some of the styles / kinds

Early Aerial (the allcock style)
later aerials (leeds aerials ,own mash up style)
the general purpose reels (hw harris reliance style) (with W spring)
the trotting/bottom reel (youngs pattern 9 style) (with W sping)
the caged reel (based on a gough ),t o cater for those who wanted a rapidex or flickem style reel
Stantons (based on a couple of different models ) some of these surprised me ,and was only confirmed recently

there could be others not associated or found yet ,some of these are well known reels just not associated till now .a lot of the reals came in two sizes ,a smaller version and bigger one ,some came as specials probably customer orders .its surprising how many they made ,but they was at it for 30 years at least ,last known being brought direct from Kenny in the 70's.theres just no definitive way to date them accurately .

there are some commonalities through out the ranges , i'll add some here .

The closed rivets ,stud peened style rivets when everyone else uses open head rivets
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the distinctive slim spindle pin
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theres a few different handles from tapered ones on aerials to cylindrical ones to stove pipe hat shaped ones ,but all distinctive in there own ways earlier reels handles would be horn or iverine ,later ones plastic ones .

rounded top
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tapered aerial handle
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tapered handles
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cylindrical types

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stove pipe /top hat style (also this shape used for centres and knobs for ratchets etc in plastic and brass & alloy (monopoly style hat shaped)

Handles top hat style

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same style knobs for ratchets etc

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the centre pieces are quite distinctive

aerials long tall type

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a lot of there reels have the flying saucer shaped centre cap (wide base that tapers up to a peek) some two screws ,some three ,some brass ,some alloy ones some tall peeks some small ,but the same style .

actual flying saucer for coparrison
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they favioured the V check style ratchet spring ,but on occasions they used a W style spring ( with 6 sides)

the basic V wire spring (common too many makers) ,theres a little secret tip here ,clever chap old Arthur Crompton ,knew these springs are prone too slipping up the side of the inner edge of the rim ,so he simply cut a groove at the base of the rim on the inside to locate the spring ,preventing movement

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then theres the " W " style spring ,if you count the angled sides and join the dots between the screws ,you get a hexagon shape ,slightly different from other makers using this style spring they have 8 sides (Adcock & renaulds etc) ,this is one of the other Kk reels ,not the usually seen one !

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I hope this helps people identify possible Kenny Kendall reels
I try to be funny... but sometimes I merely look it! Steve

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Re: Kenny Kendall

Post by Chavender »

a few links to other Kenny Kendal storys etc

a anecdote taken from Yorkshire evening post
https://www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/ ... -1-5836671

Angling: Maggots provide anglers with a raft of amusing tales l Published: 08:18 Tuesday 09 July 2013

IN the 1970s the late Kenny Kendall went into partnership with Jack Watson and together they purchased the premises at the side of the old Ritz cinema on Vicar Lane. The shop was very tiny and they eventually moved to a much bigger place in the arcade opposite. It was in a very popular location and anglers used to congregate there on a Friday night to collect their bait for the weekend. I was in there one evening, along with several others having a chat with Kenny when a customer came in and asked for a couple of pints of maggots. He did not have a container so he asked for them to be put in a new maggot bag.

Ken said you are very lucky for we have just had a delivery of brand new ones. He then reached for one, put the tapes around his neck and then proceeded to put the requested two pints into it.After the first pint went in everyone in the shop started to laugh but Ken still carried on with the second pint, at the same time asking what was the cause of the amusement.

What had happened was that the bottom of the bag had not been stitched up and the bait had gone, unnoticed by Ken, straight through resulting in a couple of pints of lively maggots crawling all over the floor. You had to be there to appreciate it.

A second incident concerns the ex-World Champion Ian Heaps who at the time was employed by a ground bait company to demonstrate their products as a part of his road show.I booked Ian for a show at the Leeds Anglers Club and on that particular evening the Concert Room was packed to capacity to listen to him describe his big win and other exploits and he finally came to the ground bait demonstration. He had on the stage a glass fish tank full of water which could easily be seen from all over the room and he then told us how versatile the stuff was and he then opened a bag, added some water, and proceeded to mix it.

He explained that the secret was that how hard you squeezed it and when he dropped it in the tank it was seen to disintegrate almost immediately giving a very attractive cloud effect.The second handful he compressed much harder and when that was dropped in the tank that quickly hit the bottom and then took several minutes before that too began to dissolve. He then went on to explain that if you squeezed the bait really hard you could throw it long distances, just like a cricket ball, and he would prove it.

Sitting a few rows from the back of the room was the then Leeds captain Howard Robson and Ian said to him, “Get ready to catch this,” and he got a handful of the bait, squeezed it really hard and then lobbed it from the stage towards Howard. Now, in the concert room, fastened to the ceiling, is what they call a glitter ball which was turned on when the room as being used for dancing.

Well I suppose Ian either did not see it or he miscalculated because the ball of ground bait just touched the bottom of the glitter ball and the dropped straight down into Arthur Crompton’s pint of beer. You could not have placed it by hand more accurately and you can imagine the roar of laughter that resulted. To his credit Ian did buy Arthur a couple of pints to compensate him and he said afterwards he wished he could repeat that trick at every one of his shows but it was a million to one to ever repeat it. As I said earlier you had to be there to appreciate it!


KLenny Kendal won the all England championships in 1957ish and was part of the englands team for the first European match ,I beleave and had at least englands highest weight ,maybe the match weight .weight ,not sure if England won or not...

and heres a tale of how a leeds team member of his (Norman Seal ) won the 1953 'Coronation Cup' match (celebrating the queen's coronation) with his aspindales severndale rod and His Kenny Kendal (Arthur Crompton) Leeds 'Aerial' style centre pin reel .

https://canalrivertrust.org.uk/enjoy-th ... coronation
I try to be funny... but sometimes I merely look it! Steve

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