Malloch brass and ebonite salmon reel

[Sevilla315]

Following on from my attempts to emulate Alexander Grant and cast his Vibration Rod with continuous taper line with a Planet Cast, I have just acquired a Malloch salmon reel, which was probably used on rods like these.
I had wanted a Sun and Planet reel, however I've discovered that although they are very beautiful, they are incredibly hefty at some 2lb!!
I've therefor gotten a "normal" brass and ebonite reel, weighing in at a mere 20oz.
I've taken it apart to give it a bit of a makeover, degreasing all the caked on crud with white spirits and polishing up the brass. One task remains in that the ebonite is quite faded and now a brownish colour as opposed to the black on the inside of the reel.
I'm a member of Orca and so have a refurbishment manual, and will be consulting it on how best to get the ebonite back to its former glory. It certainly winds a lot easier than when it first arrived. When all done I'll take it all apart again and grease/oil it, and wiping the insides and out with some Boeshield.

[StefanDuma]

Hi there, I am also a member of ORCA and in the past have cleaned ebonite reels. I used autosol, a chrome cleaner to restore the ebonite. I knew a guy who having cleaned it washed the ebonite in warm water and it returned to its brown state.

I see that Mike Nogay posted about his recent purchase of Julius Vom Hofe reel that Dean Smith cleaned up. I am waiting to see what Dean used.

Good luck with the casting, I once used a Hardy Kelson 18ft rod with steel centre and a 5 inch brass Slater reel it was heavy going but I realised why anglers of old "rested" the pool, they needed resting themselves.

[Sevilla315]

Thanks Stefan
Yes I am sure that after my white spirit bath and scrub and subsequent wash down in warm water to remove the spirits, the face went a lighter shade of brown. The inside of the ebonite curiously stayed black.
Those Hardy monstrosities with steel centres are more akin to medieval torture than fishing! Alexander Grant with his tuning fork tuned Vibrations with spliced joints cast (not shot) a series of casts which blew away the distance records and record chasers attending at the time by more than 10 yards (over 60 yards). This record was amazingly not broken until 2005 by modern casters using graphite and long shooting lines, over a hundred years later. A wizard and a man years, no scores ahead of his time. The property of greenheart, the splices, the continuous taper silk lines, all converged, alongside a casting enigma to be able to make these superhuman feats.

[Sevilla315]

A guy that I know from the Facebook Reels forum posted a shot of his VH 423 Restigouche and it was in poor shape, really light brown and grubby with many surface dings. He was asking for advice on restoring the ebonite. I sent him some information from the Orca manual on ebonite restoration and he showed it again after a week or so. It was amazing, completely black, with all the surface irregularities removed.
I think he used his own cocktail of polishes. The manual suggests Sidichrome, but I used Menzerna, but I think it may be too fine and gentle and it needs a compound with more "cut". I may try a car polish T-cut then finish off with 0000 steel wool and the Menzerna.

[Sevilla315]

Sorry that's Simichrome not Sidichrome

[StefanDuma]

Sorry that's Simichrome not Sidichrome

That looks very similar to the Solvo Autosol

[Sevilla315]

Sorry that's Simichrome not Sidichrome

That looks very similar to the Solvo Autosol

Yes they have those Autosol products on the online shop where I got my Menzerna polish and bars too (thepolishingshop).
I also read on some searches that instrument and pen owners have the same problem as they have ebonite on their items.
One of them suggested toothpaste and brasso.
I know it's not recommended but if it doesn't cut as well as I hoped, I'm going to try my polishing machine and use some medium cut Menzerna bars before progressing to the finer ones. If it's good enough for my modern S-handles they're good enough for this reel!
I'd say this reel has been degrading for 100 years so I either live with it or so something drastic!

[StefanDuma]

Looking forward to the results.

[Sevilla315]

I have started hand polishing the ebonite, as I'm waiting on some dremel polishing mops from that polishing shop. I think a lower powered polisher nay reduce the risk of any damage.
With a microfibre cloth and the Menzerna it was immediately evident that the colour darkened with each application of the polish and hand rubbing. Toothpaste had no effect whatsoever and did not even darken the cloth in rubbing, whereas the cloth has large blackened areas from reaction with the ebonite and Menzerna.
Someone on a Facebook group suggested an Italian pipe cleaner for ebonite Savinelli and showed pictures of a green old Vom Hofe and the subsequent shiny and black after treatment.
For sure if I continued polishing by hand it would get there, after only 4 or 5 passes it has already turned very dark brown in some parts

[Sevilla315]

Well my dremel mops arrived but it was obvious that even the one labelled non-abrasive was too much. I used it at the lowest setting and it worked, but introduced some indentations which I didn't have before. I will now move back to hand polishing out the oxidation and also the new marks.
I checked out the Savinelli pipe cleaner which the poster on the FB forum said that it had something which dissolved the oxidised rubber. More googlin found this: https://www.thebackyshop.co.uk/products ... h-restorer which seems to back up the claim.
I will get some for the future, though this reel won't need it.
Moral of the story is to take the advice of those of those who have gone before you!
Shots to follow when I've finished it and in a presentable state!