Wakou wrote: ↑Sat Dec 02, 2023 7:49 pm
Since joining this fraternity, I have acquired a number of reels. For example Speedias. They are all perfectly usable, but are all "scruffy" They are not rare or precious, are they? Do you strip and paint them, or is that frowned upon? I have seen another's description of "restoring" a Mitchell, with a lot of careful and technical expertise and work. I have a "user", also scruffy, but I am not bothered about how it looks.. (It is a "Sasquatch" with the big-foot, and has to be forced in to ie, my "Dr Redfin" (Mark Everard) Roach-rod and my little quiver rod, but whatevs...)
Hi Wakou,
My impetus for restoring some of my old half bail Mitchell reels, started with some work I did on my dads old A serial reel, which was in pretty rough condition, and the inspiration for that refin came from another restoration thread, where the finished early Mitchell half bail looked a million dollars!
The amazing results on my dad's reel came as a pleasant surprise to me, and inspired me to attempt another refinish, aiming for as close to perfection as possible (I am both clumsy and have OCD, which makes for a challenging attempt at anything approaching perfection).
I recently obtained three reels that had some interesting details, but they were also pretty scruffy looking, so I decided to give those reels a nice refinish too (plus some practice on a 1977 300 that a friend gave me, which came out...ok).
I am primarily an 'enthusiast collector' and most of my reels are original factory finished, as is my preference, but it was a lot of fun refinishing the worst of them. The correct approach to getting a top result takes a lot of time and preparation, and so I am giving it a rest for a while (sadly my last attempt failed miserably and I had to start over again....without the shortcuts.....forgot to follow my own advice..lol!).
If I were buying one of those reels to use regularly, it would just get a strip down, clean, re-grease and no new paint.
Another way to put it is, if the reel was really rare, I wouldn't do anything to "improve" it.