Re: Behold the Beast.....
Posted: Tue Jul 15, 2014 2:14 pm
Fascinating stuff Chavender. I think my main reasons for thinking it a 'homemade' are a) absence of any maker's marks of any kind; b) the general roughness of finish in certain places (look how crudely the reel seat has been attached to the reel back) and c) the moderness of feel (only way I can put it). It has, as you point out, been machined straight from aluminium stock rather than casting (other than the seat) and that plastic inner spool means it must be 1960s at the earliest.
Interesting you should mention Lewtham, their design is exactly the same (but black anodised and now with a ratchet) even in the little details like the knobs on the ratchet and the centre spindle and that black plastic cap over the top of the bearings chamber. Do they still make these? There a couple of places on the web offering them but the company appears to be involved solely in plumbing and gas engineering these days and the reels don't seem to be on any dealer sites. They had a couple of reviews back 10 years ago but nothing since.
Anybody know who Lewtham bought the Leeds tooling, blueprints etc from? And they appear to make a habit of that, back in the 1980s Lewtham apparently bought up the last reel making bit of Reuben Heaton, who were the original manufacturers (to W F Homer's design) of the Flick-'em, although at the end all they made were Scarborough reels either in wood or Tufnol.
Iain
Interesting you should mention Lewtham, their design is exactly the same (but black anodised and now with a ratchet) even in the little details like the knobs on the ratchet and the centre spindle and that black plastic cap over the top of the bearings chamber. Do they still make these? There a couple of places on the web offering them but the company appears to be involved solely in plumbing and gas engineering these days and the reels don't seem to be on any dealer sites. They had a couple of reviews back 10 years ago but nothing since.
Anybody know who Lewtham bought the Leeds tooling, blueprints etc from? And they appear to make a habit of that, back in the 1980s Lewtham apparently bought up the last reel making bit of Reuben Heaton, who were the original manufacturers (to W F Homer's design) of the Flick-'em, although at the end all they made were Scarborough reels either in wood or Tufnol.
Iain