Gregory had one of his Fathers Reels from many years ago and took it out to clean and put back to fishing it .
He did a Beautiful Job on it but could not get the Drag to work the way he wanted so I offered to check it out .
It is an Early Model (
I am thinking late 30's or Early 1940's) Because of the un - pinned Anti Reverse Dog The Torpedo Knob ,Kinda throws a wrench in this but may have been replaced (Hard to Say) and a Few other little things with a Single THICK Drag FIBER (probably Asbestos) washer that is actually Recessed in the Main Gear and Fits over a Protruding Sleeve and this thickness is Critical to the operation of the Drag adjustment as over the Years it gets compressed so it no longer tightens with the Single Thick Brass Slotted Washer when the adjustment Star pushes the Spacer against it .
The Star just bottoms out .
Here is what I did .
Reel as I Received it
With the Old Line Removed Corosion was Just Starting on Spool
I was able to polish most all of it off the Spool and Foot .
Old Drag Fiber Washer was just too far Gone and Compressed to it's limits
So I made one from my stash of Disks to fit
Cutting and sanding to fit then SUPER GLUE .It will work Folks and be here from now on
Here you can see the protrusion of the Sleeve in the Main Gear where the Disk fits and it is important that it sticks up above the Top so you will have Drag adjustment and that takes some sanding to get it just right or it will be TOO TIGHT
Final Sanding/Fitment and Took a While to get this right.
Incidentally there are No Keyed Washers in the Stack .Just the Lonely One Thick Fiber and the Slotted Thick Brass Washer and That's It.
In the Basket to Clean pieces
Cleaned parts
Was Able to sand out and Polish a lot of the Scratches on Plates
Smoothed the Sleeve and gears and put a Carbon Fiber Disk under Main Gear instead of the old Card Board one .
Bridge Assembled with new Drag and washer
FINISH
The Side Plate with most of the Deep Scratches Polished Out
I wonder what Stories this Ol REEL Could Tell!
READY TO FISH FOR MANY YEARS TO COME