Restoration of a 150 old Nottingham fishing reel by Paul Manuel Dec. 2020
Unable to figure out how to restore the severely damaged rim on this antique wooden Nottingham reel back plate, it made sense to try and make a prosthesis. The original back plate was left untouched and only used to take measurements. This unmarked Nottingham reel with chamfered fishtail brace is attributed to William Brailsford. This early maker is discussed in Men of Trent – The Story of the Nottigham Winch, By Stefan Duma. Being a reel made by an important maker it was worth the effort to try and save it. The reel belongs to Bruno Leclerre in Quebec, an ORCA member who started collecting Nottingham reels a few years ago and narrowed his interest to the enigmatic maker William Brailsford. Bruno saw some of my Facebook posts about wood turning bowls, pepper mills etc and he wondered if I could possibly make him a replacement back plate.
Original Back plate missing about 60% of rim and disintegrating around the through-holes:
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Starting to turn the prosthetic backplate in mahogany -video shown below |
Interior of the new backplate (Note: brass finishing nails used instead of screws as per original. I have marked the right half with "R" for Restored, my name and Year. )
The hardest part of the project was taking detailed measurements of the original backplate and turning the replacement backplate EXACTLY the same dimensions in all respects. The overall diameter, the depth of the rim, the very thin 'bowl' bottom and radius of the rim were all critical to making to reel come back together symmetrically and for the spool to spin straight and freely. Positioning and making the through-holes for the axle, clicker switch and brace took a bit of planning. Even the wood grain is aligned to match the original backplate.
The hardest part of the project was taking detailed measurements of the original backplate and turning the replacement backplate EXACTLY the same dimensions in all respects. The overall diameter, the depth of the rim, the very thin 'bowl' bottom and radius of the rim were all critical to making to reel come back together symmetrically and for the spool to spin straight and freely. Positioning and making the through-holes for the axle, clicker switch and brace took a bit of planning. Even the wood grain is aligned to match the original backplate.
Finished reel backplate restoration using original hardware. The original backplate is stored with the reel for historical preservation purposes. I was lucky that a special stain I had for another purpose made the reel look just like the original. A few thin coats of satin spray lacquer achieved identical finish to the uncleaned original.
Gallery of project images. It was a bit more involved than I anticipated.
(C)2021 Paul Manuel. All rights Reserved. Page last March 13, 2021
