The Reelsmith’s PrimerThe Art of Hand-crafting Fly Fishing Reels

BY

MICHAEL L. J. HACKNEY

Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved below, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form, by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of the copyright owner and the publisher of this book. For information address Dr. Todd Larson, !e Whitefish Press, 4240 Minmor Drive, Cincinnati, OH 45217.

!e Whitefish Press is an imprint of Micropress America, L.L.C.

Copyright © 2010 by Michael L. J. Hackney

All Photographs by Michael L. J. Hackney (unless noted).

ISBN 13: 978-0-9842677-5-0

ISBN 10: 0-9842677-5-1

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CONTENTS

.....................................................................................................FOREWORD! ix...................................................................................ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS! xii

.....................................................................................................Introduction! 1Oh Yes, I will help you!

........................................................................................................Chapter 1 ! 4The Reel History

........................................................................................................Chapter 2 ! 8Reel Anatomy

Terminology 9Orientation 10

......................................................................................................Chapter 3 ! 11Building the Brass Frame Reel

Getting Started 12How To Use this Book 13Next Steps 14

......................................................................................................Chapter 4 ! 15Tools and Supplies

Tools 16Safety Equipment 26Supplies 27Other Useful Items 29

......................................................................................................Chapter 5 ! 30Materials

Metals and Plastics 30Screws 31Washers 33Brass Frame Reel Hardware and Materials 34

......................................................................................................Chapter 6 ! 36Techniques

Health and Safety 36Workspace and Workbench 37Clamping Sheets, Bars, Rods, and Tubes 37

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Cutting Brass and Delrin with a Hacksaw 39Using a Jeweler’s Saw 40Making an Electric Drill Powered Lathe 42Making the Turning Mandrels 45Center Punching for Locating Holes 49Drilling Brass 49Drilling to a Specific Depth 50Truing Holes with a Tapered Reamer 50Tapping Brass and Delrin 51Filing Brass 52Sanding Brass 53Polishing Brass 53Preparing Brass Washers 53Preparing Brass Round Head Machine Screws 54Printing the Templates 54Gluing Templates to the Parts 54

......................................................................................................Chapter 7 ! 55Constructing the Frame

Safety 57Task 7-1: Frame Layout and Rough Cutting 57Task 7-2: Drilling the Center Holes 60Task 7-3: Drilling the Pillar Holes 60Task 7-4: Sizing the Back Plate and Front Ring 61Task 7-5: Separating the Spool Disk from the Front Ring 64Task 7-6: Drilling the Decorative Holes 65Task 7-7: Making the Pillars 67Task 7-8: Making the Spindle 68Task 7-9: Assembling the Frame 69

......................................................................................................Chapter 8 ! 71Constructing the Spool and Assembling the Drag

Task 8-1: Part Layout and Rough Cutting 73Task 8-2: Drilling the Front and Back Spool Plate Center Holes 73Task 8-3: Sizing the Back and Front Spool Plates 74Task 8-4: Drilling the Spool Plates 75Task 8-5: Making the Spool Hub 77Task 8-6: Attaching the Spool Plates to the Hub 79Task 8-7: Adjusting the Spool on the Spindle 81Task 8-8: Sizing the Front Spool Plate 81Task 8-9: Finishing and Fitting the Retaining Washer 83

......................................................................................................Chapter 9 ! 84Making the Handle and Knob

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Task 9-1: Making the Handle Spindle 86Task 9-2: Turning the Knob 87Task 9-3: Assembling the Handle 88

....................................................................................................Chapter 10 ! 89Constructing the Reel Foot and Bracket

Task 10-1: Cutting the Reel Foot Blank 91Task 10-2: Making the Reel Foot 92Task 10-3: Drilling and Finishing the Reel Foot 94Task 10-4: Fabricating the Reel Foot Bracket 95Task 10-5: Making the Bracket Pillars 97Task 10-6: Assembling the Reel Foot and Bracket 97Task 10-7: Attaching the Reel Foot Assembly to the Frame 98

.................................................................................................Chapter 11 ! 100Completing the Reel

Task 11-1: Finishing the Brass Round Head Machine Screws 101Task 11-2: Sanding and Polishing 101Task 11-3: Final Assembly 102

.................................................................................................Chapter 12 ! 104Reel Enhancements

Reel Size 104Hole Patterns 106Oil Port 107Alternative Foot Bracket Designs 108Handle Counterbalance 109Metals and Synthetic Materials 110Wood 111Handle Knob Shape 112Metal Finishes 113Finis 114

.................................................................................................Appendix A! 115Sources for Materials and Tools

Materials 115Tools 116Metal Coloring and Treatments 116

..................................................................................................Appendix B! 117Materials List

..................................................................................................Appendix C! 118Reference Information

Machine Screw, Drill and Hole Sizes 118Metric Sizes and Substitutions 119

Contents

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Jeweler’s Saw Blade Specifications 120

..................................................................................................Appendix D! 121Reel Design Templates

..................................................................................................Appendix E! 124Reelsmithing Check List

Chapter 7 — Constructing the Frame 124

Chapter 8 — Constructing the Spool 124

Chapter 9 — Making the Handle and Knob 125

Chapter 10 — Constructing the Reel Foot and Bracket 125

Chapter 11 — Completing the Reel 125

..................................................................................................Appendix F! 126Reelsmithing Resources

The Reelsmithing Forum 126The Reelsmith’s Primer Book Support Site 126The Eclectic Angler Web Store 126

..................................................................................................Appendix G! 127Layout and Template Drawings

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Chapter 3

Building the Brass Frame Reel

“Believe you can and you’re halfway there.”

Theodore Roosevelt, 26th President of the United States, 1858–1919

The brass frame reel (Figure 3-1) with friction drag is a great first reel to build. Being 3” in diameter, it is a light reel (3 to 4 weight fly line) suitable for trout and panfish fishing. The reel holds a conventional 90’ 4wt fly line with about 25 yards of backing, more than enough for small and medium stream fishing. It can be built using simple hand tools and an electric drill. Once you’ve completed building it, you will have learned basic reelsmithing skills and will be ready to modify its design or experiment with your own designs.

Figure 3-1 – The Brass Frame Reel with Friction Drag

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Getting Started “The Reelsmith’s Primer” takes a task-oriented approach to constructing the brass frame reel. This approach breaks down the process of building a fly fishing reel into a set of less complex and easily completed tasks. These tasks are organized into five chapters. In each of the first four chapters, you will complete an entire sub-assembly of the reel. In the fifth chapter, you will perform the finishing touches and assemble the reel. Upon completing each chapter, you will feel a sense of accomplishment from having made significant progress.

The brass frame reel consists of five sub-assemblies:

1) A frame that forms the basic skeleton of the reel.

2) A spool that holds the fly line.

3) A friction drag system that prevents over-run while stripping out line.

4) A handle attached to the spool for the angler to grip and reel in the line.

5) A reel foot and bracket mounted to the frame to attach the reel to the rod.

The frame is constructed in Chapter 7 – Constructing the Frame. The spool and friction drag assemblies are combined in Chapter 8 – Constructing the Spool and Assembling the Drag. The handle is constructed in Chapter 9 – Making the Handle and Knob and the reel foot and bracket are built in Chapter 10 – Constructing the Reel Foot and Bracket. When you have completed these sub-assemblies, you will perform the final fitting, tuning, polishing, and assembly in Chapter 11 – Completing the Reel. Figure 3-2 shows all of the fabricated parts ready to assemble.

Figure 3-2 – Reel Exploded View

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As I developed my reels and taught others how to build their own, I discovered that the key to success is simplicity. Once I created a functional and attractive reel design, I spent a lot of time experimenting with tools, materials, and techniques to make it easier to build. For example, my first reels used 1/4” or 3/16” diameter brass rod for the frame pillars (see Figure I-2). This rod needed to be center drilled before it could be tapped. Center drilling small diameter rods like these is best performed on a metal lathe. While browsing material supplier catalogs and Web sites I discovered the thick walled 3/16” tubing that I now use. This tubing can be tapped with a 4-40 tap without the need to center drill. Similarly, each material on the material list was optimized to ease construction while also keeping the overall materials costs down.

I also explored using hand tools and manual processes for operations that I performed on my metal lathe and drill press. The more I learned, the more determined I became to build a reel “by hand”. Amazingly, I discovered that many hand operations are actually faster to perform and more efficient than setting up a machine tool to do a similar job.

Making the frame front ring turned out to be my greatest challenge. I struggled for months exploring ways to cut the ring using the drill lathe (you will learn about that in the next chapter) and homemade parting tools. I was able to develop a working process but I was concerned that it was not safe and it certainly made a lot of high-pitched squealing noises. I turned to watchmakers and jewelers for ideas. For centuries, these craftsmen have used jeweler’s saws with very fine blades to cut intricate designs in thin sheets of metal. I purchased a jeweler’s saw and some blades and tried it myself. Within 5 minutes, I was able to cut the front ring, a process that took 15 minutes or longer on the drill lathe. As an added benefit, the kerf created by the fine jeweler’s saw blade is so narrow that it allowed me to reuse the disk that was cut out as one of the spool plates.

One of the unique features of my process is the use of full-sized layout and template drawings (see Appendix G – Layout and Template Drawings). The templates are designed to be cut out and glued to the materials. This significantly simplifies making the parts since all of the complex measuring and layout is already done for you. Each of the template drawings has a corresponding layout drawing that shows the detailed dimensions, positions, and hole sizes for your reference. I don’t recall when I developed this technique but it significantly simplifies building reels.

How To Use this Book The next three chapters, Chapters 4 through 6, cover tools, materials, and techniques in detail. Even if you are an experienced machinist or handy with tools, take the time to read these chapters. I highly recommend building your first reel “by the book”. You will learn a lot as you go and my process has been tested by many other reelsmiths. I know from personal experience that if a project stalls for even the slightest reason, that short delay turns into a week, then a month, and before you know it, a year later you still have an unfinished project on your workbench. I really want you to complete your first reel!

Following the overview on tools, materials, and techniques, you will learn to build the reel in Chapters 7 through 11. These chapters follow the same pattern to help you

Building the Brass Frame Reel

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organize your materials, prepare your tools, and perform the build steps. Each chapter begins with a short overview of the sub-assembly you will construct along with a list of the layout and template drawings you will use. A photograph of the materials used and the completed sub-assembly follows the overview. The materials shown in the photograph are numbered and referenced in the Materials table that follows the photograph. Finally, the Tools and Supplies table lists the tools and supplies needed to complete the sub-assembly. The construction process will go more smoothly if you use these tables to organize your materials and tools before beginning work.

Within each chapter, the construction process is organized as a set of numbered tasks. Each task begins with a short description followed by a sequence of numbered steps. Tasks are natural starting and stopping points in the event you can’t complete an entire chapter at once. This numbering scheme makes it easier to follow along and helps you refer to a specific step by using its chapter number, task number, and step number. For instance, step 8-2-3 refers to Chapter 8, Task 2, Step 3.

A checklist of all of the construction tasks, presented by chapter, is provided in Appendix E. Each task is listed with its task number, a description, and its page number. Make a photocopy of this list or download and print a copy of it7. Then, to help you stay organized, simply check off each task as you complete it. The checklist also provides spaces to write down key measurements you will make in a few tasks.

Next Steps Like most new learning experiences, take your time and do the best you can on each task. Don’t worry if you make a few mistakes. Most of these will not affect the overall appearance or performance of your reel. The materials required to build the reel are relatively inexpensive. If you do need to remake a component, your cost will be low and your learning experience high! Once you’ve completed your first reel you may very well find yourself addicted to reelsmithing. For now though, read Chapters 4 through 6 and then get started building your reel in Chapter 7.

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7 see Appendix F for details