Shakespeare SKP 15 -- Service and Lubrication -- Young Martin's Reels

[@TheGraytOutdoors]

I wonder how many reels Shakespeare made under a different name with basically the same internals? That large pickup pin became quite popular in a lot the Shakespeare reels.. and it works really well. I’ve never seen this model though.. pretty cool..

[@youngmartinsreels5314]

I found this one in my dad’s parts bin. Apparently, he had decided that it was worth repairing. Some of these reels are difficult to sell at a reasonable price, even when they work correctly. I’m guessing that’s why it ended up in that bin.

[@TheGraytOutdoors]

@ It’s got a unique paint job. Very late 70s looking.. but it looks like the green 1700 ll with a larger crank handle.. My Dad was a railroad man and a backyard auto mechanic.. He taught me a lot but Mom taught me to fish.. He was a terrible fisherman.. He couldn’t catch a fish sandwich if you threw it to him under hand.. 😂 At least your Dad left you a somewhat “affordable hobby”.. Cars cost too much😂.

[@warpedweirdo]

The smoothness of the drag surface on the main gear may not have mattered all that much. Absent something holding the drag washer stationary, the washer should tend to remain stationary relative to either the main gear or the shaft - whichever one has the greatest friction contact. The drag surface on the shaft had corrosion damage too but, given you didn't have to grind away plating to get at the corrosion, maybe it was a smoother surface than what you were able to achieve on the main gear. What do you think?

[@youngmartinsreels5314]

The inside of the gear was so pebbled from the corrosion under it that I think only about 10% of the surface was actually contacting the drag washer. I think it would have made it very difficult to achieve a decent drag action. I think that by grinding it down that I’ve managed to get the contact a little closer to 85%. It seems to operate pretty smoothly now. I should have chucked up the buffer wheel in my drill press and held the gear in a vise. Unfortunately, that would have required me to completely reset my camera mounting system, so I did do it.

[@ddselvig]

Looks like that reel was used in saltwater and not cleaned afterward. That reel resembles the Shakespeare 1700 II.

[@youngmartinsreels5314]

I was surprised that the saltwater damage was on the frame but not on the spool. A wire wheel and a buffer cleaned up the frame and made it look great again. I’m leery of putting the frame in vinegar to remove the corrosion. I did that recently to the aluminum drag gears of a reel and got side tracked. When I got back to it several hours later, the parts were mostly dissolved. This reel does look a lot like the 1700 ll. It’s date coded CA which makes it a 1980 reel. I think it’s the 1980 rebranding of the 1700 ll.

[@ddselvig]

@ I use a vibratory tumbler for cleaning rifle brass prior to reloading them. It also would work well for cleaning small metal parts, but I haven’t used it for cleaning reel parts yet.

[@youngmartinsreels5314]

I usually clean the parts by hand but if they are really caked with hard grease I’ll fire up the ultrasonic parts cleaner at 50 degrees Celsius. It never gets them completely clean but it breaks the hard grease down to where I can usually clean it off by hand.

[@warpedweirdo]

@@ddselvig I thought of doing that once but decided not to try it. The media in my tumbler is usually full of contaminants from casings. Don't want to get any of that on my reel internals. Also don't want to hassle with dumping the old media, cleaning the bowl, refilling with new media, adding my usual additives. Really doesn't seem worth the hassle given I'd have to rinse the parts afterward to get media and polishing compound residue off the parts. More importantly, I'm not keen on the risk of my gears being knocked around / scratched / chipped by the other metal components within the bowl. I strongly doubt corncob, walnut, or various polishing compounds would have taken off the corrosion on the shaft and main gear in this video without also significantly eating away at other surfaces. I'd be particularly concerned about wear on the fine edges of gear teeth.