I imagine opinions will vary depending on what country you are in. We in the UK were blown away by Reel X Soft grease, which seems to have come to us from Germany, but appears to be a US invention. But the quality suddenly changed and the grease gave off oil that leaked out of your reel. This happen...

Nice work! Elbow Grease or some magic potion to get that paint off so thoroughly?

If you think the spool is rubbing on the inside of the rotor it would be a good idea to try another rotor and if that rubs too, check the rotor for ovality. If they are dropped they can go out of round. Not too hard to find another rotor, but you will need to re-shim the rotor and pinion gear to sui...

I too have had just a few like this. It's probably caused by grit deep inside the spool...a cotton bud should get it clean. You may have to strip the reel and put the axle into a bench vice with soft jaws. Press the button down hard whilst pulling the spool upwards. Releasing/penetrating oil might h...

Thanks Chris, good thought on the gasket colour, I heard early ones were black too. I've serviced a few when I did it as a business and I'm sure you are right...no gasket - no fit! I will go through my later Milbro advertising later to see what I can find. I may have missed adverts for that reel, bu...

That's very interesting Chris and Bill, your illustrations are of a 300A that I have never seen! Every 300A I've seen here in the UK has had the 'three piece bail arm' as in Wallace's first image. They don't even appear to have a gasket to the side cover. Is anything known about this? Did the first ...

Whilst I might, on occasion, not always agree with what other people have said, I always try to be even-handed and fair. I know some see the 1948 patent application as 'evidence' that the reel could not have been made earlier than that year, or not by very much. Others see it as being in English and...

Chris, the Arve valley was occupied during WW2. First by the Italians in 1940 when the French surrendered, who claimed it was once part of their land, which was untrue. It was once part of the Kingdom of Sardinia as was part of what was now Italy. A tenuous claim. When the Italians over-threw Mussol...

Wallace your last post is most confusing, it quotes yourself and then seems to be having a go at...I presume this....me! Are you turning this into a personal attack when all I have tried to do is point out, politely, that you may have made an error? And you go on to suggest that 'from what you hear'...

Not really Wallace, you put up an image of reel saying it was the reel the original owner set a fish weight record with. I pointed out that you were sadly in error and have now backed it up with proof with a photograph from Chris Ball here in the UK. In fact isn't your image of the reel a photo you ...

You can see that Richard Walker changed the handle knob. He seems to have fabricated a knob that matches that of Hardy's Altex reel, another that he wrote he was assessing to use for carp, but plumped for the Mitchell due to its perfect line lay. Wallace's image shows it perfectly. Another shot of t...

I now have permission to put up and image that helps identify the reel with the plate on better. Incidentally, Wallace's image is thought to have been taken at a Redditch UK tackle fair..the letter beneath refers to a different reel. I'm told Wallace and Mike Read were both there. Walker reel 2.jpg

Hi Wallace, "my point" was that the reel you illustrated was not the reel that Richard Walker broke the carp record with in 1952. It was the reel presented to him for winning a match set up by the magazine Angling Times in 1953. I have sought permission to upload images to illustrate the p...

There is a lovely rumour, which I've yet to confirm with Barrie, that his decision to take over the Mitchell franchise from Milbro, on behalf of Garcia was due to his employer K.P.Morritts taking advantage of a Government Enterprise Scheme to take work to poor employment areas They moved from the ed...

Wallace, he reel you have illustrated is indeed a reel presented to Dick Walker, but it's not the reel he caught the record carp with, which was indeed a 'second version'. It has recently changed hands here in the UK. The reel shown was actually presented to Walker by the Angling Times magazine in 1...

A 'swim' is a section of running water that you might fish, perhaps trotting a bait from a float or rolling a ledger through it. More confusing UK words. Trotting is to allow the float to take the bait downstream, very often from a centrepin reel, but it might also have been done from what was once ...

I feel I have hijacked this thread too much already and agree with Chris that it's time to leave it alone. But I do want to thank you all for you your input. I'll continue to address the issue on the UK forum as and when more information comes to light, but it's my understanding that Garcia moved to...

As far as I am aware you use the original bail spring. I've only repaired a few and I have none here currently. Have you seen Wallace's excellent method of fitting them? I tried to find it for you so I could add a link, but I can't seem to find it today...... Got it! 4' 16sec in: https://www.youtube...

Some information here:

https://reeltalk.orcaonline.org/viewtopic.php?t=4421


Pezon et Michel are the most famous French tackle makers.....after Mitchell. I have an idea that the later Crack reels were made in the same Arve valley as Mitchells.

I'm sorry Wallace I have no recollection of you asking me for my proof and I have no knowledge of someone returning your study to you altered, nor of someone calling it his own. Are you perhaps confusing me with someone else? My name is Roger Clark. I am a retired policeman, engineer and chef from E...

I've just been contacted by one of our earlier members who corrects me that he has found not a dozen first versions, as I thought, but twenty five! No wonder none of the rest of us can find one....he's got the lot! It's what is sorely missing from my collection, but I have little to do with eBay the...

I'm sorry if you chose to find my remarks condescending Wallace, that was not my intention. The document I referred to contains a number of abbreviations and notations that would be confusing to many anglers, particularly if they were not familiar with British angling publications. I certainly wasn'...

Wallace, as you know many of us doubt the Mitchell reel production so early, particularly after the Italian surrender when so many young men disappeared off into German factories to the North. Over 60,000 is thought to be the number. One poor local reel maker ended up in Lyon with the Gestapo under ...

Perhaps they weren't confident they would convert the whole planet to left hand wind.....but they pretty much did! Hey Bailarm, As much study as I've done on all things Mitchell, I never found out or even just heard of a reasonable explanation as to why they picked the RH (left hand wind) to make f...

Nice to see that again Wallace. I believe the mark on the rotor head is where a slot would be needed for a right hand wind reel. Perhaps it was intended as a pilot hole for a slot cutting wheel. If so this shows C&P were think ahead as they didn't actually make a right hand wind model until 1951...

Congratulations on getting the site recreated Wallace....and thank-you!