Mitchell Reel Forum

Has anyone here successfully straightened out a bent handle on a 50's Mitchell; not the counterweight, but the main shaft?

I recently acquired a nice early handle for one of my reels, and it turns out there is a slight curve in it (it's driving my OCD crazy). Someone mentioned heating it up before trying to straighten it in a vice, but will the heat permanently tarnish the aluminum metal?

The last one I tried to "fix" promptly snapped in half, so as you can understand, I am more than a little worried (most would leave as is, but as I said ...OCD..sigh!).

Any help would be hugely appreceated, thank you.

Rockape,
Not to worry mate. This has happened to most of us over the years. I am showing several old posts from the past I saved from the old MRM forum. You might want to save them as well but don't ask me how to do it.
I agree with most all of the old posts, especially using a clothes pin (I take them apart) and use a special hammer. The hammer I prefer, has a hard rubber head on one side and a urethane head on the other. I use gentle tap, tap, tap with either head and bend it back with the taps slowly. I generally avoid sudden hard wacks.
After you have done this a few times it gets easier and you will develop your own technique.
Don't forget to come back and post if you find a better way so we all can keep on benefiting from each other.
Kind Regards,
Bill
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Mitchell Reel Museum - Mitchell Mates Discussion Group

Mitchell 300 bent handle?
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Author: cshannon772 [ Sun Nov 30, 2014 4:28 pm ]
Post subject: Re: Mitchell 300 bent handle?
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Hi Pat,
A very nice find and a "reely" nice 6th version from the mid 60's in beautiful condition . Unfortunately the handle shaft is bent but not to worry - you have a couple of options. I have had some luck straightening them using a bench vise if you have access to one. Remove the black handle and wrap the ball of the shaft in a rag. Place the shaft in the vice firmly but not over tight to mar the handle shaft and gently bend the shaft by hand until straight. Sometimes they come straight, sometimes not and sometimes they break. If that doesn't work, the shafts/complete handles are readily available on eBay for a reasonable price. It's a spring loaded handle, Mitchell part # 90.

Regards,
Chris
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Author: cshannon772 [ Mon Dec 01, 2014 9:14 pm ]
Post subject: Re: Mitchell 300 bent handle?
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Sorry to hear Pat
Last one I snapped was on a NIB 2nd Version 402.....$25.00 and a couple of weeks later, all was right with the world. I still have no idea how handles on NIB reels get bent
Regards,
Chris
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Author: toulady6 [ Tue Dec 02, 2014 6:19 am ]
Post subject: Re: Mitchell 300 bent handle?
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Hello Mates,
I use a wooden clothes peg.
I remove the metal spring of the peg and put the handle in the rounding of the peg .
The other half of the peg I put on the handle and tap it straight with a hammer .
The advantage of using wood is that you can,t make dents in the aluminum.
regards , Dries
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Author: saublejohn [ Sat Dec 13, 2014 3:58 pm ]
Post subject: Re: Mitchell 300 bent handle?
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I have used the clothes peg and hammer technique. It does work! I saw this technique in this forum but I can't seem to locate it. Pictures were included showing exactly what to do. Perhaps a reference to this thread would be of value here if one of the global moderators could help out.
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Author: longislandloco [ Mon Dec 15, 2014 5:14 pm ]
Post subject: Re: Mitchell 300 bent handle?
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The handles surface on e-bay all the time, you'll find a new handle "reel" quick for a reasonable price. Very nice reel you found.
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Author: Plummerfrog [ Tue Jan 27, 2015 10:09 pm ]
Post subject: Re: Mitchell 300 bent handle?
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I've fixed many a bent handle on Mitchells and others. Here's what I do. I made a wooden block out of good quality pine about 2" x 2" x 6" long. I cut out about a 1.5"L x .5"D notch in the middle so that a side view of the block looks like a squashed letter U. I then cut a very shallow narrow V groove centered along the entire top length of the block.
Next, I remove the knob from the handle. I then eyeball where the bend is, then loosen or extend the handle folding mechanism (depending on whether you have the earlier spring loaded kind or the later screw type), and place the balls of the handle post and knob receiver in the longitudinal groove with the bend facing straight up and centered over the notch. I then use a special hammer, the head of which is made from compressed layers of a fiber material and shaped like a V block or wedge with a slightly flattened surface at the base of the V.
Tap on the center of the bend until straightened. Turn as needed and continue tapping (I find most bends are actually compound bends and not a simple straight bend). For those aggravating bends right where the shaft enters the handle post ball, position the bend face up. place the wedged hammer right at the joint where the shaft enters the ball, and strike the other end of the hammer head with a mallet.
You could make such a hammer using a 1" dowel and a wedged shaped head made of good, clean pine and duct tape a sinker somewhere on the head for added weight. You could also cut a wedge out of wood and tap it with a hammer, but then you'd need three hands; one for the handle, one for the wedge, and one for the hammer.
I never, ever use a vice! I damaged, dinged and broke a number of handles in my formative years before I wised up.
This technique does a perfect job, and with patience, one would never know the handle was ever bent.
I have another technique for bent bails that I'll post another time.
Hope you find this useful. Cheers.
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Author: Bonanza [ Wed Jan 28, 2015 6:59 am ]
Post subject: Re: Mitchell 300 bent handle?
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Hello Plummerfrog,
Thanks for the great way to fix bent handles! I do something very similar, never have broken a handle, the key is patience and some soft wood.
Regards, Scott
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Roy Allett
Post subject: Handle Problems
Posted: Sat Feb 06, 2010 12:10 am • #
Global Moderator
Joined: Fri Apr 10, 2009 7:00 pm
Posts: 1263
Location: Scotland OK guys, here are the pictures and instructions that Dries has kindly sent.
1) all you need to start is ; a light hammer -1or 2 clothes pegs ( wood ) 2 handles , a hobby vice .
directions ; polish the handle that has to be reshaped . the reason for this is that if you put the handle under a lightsource you can see if the reflection of the light bends to see how much the shaft is out of shape .
for comparison you need also another good handle
2) take the clothes peg apart and put it on a solid surface . put the shaft of the handle in the half clothes peg for support.
3) put the other half cloths peg on top of the shaft and start tapping with the hammer untill the shaft is straight .you can move the shaft in the peg !
4) As shown on the picture , put the handle in the vice to see where you have to make corrections . Thanks for this Dries, cant wait to try it.
Kind regards Roy

Thanks everyone, for your quite in depth responses (love the wooden clothes peg methods).

I now have a more comfortably straight handle shaft (found a small but weighty wooden mallet and a wooden block (no wooden clothes pegs unfortunately). I wouldn't say it was perfect, but it is straight enough for me to not become too obsessive about it.

Is there a way to remove (and replace) the sprung counterweights on early handles?

Thanks again.

Paul

Technically, no. The counterweight is held in place by a cross-shaped distortion at the end of the handle.

One thing I would add about handle straightening...OK two.

1/. Never do it with cold metal always warm it a little...a good polish will do that

2/. Put the handle knob screw on and the eye can see it it is parallel to the threaded section that screws into the main gear.

I must have straightened a hundred by now and only one broke...I hadn't warmed it up.

Bailarm wrote: ↑Sun Sep 24, 2023 10:56 am Technically, no. The counterweight is held in place by a cross-shaped distortion at the end of the handle.

One thing I would add about handle straightening...OK two.

1/. Never do it with cold metal always warm it a little...a good polish will do that

2/. Put the handle knob screw on and the eye can see it it is parallel to the threaded section that screws into the main gear.

I must have straightened a hundred by now and only one broke...I hadn't warmed it up.

Great advice Bailarm, thank you. You've given me a lot more confidence in approaching this kind of work.

Does that include the counterweight section? (I guessed it might be a no go to try to dissassemble one)

I once tried to straighten one up on a Mitchel 325 handle, and snapped it off when it was almost there (that feeling of despair and regret hit me immediately).

I did finally repair it though, by cutting out the bent section and drilled each section dead straight and central, tapped them out and used a smaller screw thread to join them together with loctite 243....voila'! Straight again...lol!

I have a 'slightly' bent counter weight section on my rarer round AR knob reel, and I would dearly love to straighten it, but I fear disaster.

Thanks again for your very helpful reply.

In reply to: "I have a 'slightly' bent counter weight section on my rarer round AR knob reel, and I would dearly love to straighten it, but I fear disaster."

If you have a handle of collector value, I recommend you pass on the challenge.

This is extremely tricky, as I myself have not had much success (0 for 2) as the threads underneath the counterweight present a bigger challenge as the shaft narrows down to accommodate the threading. It may be that your handle is not threaded but spring loaded, in which case it might be possible, but I would be reluctant to try.

I was surprised at how brittle this section of the handle was, even after heating the section with my shrink wrap air gun. A little pressure on the second handle met with breakage at the same thread section, the last thread furthest from the end.

jtwill98 wrote: ↑Sun Sep 24, 2023 11:54 pm In reply to: "I have a 'slightly' bent counter weight section on my rarer round AR knob reel, and I would dearly love to straighten it, but I fear disaster."

If you have a handle of collector value, I recommend you pass on the challenge.

This is extremely tricky, as I myself have not had much success (0 for 2) as the threads underneath the counterweight present a bigger challenge as the shaft narrows down to accommodate the threading. It may be that your handle is not threaded but spring loaded, in which case it might be possible, but I would be reluctant to try.

I was surprised at how brittle this section of the handle was, even after heating the section with my shrink wrap air gun. A little pressure on the second handle met with breakage at the same thread section, the last thread furthest from the end.

Thank you for your very qualified warning jtwill98, I will definitely leave it alone. It's only a very minor bend, so not worth the very real risk.

All the best.

Paul