'The Solent' Deep Sky Reel

Pat O'Driscoll made deep sky reels for sale from about 1984 to 1996 in the UK. He always used to get his Burgess engraving tool out and mark the reels with the name of the shop selling them (the one's he sold just say P.W, or Pat, O'Driscoll). Sizes varied from 6" to 12", all had bicycle hub cores, some had brakes operated by your fingers pushing a bike brake pad against the wooden rim.

Problems- they were only good for twisted nylon line in the 60-100lb range- fine line would bend the alloy plates! The handle either fits you or it doesn't! and it is a little cold to hold. The nut under your wrist can dig in and needs a cap over it, a common fault with all bicycle hub reels.

As far as I know he is no longer with us- the reels were a retirement “project".