Welcome to the Forum. I hope you enjoy posting here.

To start, it is your reel. You can do whatever you wish with it.

In my view, a decision to repaint depends the desired outcome.

• Do you want to retain the 'value' of the reel? Don't repaint it if it is an older Medalist. A newer, beat up reel? Sure, repaint.
• Do you want it to fish better? Painting will not change the fishing function one bit.
• Are you worried about corrosion due to the lack of paint? That's not a problem except in salt water.
• Do you really hate looking at chipped paint? Then paint it for sure.
• Do you want a 'brand new just like the factory' appearance? Prepare to put in lots of hand work. Or watch for a new-old-stock reel on eBay and pay the money.

If you are looking to repaint, Option One is to simply clean up the reel and repaint. But the original paint is still, partially, there. Unless you carefully fill the chipped spots, new paint over an old surface will be lipstick on a pig. You will still see the chips. And new paint often doesn't stick well on old paint without serious surface preparation.

Option Two is to remove the old paint (re-surfacing was your term). The big problem is the aluminum side plates and spools. You can't just throw them into a typical lye based paint stripper and expect to get anything back (I use ZEP Purple Concentrate on cast iron and steel). The lye will quickly eat aluminum. Non-lye based products, like Citrus Strip, are slow to remove factory paint. Sandblasting will abrade the exposed aluminum faster than the paint. Feathering the edges of the chipped paint is difficult for the same reasons. IF you can get the old paint off without damaging the aluminum, then you can prime and repaint with an expectation of a 'like new' finish. If you have a relatively easy and safe way to do this, I would love to know it. Most likely, the re-surfacing will take a lot of handwork and careful sanding/scraping.

Option Three is to clean up the reel and wax it. You don't make it pretty, but it will fish just fine. You don't change the reel or reduce the 'value'. In the short term, you can do this with your 'fishing grade' reels. Meanwhile experiment on old reel corpses to find a good way to resurface them (and post the results here!).


Tom

Thanks for the feedback.

For the record jgestar, yes - I want to recondition the reels so they fish better - I can use all of the help I can get

Really, I guess it's just personal preference - I don't like to look of a mint vintage Fennie paired with a Medalist that's all chipped/worn but you bring up some really good points - I'll likely reconsider on most but there may still be one or two that are so bad, I'll consider them a bit of an experiment.

I'll be sure to feed back anything meaningful from my findings.

I have painted old, non-collectible reels in colors to match outfits for fun and have been reasonably happy, but have never gotten even remotely close to making them look like new. First, removing the dings, scratches, etc never works out so they are never as smooth - they always look like a repaint. The second problem for me is cleaning out the stamped writing and logos. I never get the stampings nice and sharp like they were when new and the writing is always blurred after the repaint. Poor markings bug me if the object is to look like new.

For example, I just wanted to try dapping with basically only sweat equity invested. So I rebuilt a 14' Scottish bamboo dapping rod and I refurbished a junker Cortland reel which I repainted to match the rod. To me it is a cool outfit to play around with, although it holds no collector value.

However, I don't think it is possible to get an old Medalist to like look like new. Let it wear its scars with pride or if it's not worth much you can paint it candy apple red if you desire. IMHO, it will never look new again.

viewtopic.php?f=4&t=44214&hilit=medalist+paint&start=75#p364285
I think this is the post Trev is referring to.
It looks pretty sharp in the pictures shown, he mentions some of the steps he took.

I'm one of those who really likes the older Ocean City reels. I have repainted one or two just to learn and explore who it might look- with a new jet black finish. As well, I have chosen to remove the finish of some examples to produce a silver "spitfire" finish. I have one OC 36 which I want to try and give it an older patina rub down like you might see with an older Perfect reel.
In contrast to messing around with paint or refinishing, see below an example of an Ocean City 35 clicker which as a smaller reel works well in balance on shorter glass rods. I will only flitz polish and maybe wax the finish of this one.



My main focus is about cleaning the innards, the clickers springs etc. in a mild vinegar bath scrubbing down the parts, screws and all, and re-lubricating the moving parts and spindle and using Quantum Hot Sause grease on the clicker.


Les

I have an OC 35 that I like and use as a “beater” when creek fishing with my lighter fiberglass rods. It’s a right hand retriever and I’d love to switch it since I prefer to cast right handed and reel w my left (like most right handed people). Any idea if they can be switched?

DaveS, just so you know--there's no reason to change your preference for LHW since either way works--at the time your OC reel was made and until about 1990 or so, most right handed flyfishers also reeled right handed. Most fly reels, if reversible at all, were delivered RHW as the default. Your OC is a symmetrical fixed click if I remember mine right, so it can be mounted for LHW and used that way. The ring line guard, mounted for RHW, would be superfluous. A line guard is not really necessary on a light duty reel like that, but you could get as simple or meticulous as you liked in fabricating and installing one. JB Weld or a similar product would probably be sufficient to hold one made, for instance, from a large ceramic insert spinning guide ring or the orginal one cut from the frame and repositioned. Those are just makeshifts, but if you wanted a high grade line guard and installation, that could be done as well.

The OC spool is retained by a coin-slot screw, but since it's unlikely you'll be changing spools, it's a good idea to put a little mild formula threadlocker on it, or just some nail polish on the threads before snugging it down. Or the "field grade" nylock, a few shreds of plastic wrap or tippet material.

Dave
You can easily change to left hand wind without using the chrome ring- if you so choose, back the line out and reel it back in on the left hand bias. This should work fine for you since the clicker works either way. I fish all my vintage reels as they were designed and set up RHW. You can get used to it since rarely will you put a creek fish to the reel.


Les
-

Thanks for all the great feedback everyone. I didn’t get to try them all yet but plan to fool around with the OC 35 a lot more this year.

Also I realize I changed the subject on this thread. Newbie error. My apologies!

Les, thanks yes this is how I have been fishing it. I find it good practice to work with a RH reel. Plus as you say it’s rare to actually use the reel to reel line when picking up small fish with the 3wt.