Getting nicks out of reel

[Mike_M]

All,

I'm looking for some counsel on how to smooth out bad nicks out of a reel.

I just purchased a beat-up Shimano Trinidad TN-14 reel that appears to have fallen onto gravel/pavement at one point. It works just fine but has got deep scratches / nicks in multiple places, which can be readily felt when holding the reel. I sent it to an authorized Shimano service center with the intention of having them selectively replace the most badly scratched components.

Suprisingly the service center recommended I not spend the money swapping out parts, as it would have been $180 for the left & right side cover and some other parts. They also stated that it would be a bad idea to smooth out the scratches as this would remove some of the gold finish thats protecting the reel. This confused me as I thought the gold finish was purely decorative, given that the reel is made out of aluminum.

Although I'd like to preserve the remaining visual appeal of TN-14, I'd like to try to take some of the roughness out of the nicked portions of the reel. Any thoughts on how best to do this? Also any thoughts on the protective properties of the gold finish?


Thanks in advance for your thoughts.

Mike

[reeljob]

The gold coatng is the anodizing. Since there is a ding in it, its not doing much good protecting the area dinged. If the dings are really a problem, you could maybe use a Dremel tool to smooth out the immediate are of the ding.