Abu Art, by Wayne Real

We are honored this week to have a great article by my friend Wayne Real from Australia on ABU artwork. It's a nifty piece and we should all thank Wayne for sharing with us!

ABU ART
by Wayne Real


My all time favourite image from ABU, Napp och Nytt was produced for the 1956 catalog and evokes in me, many happy childhood fishing moments. I certainly didn't have a fine Record casting reel like this lucky boy, but for kids it was not the technology being employed, rather grasping the freedom, excitement and opportunity of the moment!

May kids worldwide continue always to experience these joys!



After some discussion with Len Borgstom, (quotes below) I have learned a lot more about the working environment of A.B.Urfabriken in Svangsta.

So you can see ABU's appreciation for fine art was present from the beginning and continues to this day.

Art was not merely created on paper with pen and ink or watercolours or photographs, it was also cast in bronze as small limited edition objects d'art to be won in fishing competitions as well as massive corporate casting, some of which Len Borgstrom has kindly invited us into his home to share with us here.


The Marlin, typical universal exaggerating fisherman and School of Salmon
I was well aware of the consideration of aesthetics by the company to produce such beautiful products but it seems the employees were immersed in fine art even when relaxing at lunch time.

Len noted: "As I have mentioned in my book, we also had an active Art Club at ABU. We invited known Swedish artists to hang their art in the ABU cafeteria so that every employee got a chance to constantly be exposed to fine art."

We all remember the beautiful Jubilee year in 1971 when the covers of Napp och Nytt /Tight Lines changed from the traditional photographic fishing images to artistic paintings. Unfortunately this approach lasted for 10 years only.


Len continued: The covers of Napp och Nytt were created by well known artists. We got tired of doing what everybody else did – having products or some fisherman holding a fish on the cover. I have mentioned this in my book. We started with that idea 1971 with a famous illustrator Ib Thaning , Denmark. 1972 Gunnar Brusewitz, Sweden I forgot who made 1973, 1974 Harald Wiberg, Sweden, 1975 with Tom Sayers and Huckleberry Finn, by Per Åhlin (this artist also made animated movies). 1976 was an American artist (Scott), 1977 Ralph Judell, Sweden. 1978 the name of the Swedish artist was Arenhill. 1979 an artist from Checkoslovakia, 1980 a Danish well known artist Mads Stage, I do not know who made the leaping salmon 1981, but I would think that Bengt Olofsson would know. As you know, I left for the US 1978 and the last picture that I picked was Mads Stage"


ABU was also responsible for furthering the artistic careers of several of its employees.

"Two employees ended up being full time sculptors. One of them (Hjalmar Ekberg) made the four piece relief showing the history of fishing, hanging in the entrance stairways to the main factory in Svangsta. The other artist (Johnny Martinsson) made the relief showing my father located outside the same factory."

Hopefully more to follow....


Some ABU Line Art from their catalogs.

An early ABU Photograph.

(© 2009 Wayne Real)

Thanks Wayne! Of course, my favorite piece of ABU art would have to be this one...For those who haven't visited, go to Wayne's Abu Web Site!

-- Dr. Todd

An Australian Prototype Reel, by Wayne Real

This week my Australian mate Wayne Real has kindly contributed a nifty article on a home-made Australian fishing reel. It clearly shows that ingenuity is not unique to just the Western Hemisphere! The native Australian Alvey reels have had quite a reputation for many years. This is a great article and we can all thank Wayne for his contribution! You can check out his exhaustive web site on all things ABU and Ambassadeur by Clicking Here.

An Australian Prototype Reel, by Wayne Real


This fine one off sidecast reel was handcrafted in the Ipswich Railway Workshops (Queensland Australia) over 50 years ago.

The chrome plated rolled brass back suggests early 50's.  But you can never be 100% certain. 

The strong Y on the back of the reel is unique. I've actually seen the same Y pattern on a timber back reel, most likely from the 1930's era, so I'm not certain where they were getting that pattern from.


Essentially the reel was crafted to emulate the famous Alvey Sidecast reels made in Brisbane, Queensland but at almost nil cost to the guys making them.

The guys weren't cheeky enough to place the Alvey name on the reel!

I believe initially the motivation may have been to create a reel just as good as Alvey, using one's collective group initiative, skills and resources.

Clearly they were a group of different people with different skills and were able to collect scrap materials.



The story goes that the reels took several weeks to complete and as people swapped in and out and experiences evolved, the reels became progressively better.

I am reliably informed that as these similar but stronger reels starting appearing on the black market, they were soon put out of business.

It is up for speculation whether this clamp down came from Alvey themselves or the internal QGR checks but the several dozens that were made, all usually a little different, were soon to become quite collectable.



The  stages of production were involved from sourcing timber and turning spool and handles, as well as cutting rolling pressing stainless steel plate and rod, copper shims, spring steel wire for tensioners etc. etc. Certainly a complicated process!

The wife of the old gentleman who owned it (maybe created even it?) amusingly remarked that the only item/material  not able to be sourced or created in the QGR workshops was the monofilament of the day!

For a student of piscatorial history such as yourself and your readers, I guess this recollection will be of great interest and shows something of the Aussie streak of ingenuity which I fear is fast disappearing in our sleek glossy hi-tech world we live in today.

If any reader has a similar rare  ABU item of interest to me, I could be convinced to do a trade mate. I never sell any reel but do swap for like value objects that I am looking for.

Tight lines,

Wayne Real

Thanks Wayne! A neat piece and a really cool history behind it.

-- Dr. Todd