Hi Gunmetal,

Hey don't stress, this is all perfectly salvageable, the reel that is which as you've already acknowledged is the expensive part.

The bends can be easily straightened by a experienced engineer and the reel re-ground giving you a as new finish as the reel has heaps of metal on it.
As far as the bed knife is concerned it's curtains for that. Please ensure you let your engineer remove the blade from the sole plate as he has the know how without running the risk of cracking the cast iron structure which is really costly to replace if that became the case.

I'd say that the machine is all pretty original and is a 17 inch and not a 14 as you originally suggest, yes I've already changed that in you post.

BTW a big warm welcome to the ODK Forums.

Cheers,
BB.

I live a 24 Hour lifestyle, but every now and again I seem to fall asleep, well at least that's what my wife tells me.