Restoring a Supreme

[SeanM]

I've just finished restoring a 12 foot Edgar Sealey Supreme which I bought last year for the princely sum of £28. The cane and the handle were in good condition, but the rings had started to corrode. What looked initially to be a simple job turned into something of a struggle. The rod had originally been whipped in blue and the thread had turned black with age. I decided to stick with the blue theme, but to use some blue and white Celebrated Elephant silk that I had a few bobbins of. Barney on here supplied some nice A grade thread that was close to the original blue colour which I would use for intermediates and tipping to the ring whipping.

I cleaned the varnish off the cork handle and reset and blued all the ferrules. Then the trouble started! The Celebrated Elephant silk was very poor quality. It was obviously made from a short staple silk and so it had a tendency to fuzz up and snap at my usual whipping tension. I decide to persevere and eventually finished the rod to a standard that I consider acceptable.

here are some pictures:



Note that the tip appears to be a little short. This would appear to be standard on these rod as careful examination showed that the tip ring and whipping was original and hadn't been re-done.



There are several versions of this rod. Mine has the split cane splice on the middle section. Other versions have a whole cane splice or no splice at all. They all appear to have a "twin taper" tip section.



The transfer is perfect as are the reel fittings.



The rod came with a bag in excellent condition.

I'm looking forward to using the rod over the next few weeks and I'll report back on how it performs.

[Kingfisher]

That is a top class job once again Sean. Well done my friend, I'll be glad to hear about the fish you catch with it.

[AshbyCut]

I have a leaflet from Edgar Sealey detailing the rods available for the 1958 season which declares that the Supreme was 'Improved' for that year (though it doesn't state how, I suspect that one of the improvements may have been the blue anodised sliding reel rings ... which may help to date your rod.)

It is described thus :-

"Supreme. 11ft. 12ft. 13ft. Price the same but improved finish making this rod the best quality match rod on the market."

It looks resplendent in it's blue finish. Well done, Sir.

[LuckyLuca]

Very nice! Perseverence paid off handsomely!

[SeanM]

Thanks chaps. The silk also had the strange property that no matter how much cellulose dope I put on it it still showed a bit of bleed through. It will be interesting to see if it exhibits the Nobby effect and fades with time! It's hardly noticeable as it is so it's not of great concern.

The rod has a lovely steely action and is quite powerful, but it's a little too heavy for use as a trotting rod. I'd like to try an 11 footer for that, but this rod will make a nice tench rod I think.

[MaggotDrowner]

You did a really nice job on that Sean. I bet it will be nice for those grayling on the wharfe!

My supreme is a real puzzlement. It is Spanish reed butt, middle, with a Spanish reed splice in it, then a tip of built cane. I haven't seen any others like it and am beginning to think it is a mislabeled match rod.

[Mark]

That is a lovely rod Sean, well done.

[AshbyCut]

See my earlier post about the "Supreme" MD, Sir. Edgar Sealey referred to it as a 'match' rod.

[SeanM]

You did a really nice job on that Sean. I bet it will be nice for those grayling on the wharfe!

My supreme is a real puzzlement. It is Spanish reed butt, middle, with a Spanish reed splice in it, then a tip of built cane. I haven't seen any others like it and am beginning to think it is a mislabeled match rod.

I suspect that you're right Jack. The tips on the two rods are identical but I've not heard of a Spanish reed Supreme. They could have changed it on a later model though and then renamed it as the match rod.

[MaggotDrowner]

You're right, Mal. The supreme is a "match" rod. However Sealey also made a rod called Match didn't they? I'm getting this from this advert.

Was the match rod advertised here made of spanish reed? If so I believe my "supreme" is really one of those match rods, with a supreme label stuck on in error by someone in the factory.



Interesting too that the floacaster is refereed to as "cheap" when today it costs more than the supreme.