Precision Rods "Supreme on Steroids" ?????
Posted: Mon Apr 17, 2017 10:23 pm
Forgive me if this post is a bit 'wordy' ... but I’ve been agonising about this rod for 18 months now, pondering my options.
It’s an 11ft., all split cane rod blank bearing the Precision Rods shield transfer ... which I bought ready stripped for restoration … but it’s tapers don’t match anything that I already own by this company.
The shadows on the cane show that it was close whipped, and had a 22 ¼ inch cork handle, like the ‘R. Sealey’s Tudor Supreme,’ but it’s like a ‘Supreme on Steroids’ … hence the ‘working title’ I’ve given it for now.
I can confirm, by not only shining a torch up the butt but also by running a 3 foot piece of piano wire into the open hole at the button end, that like the ‘Supreme' it’s ‘hollow built without bridges’ … in the butt at least.
Of course it’s hard to compare tapers as the blank is stripped back to bare cane, and the two ‘Supremes’ I’ve been comparing it to are varnished, but the variations are much greater than just a few coats of varnish would account for.
I’m suspecting that this is yet another of Precision Rods ‘bespoke customer order’ rods … and have decided to approach the project on that basis.
In the following measurements, the varnished original ‘Supreme’ is Rod A, and the bare blank is Rod B … so here goes with a basic taper comparison taken at identical places on all three sections.
Butt Rod A :- Just above the handle to just below the ferrule 12.93mm. (0.509in.) to 11.98mm. (0.4715in.).
Butt Rod B:- Just above the handle to just below the ferrule 13.29mm. (0.523in.) to 11.85mm. (0.4665in.).
Centre Section Rod A :- between the two extreme of whippings 11.5mm. (0.4525in.) to 7.55mm. (0.29585in.)
Centre section Rod B :- between the two extreme of whippings 10.99mm. (0.433in.) to 7.6mm. (0.275in)
Tip Section Rod A :- between the two extremes of whippings 6.28mm. (0.2475in.) to 2.65mm. (0.104in)
Tip Section Rod A :- between the two extremes of whippings 6.21mm. (0.244in.) to 3.31mm. (0.130in)
There are differences throughout … from just above the handle to the most obvious difference … the tip section !!! Given a few coats of varnish then the tip of Rod B would be about 40% thicker just below the tip ferrule.
All I can think of is that a customer has asked Precision Rods to make their ‘R. Sealey’s Tudor Supreme‘ an even more powerful rod … perhaps with a view to controlling barbel on the River Severn, only 12 miles away from Redditch where Precision Rods were based ??? It’s all supposition, of course … and I can never prove it … but it’s wonderful to speculate … and it’s the basis on which I’ll be going forward in the coming months trying to bring this rod to it’s former glory.
It’s an 11ft., all split cane rod blank bearing the Precision Rods shield transfer ... which I bought ready stripped for restoration … but it’s tapers don’t match anything that I already own by this company.
The shadows on the cane show that it was close whipped, and had a 22 ¼ inch cork handle, like the ‘R. Sealey’s Tudor Supreme,’ but it’s like a ‘Supreme on Steroids’ … hence the ‘working title’ I’ve given it for now.
I can confirm, by not only shining a torch up the butt but also by running a 3 foot piece of piano wire into the open hole at the button end, that like the ‘Supreme' it’s ‘hollow built without bridges’ … in the butt at least.
Of course it’s hard to compare tapers as the blank is stripped back to bare cane, and the two ‘Supremes’ I’ve been comparing it to are varnished, but the variations are much greater than just a few coats of varnish would account for.
I’m suspecting that this is yet another of Precision Rods ‘bespoke customer order’ rods … and have decided to approach the project on that basis.
In the following measurements, the varnished original ‘Supreme’ is Rod A, and the bare blank is Rod B … so here goes with a basic taper comparison taken at identical places on all three sections.
Butt Rod A :- Just above the handle to just below the ferrule 12.93mm. (0.509in.) to 11.98mm. (0.4715in.).
Butt Rod B:- Just above the handle to just below the ferrule 13.29mm. (0.523in.) to 11.85mm. (0.4665in.).
Centre Section Rod A :- between the two extreme of whippings 11.5mm. (0.4525in.) to 7.55mm. (0.29585in.)
Centre section Rod B :- between the two extreme of whippings 10.99mm. (0.433in.) to 7.6mm. (0.275in)
Tip Section Rod A :- between the two extremes of whippings 6.28mm. (0.2475in.) to 2.65mm. (0.104in)
Tip Section Rod A :- between the two extremes of whippings 6.21mm. (0.244in.) to 3.31mm. (0.130in)
There are differences throughout … from just above the handle to the most obvious difference … the tip section !!! Given a few coats of varnish then the tip of Rod B would be about 40% thicker just below the tip ferrule.
All I can think of is that a customer has asked Precision Rods to make their ‘R. Sealey’s Tudor Supreme‘ an even more powerful rod … perhaps with a view to controlling barbel on the River Severn, only 12 miles away from Redditch where Precision Rods were based ??? It’s all supposition, of course … and I can never prove it … but it’s wonderful to speculate … and it’s the basis on which I’ll be going forward in the coming months trying to bring this rod to it’s former glory.