I am sure that someone who really knows their Hardy stuff will chime in, but as far as I know the "Spitfire" is more than a finish. They were made during the war when the regular aluminum was not readily available so another metal was used. As well, it is not anodized or leaded. A couple of friends have them and fish them, one of the things they have to worry about is continually oiling the surfaces - as water left on them will discolour the finish.

 

I believe you can retrofinish them. A well known dealer in Hardys on a large auction site just had, or currently still has, a 3 3/4" pre-war MKII listed as just newly spitfire finished...

Update: reel was sold. For the purposes of education (and the fact that no site sponsor sells old Perfects retail) I suggest going to ebay and going to advanced search and putting in Hardy Perfect. There you'll see pics of the recently spitfired 3 3/4" pre-war MKII.

Hope that helps.

 

on the "fakes" I am pretty sure they just use a sort of paint stripper that is safe for aluminum and work it in with a toothbrush

 

History Lesson. Very cool stuff!

Guys, I contacted John Mathers at Hardy BC and asked him to chime in on this...

"Hello Seth,

Hardy introduced a number of different alloys and finishes over the years, distinct
from regular enamel or leaded finish aluminum. The first of these alloys was Monel
which was introduced in high end sea reels in the 1920's. It was, as is the
Titanium Zane today, completely corrosion proof in salt or fresh water, but as with
Titanium, Monel is extremely difficult and time-consuming to work with, which makes
its use prohibitive in any but the very highest end reels. The most famous of the
Monel reels are the White Wyckham reels.

However, Hardy not lost to perceive sales opportunities, began to cast about looking
for a less expensive substitute for Monel and settled on an aluminum alloy far more
corrosion resistant than regular aluminum which was Duraluminum, commonly shortened
to Dural. Dural, like Monel, can be polished to and will retain a mirror surface.
These reels, if original, will have scratched on the back of the spool or frame as
if with a knife, a small case letter "d". There are thousands of fake reels
purported to be Dural which are in fact just highly polished ordinary reels.

In the late 40's, Hardy enhanced the Dural alloy to a new standard called
Hiduminium. These reels are typified by a very small capital "H" stamped either on
the back of the spool or on the frame, and they are rarer and even more corrosion
resistant than Durals. Where unscrupulous sellers can fool people with the
scratching of the small case "d" for Dural, they cannot fake the stamped capital
"H".

A clue in ascertaining whether or not a Dural is genuine, or for that matter, a
Spitfire, is when ordinary reels are polished or sanded to a high degree, the
ventilation holes in the spools will become slightly oval. This is your first clue
to spotting a fake.

Hiduminium reels can be polished to an even more mirror-like finish than can Durals.

As to Spitfire reels, most but not all of these reels were made at Hardy's by a reel
smith called Jimmy Smith (initials JS). Jimmy began substituting a leaded or
enamelled finish on his reels by sanding with a very fine grit paper. These were
standard Hardy production alloys which many people preferred to the leaded or
enamelled finishes, and they also found favour with people who admired the Monel,
Dural and Hiduminium reels, but were worried that the flash from the highly polished
reels might scare fish. Jimmy worked for Hardy for 60-odd years and indeed
throughout the War Years where reel production was very limited, and where lead used
in traditional leading and enamels, was considered strategic material for war use
and not available to commercial manufacturers. This was the hayday of the Spitfire
reels, as they did not require lead to finish.

Very close to Alnwick is the RAF station of Farnsworth, and rumour has it that
during the war, when aluminum was extremely scarce, and also a proscribed war
material, that wreckage from Spitfire fuselages may have found its way to the reel
smith at Hardy's in Alnwick. This was how the Spitfire name became associated with
sanded finish Hardy reels.

There is a rumour that reels were made not only of Spitfire fuselage material, but
also of piston head material, which I personally discounted up until three years ago
when I purchased from an old gentleman two Hardy Spitfire St. John reels with
three-screw latch covers and unquestioned pre-war provenance. I was astounded to
find that one reel weighed almost 50% more than the other reel, and when viewed
closely, was of a much darker grey aluminum than the other. Solely from this one
experience, it is my belief, which is shared by the very pre-eminent collector who
purchased these reels as a pair, that one of them may indeed have been made from
piston head material. Both bore the "JS" initials and had been purchased by the
original owner during the England in the Second World War (he was a Canadian who
served with distinction with the RAF).

David Deacon, who you may or may not recognize from his ebay title "Barnardian"
wrote an article on Spitfire reels for the English
publication "Classic Angling". Many, many readers took various issues with his
article, and had I not been so busy at the time, I would have told Classic Angling
of my experience with the two St. John reels. So while the rumours can never be
substantiated, and nor would they be if Hardy had had access to war materials, it is
only my opinion that where there is smoke, there may be fire."

Best regards,
John

John Mathers
Highfields
4323 Yellow Point Road
Ladysmith, BC
CANADA V9G 1G5
Tel: 1-250-245-5460
Fax: 1-866-467-6573

 

Outstanding post!

 

Cool story...!