FISHING TACKLE AND HOW TO MAKE IT. 



521 



This ferrule is shown in fig. 15, and i and 2 in the diagram 

 represent the points of contact between the male and female 

 ferrule. Both at i and 2, plates of metal should be soldered, 

 that the entire arrangement may be water-proof. 



Most English rods, of this day, not only possess the dowel, 

 but are so ill-fitted that the bayonet-fastening, screw, or loops 

 of wire, at each end of ferrule, are necessary to keep the rod 

 from throwing asunder. This is simply a confession of bad 

 workmanship — there is no reason for it in the climate, as I 

 have heard it plausibly suggested. The fact is, the ferrules 

 are not "trued" one to the other, and they are not of the 

 right material. Most of them are of brass, and very few are 

 of german silver. This latter metal is the best for a ferrule 

 intended to hold together by its own cohesion. 



Of course the metal must be flawless and hardened — the 

 tubing should be drawn inside and out— that is through an 

 annular die, upon a highly smooth mandrel, and I prefer 

 grinding the two parts together with very fine emery and oil 

 and afterward rotten stone and oil, until the surfaces are 

 absolutely smooth — so smooth in fact as to require quite a 

 little force to put them into place. After these ferrules 

 have been together a few minutes, and the condensed 

 air has gradually found its way out, it is almost impossible 

 to pull them asunder quickly, owing to the vacuum exist- 

 ing and the pressure of the atmosphere outside — in fact, 

 in the ferrule made as I suggest, they form an actual pneu- 

 matic tube similar to that of the air-pump. 



