FISHING TACKLE AND HOW TO MAKE IT. 



535 



one 'tapers truly, will tax all the care and patience of the 

 operator. Having squared his six strips, he must make a 

 four-foot block of hard wood with grooves of the angle shown 

 in fig. 28. This had better be made in sections as shown, 

 and joined together. In this case they can be planed to the 

 correct angle with the planes you have; but if you do not 

 mind the expense, you can, of course, have planes made to 

 cut the grooves you want. If you are going in for making 

 many rods this will be the better plan — it is not necessary, 





dr:--. 



z) 



Fig. 28. 



however, to the tyro. The groove must be of a depth to 

 suit the plan of the rod, and should be of slightly decreasing- 

 depth to form the taper. Assuming that the grooved block 

 is ready, lay the square strip in it and plane away, with 

 great care, all that part above the dotted line in fig. 28, A. 

 Having done this, place it in the left-hand groove, at B, and 

 again plane it — of course not touching the enamel; and the 

 result should be as shown at fig. 25. 



Of course, the shape w^ill not be quite correct. Take now 

 a piece of saw-steel, and file with a trianuglar file several 

 processes, like that shown in fig. 29. If you go to the trouble 

 of marking them, as in fig. 27, so much the better for your 

 correctness of angle and truth of taper. Place the strips 



