SPLITTING OUT AND ASSEMBLING 61 



without demanding here any sacrifice of bamboo in 

 order to accomplish this result, so far as the relation, 

 one to the other, of just these two individual strips 

 is concerned. 



The concave or pith surface of each strip is now 

 planed just sufficiently to flatten them, after which 

 their sides are planed only enough to make them 

 smooth. For all planing, the five-and-one-half inch 

 "Stanley" iron-plane, number 103, and costing 

 about fifty cents, will do nicely. 



The worker has by now observed this peculiarity 

 in his bamboo-strips that most of them are far 

 from straight, and that their zigzag course is due 

 mainly to angular deflections at the knots. They 

 may run fairly straight between knots, but at a knot 

 are likely to be markedly diverted. Our diagram 

 is an illustration of what is meant. In addition to 



Angular deflections in stalks (and in split strips) of bamboo-cane 



these angular bends, long curves are present, run- 

 ning in all directions. Thus, as we sight along the 

 strips, in some of which these irregularities are much 

 aggravated, it would seem to be a hopeless proposi- 

 tion that they ever could be fashioned into a straight 

 rod-joint. But they can, and herein lies one of the 

 most fascinating elements of the work. 



This brings us to the consideration of another very 



