CHAPTER IV 



ROD-MAKING: 

 PLANING THE STRIPS 



It must be evident to anyone that in reducing 

 roughly-squared strips of bamboo to the equilateral- 

 triangular form and definitely-graduated taper re- 

 quired for their incorporation into symmetrical rod- 

 joints, some kind of grooved form or mold is neces- 

 sary for holding the strips securely and guiding the 

 cutting exactly. Such devices have been various. 

 They frequently are made of close-grained hard 

 wood such as lignum-vitae, beech, or maple. The 

 planing-board of the professional manufacturer may 

 be of brass. 



You do not require any mold for the initial plan- 

 ing operations, already noted as consisting after 

 a mere leveling of the pith surface simply in 

 smoothing the split sides of each strip, where it was 

 rent away from the parent stalk. For further pre- 

 liminary planing and tapering, the author still makes 

 use of the wooden mold, acceptably and quickly con- 

 structed, for this work, of any soft wood such as pine 

 or cypress; but he never succeeded in turning out 

 joints of satisfactory excellence until he adopted a 

 steel mold or planing-board for the last, fine planing- 



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