PLANING THE STRIPS 77 



but if you wind a few turns of a one-inch gauze roller- 

 bandage around the last joints of the thumb and 

 forefinger of that hand before donning the glove, 

 then you are safe and may plane away fearlessly; or 

 a heavy canvas working-glove of the ten-cent-store 

 species may be used. 



The first planing may be done with short, rapid, 

 overlapping strokes and with the planing-iron set 

 rather coarse, so that it will cut comparatively short 

 and thick shavings; but as you approach closely to 

 the surface of your steel mold, the blade is set fine 

 and each stroke should be continuous from the butt 

 to the smaller end of the strip; there should be an 

 even, heavy pressure on the plane, and it should be 

 pushed ahead with slow deliberation. This last cau- 

 tion is all-important when planing the slender strips 

 of delicate fly-rod top-joints, running from less than 

 one-sixteenth inch in diameter at their butt-ends to 

 one-thirty-secondth at their tips. There must be no 

 backing up here, no lifting of the plane from the 

 strip from start to finish of the stroke, as such a 

 maneuver is likely to cause buckling and breakage of 

 the strip. And with all planing the general rule 

 should be regarded that applies to most cutting 

 tools, to cut with the planing-blade held a little 

 obliquely. Also see that the position of the planing- 

 hand is not such as to obstruct the free ejection of 

 shavings from the plane. 



Early change in the position of the holding-hand, 



