i io THE IDYL OF THE SPLIT-BAMBOO 



We spoke awhile ago of giving a double taper 

 to light fly-rod top-joints by sandpapering down the 

 outer part after the joint was glued. Another way 

 to achieve practically the same thing is by a swelled 

 taper obtained by springing the mold apart a bit 

 when setting it for getting out the individual strips 

 of the joint; this is conveniently done by twisting a 

 screwdriver the blade of which is thrust between its 

 halves. Or, again, you can make double-tapered 

 tops in the way that we have done it particularly 

 with the heavier, bait-casting rod top-joints. The 





Double or compound straight-tapered top-joints 



diagram will make this third method clear. These 

 two tops first are planed down on a simple straight 

 taper that is, their component strips are in 

 either case the mold being set at 10^/04 inch for the 

 butt end. In building the lighter top, we first set 

 the mold for %4 inch at the tip (C in the upper 

 drawing) , 38% inches from A. For the heavier top, 

 the mold first is set at %4 inch at C. The point B is 

 at the location of a pair of the braces which hold 

 the halves of the mold securely at the degree of 

 separation at which they are adjusted, and it is about 

 thirteen inches from C. In completing the planing 

 of the strips for either top, we then loosen up all the 



