154 Fly-rods and Fly-tacMe. 



ness from that of the thinnest paper to a thirty-second 

 of an inch, can be had at Frasse & Co.'s, No. 95, or of 

 Montgomery & Co., No. 105, both in Fulton Street, New 

 York City. It comes in strips about four inches wide, 

 coiled in rolls several feet in length. As sold, it is ex- 

 tremely soft, but it hardens at a low heat and takes an 

 excellent temper. The strip could readily be cut to 

 shape with a pair of shears after a wooden or even paper 

 pattern, lapped over a mandrel, and the edges brazed, or, 

 perhaps better still, silver-soldered. Then, introducing 

 the mandrel again, the joint could be rounded by a roll- 

 er, or even with a large pair of grooved pincers, while it 

 revolved in the lathe. Several could then be hardened 

 together, packed with charcoal in a piece of gas-pipe, and 

 an absolutely uniform -temper secured in the way sword- 

 blades are treated, or by use of one of the metallic alloys 

 mentioned in the American Encyclopaedia under the ar- 

 ticle " Steel." Or a lesson on this point might be taken 

 from the makers of steel hoop-skirt wire. 



It might and probably would be advisable, if very thin 

 steel were used, to fill the inside of the tubular joint with 

 a core, that the tube might be collapsed neither by acci- 

 dent nor undue strain. For this cedar could well be 

 used, fastened in place with any readily fusible cement, 

 like gutta-percha gum. Ordinary shoemaker's-wax or 

 gas-wax would undoubtedly answer quite well. A rod 

 so made would be almost beyond accident entirely so, 

 unless attacked with an axe, or in some similar, and as 

 little likely, fashion. Of course a wooden handle should 

 be used with such a rod, both to save weight and to sim- 

 plify manufacture. 



This matter has been treated at some length in the 

 hope that it may reach some one having the proper skill 



