166 Fly -rods and Fly -tackle. 



precursor of error. Having finished two of the sides, 

 plane the taper into the remaining two in like manner, 

 but be sure to keep the stick square. 



This is the time to test your material. Bend it to- 

 wards each of the four sides, and don't be gingerly about 

 it either. If your ship must sink, let it be while you are 

 ashore. The strain should be applied when the taper is 

 almost, better still if quite, complete. Hold the bend in 

 the joint till you can count thirty with moderate slow- 

 ness. Then release it, and see if it has regained its orig- 

 inal shape. If it has, your wood is first-class; and con- 

 gratulating yourself on your good-fortune, redouble your 

 care that no error on your part spoil it. If it neither 

 splinter nor break, but does " set," i.e., does not resume 

 its original shape, the better course is to suspend it by 

 one end where the air will have free access to it, and let 

 it season for a few months. Do not be tempted, or, if 

 tempted, do not yield to the temptation, to hang it in a 

 hot closet, through which the furnace pipes pass, since 

 then it will dry unequally, and season-cracks may occur. 

 If the " set." is slight, you may at the same time regret 

 and ignore it, and proceed to finish the rod; though even 

 then the former course is the more judicious. 



Let us assume the test has been applied, and with sat- 

 isfactory result. Take the joint in your left hand, and 

 with your pocket-knife trim off the corners for about half 

 or three-quarters of an inch at the larger end, till you 

 have reduced the section of that end to an octagon, 

 as shown by Fig. 38 (the dotted lines represent where 

 your cutting is to cease). 



Work a little at each edge in succession, using care 

 that when you finish, each of the eight sides is equal, and 

 your octagon perfect in form. You must by no means 



