Rod-making. 215 



everywhere, except where the plane has torn up the 

 grain, if you have brought the bamboo to a knife edge. 

 Mark any defective places, and draw - file them till the 

 contact is perfect. Treat the other pair in the same 

 way ; then tie all four together in their proper order. 





Fig. 60. A, half hitch. 



Scrutinize the accuracy of the joints carefully, and es- 

 pecially see that they so unite as to form a solid whole, 

 for the outer edges may meet perfectly, while the inner 

 are separated by an interval. If you are satisfied that 

 the union of all four is perfect to the centre, you may 

 proceed to finish your taper (which up to this point 

 you have only approximated to), and glue all four to- 

 gether at once ; but if you are not positive as to this, 

 then glue each pair together separately, winding them 

 with strong thread as before. In either case apply the 

 glue to each surface, and be sure it is not too thick lest 

 it chill and gelatinize before you can complete the wind- 

 ing, in which case the glue will not stick. Having com- 

 pleted the gluing, heat the entire tip over a gas flame 

 or chimney of a kerosene lamp, to re-melt any chilled 

 glue, should, by any chance, such be present. Then 

 with a second thread re -wind the tip in the opposite 

 direction. This will be correctly done if the two 

 threads so cross each other as to outline diamond- 

 shaped patterns upon the surface of the bamboo ; for 



