Repairs. 243 



fragments ; and they insist that this does not impair 

 the strength of the glue. Some prefer to melt it in 

 skimmed milk, since glue so prepared is insoluble in wa- 

 ter after it dries. Some, again, soften the glue by soak- 

 ing it over-night in cold water. The next day it will 

 resemble a stiff jelly, though retaining its original form. 

 These pieces are then dried with a cloth, and melted in 

 boiled linseed-oil, and thus another waterproof glue can 

 be made. This last is, however, a tedious drier. But I 

 have always feared to try these when anything depended 

 on the result, and so cannot speak of their respective 

 merits from my own knowledge. One thing, however, I 

 do know, that if your joints fit and are tightly brought 

 together, so as to squeeze out all the glue possible, it 

 will, even with ordinary glue, take hours of soaking in 

 water, and the subsequent application of considerable 

 and continued heat, before they can be separated. 



But this repair must be made on the spur of the mo- 

 ment, so gluing is out of the question. You see I warm 

 the splices and my cobbler's wax, and coat both the for- 

 mer with the latter. I now place them together in the 

 position in which they are to remain, squeeze them tight- 

 ly together so the layers of wax between will coalesce, 

 and hold them in that position a moment for the wax to 

 stiffen a little. I now wind this string around them for 

 about half their length to hold them in position, and they 

 are ready to wrap with silk. Having waxed my silk well 

 with the cobbler's wax, I wind it on, as you see, as tight- 

 ly as the strength of the silk will well bear, being care- 

 ful that each turn shall lie close beside its predecessor. 

 I have wound up to the string, which may now be re- 

 moved since the wrappings already on will steady the 

 splice; and now I have wrapped the splice its whole 



