Trout, Rods and Tackle. 



51 



warps and loses its balance. The 

 plane reveals many things, par- 

 ticularly the difference between 

 good and bad material. 



Greenheart is undoubtedly the 

 best wood to try one's hand on. 

 Quality consists in the weight and 

 regularity of the grain. If it is 

 heavy and hard to work the wood 

 is good, if sappy and it goes into 

 powder under the plane it is 

 worthless. Black knots are not 

 necessarily hurtful ; white ones 

 are fatal. A little cross grain 



8 in. for the splice. The butt- 

 piece in the rough should be iin. 

 in diameter, the top joint ff in. 

 These thicknesses allow for super- 

 ficial defects which may be planed 

 out. The first thing is to plane 

 the wood quadrilaterally (see 

 fig.). This must be done with 

 great care, it is the basis of a 

 straight rod, and any defect will- 

 run through all subsequent pro- 

 cesses. Continue to plane until 1 

 the diameter is reduced to if in.. 

 Next mark off 2 ft. from the butt 



THE BUFFER GUT KNOT. 



Top Prepared for drawing. 

 Bottom Drawn tight. 



material in the butt may not be 

 serious, but the middle and top 

 joints must be free from defects. 

 When the grain runs in opposite 

 directions it must be planed ac- 

 cordingly, using the tool with the 

 grain, not against it. 



A spliced rod is the simplest 

 pattern, as it does not require 

 brass ferules. This is known as 

 the " Castleconnell " build. Let 

 us attempt a i5-ft. grilse rod. 

 Two pieces of timber are selected 

 each 8 ft. long ; this allows a clear 



and commence from that point to- 

 plane out the remainder, gradu- 

 ally tapering the wood, until it 

 is | in. at the top. The other 

 joint is similarly treated, the 

 tapering, however, must be much 

 greater until the extreme point is 

 J- in. in diameter. 



The next step is to change the 

 quadrilateral into an octagonal 

 figure (see fig.). By planing off 

 the edges of the quadrilateral this 

 figure is obtained. Again, great 

 care must be taken in order to 



