ROD-MAKING. 445 



To MAKE A Tip {Anglic^ "Top").— Take a piece of good 

 Malacca cane, as long between the joints as you can get it. 

 Split off as many pieces of the size as you require, and reduce 

 each piece with spokeshave and file, cutting away the soft 

 inner part, each piece being smaller than the preceding one 

 as you approach the small end of the tip. In working down 

 the pieces for the tip, the groove in the strip of wood which 

 you screw into your vice should be very small. Bevel the 

 ends of each piece of cane sufficiently to let them make a 

 good splice, say two inches and a half, two inches, and an 

 inch and a half. Apply the glue hot to the surfaces which 

 come into contact, lay them together, and wrap the splice 

 firmly with strong fine twine or good packthread, and lay 

 them by for twelve hours for the glue to set and dry. 



If the splices are well glued, you may remove the wrappings 

 next day, and finish your tip without any fear of its coming 

 apart while you work it down. The final wrapping of the 

 splices, which I will presently describe, it is better to defer 

 until after the tip and stouter joints of the rod are oiled and 

 varnished. 



After the tip is finished, join all three pieces of the rod 

 together, and, by bending and handling it, find where it 

 requires reducing to make it spring uniformly and feel exactly 

 right to the hand, unjointing it and filing each piece sepa- 

 rately in doing so. 



To Stain a Rod.-— Before staining, wet the different pieces 

 and let them dry when the fibres of the wood will rise and 

 present a rough surface ; then rub each stick smooth with 

 sand-paper, and repeat the operation until the grain of the 

 wood will remain smooth after wetting. K you intend to 

 varnish it without staining, this process is unnecessary. In 

 staining, avoid powerful acids, particularly in the delicate 

 parts of the rod, and try rather to dye the grain of the wood 



