16 AMATEUR RODMAKING 



tropics. That which comes through Liverpool 

 is picked over by the British buyers, and our 

 importers must take what is left. This prob- 

 ably accounts for the growing scarcity of first 

 class greenheart. Not a few of our rodmakers 

 decline to guarantee this material, which is most 

 excellent for the purpose when it is good. 



Early fishing rod materials in the United 

 States were: Ash and lancewood in combina- 

 tion; hickory, mahoe, greenheart, washaba 

 (bethabara), snakewood, beef wood, cedar, 

 osage orange, shadblow, ironwood, dagama, 

 peppercane, Calcutta bamboo, our Southern 

 canes, jucara prieto, and many others. 



Years ago it became a common practice to 

 saw or rive strips of wood, plane these square, 

 glue four pieces together and plane round to 

 form rod joints. The belief was that joints so 

 made were much stronger and less likely to 

 break than would be the case with a joint made 

 from a single piece of wood. This method 

 was followed by splitting strips of bamboo, 

 planing two sides of each strip and glueing four 

 of them together to form a joint, then planing 

 the latter round. This was made possible by 

 placing the enamel side of the bamboo within 

 the strip, as shown by the shaded lines in 

 Fig. I. 



